English Language Proficiency Requirements for Internationally Qualified Nurses and/or Midwives who are applying for an Assessment of their qualifications for registration or enrolment.

 

Internationally qualified nurses and/or midwives applying to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of South Australia (nmbSA) for registration or enrolment as a nurse, or registration as a midwife, must demonstrate English language proficiency.

Please note, nurses registered with the Nursing Council of New Zealand and/or midwives registered with the Midwifery Council of New Zealand are exempt from this requirement.

Effective from the 1st July 2009 the nmbSA English language proficiency policy was revised and approved by the Board.

All internationally qualified nurses and/or midwives who apply for an assessment of their nursing or midwifery qualifications for registration or enrolment will be required to undertake an approved English Language Test. This is irrespective of whether the applicant is a native speaker of English or not.

 

Applicants are required to obtain either an:

International English Language Testing System (IELTS) – Academic

  • IELTS score of at least a 7 in Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking with an overall band score of 7 or greater. (The results must be achieved in one test sitting).

or

 

Occupational English Test (OET) for Nurses

  • OET score of a B pass or higher in all four sections of the test Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. (The results must be achieved in one test sitting).

The test must be:

  • undertaken within the previous two years of applying to nmbSA for registration or enrolment.
  • undertaken at a location either onshore or offshore.

nmbSA requires that the applicant’s English language proficiency test results are sent from the test centre directly to:

Nursing and Midwifery Board of South Australia

PO Box 2809

Kent Town SA 5071

Please note there are no waivers to the English Language Proficiency test.

For further information please contact Registrations on telephone: 8366 5566 (local) +61 8 83665566 (international) or email registrations@nmbsa.sa.gov.au.