How to become a registered nurse in Newfoundland and Labrador: the Memorial University BScN, the NL College of Nurses exam-candidate application, the NCLEX-RN, and the temporary and practising licences.
Applies in: Newfoundland and Labrador
You need a licence from the NL College of Nurses to work as a registered nurse in Newfoundland and Labrador — including to attend employer orientation. The regulator changed in 2026: the NL College of Nurses was formed in April 2026, when the College of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador (CRNNL) and the College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador merged, and it now regulates registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed practical nurses, and registered psychiatric nurses under one organization. The main route is: complete the Memorial University Bachelor of Science in Nursing, apply to the College as an exam candidate, pass the NCLEX-RN, and take out a practising licence — with a four-month temporary licence available so you can work while you prepare for the exam.
The in-province education path is the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) (Collaborative) Program at Memorial University of Newfoundland. It is a four-year program leading to a baccalaureate degree, delivered by three independent schools of nursing working together under a consortium agreement: the Memorial University Faculty of Nursing in St. John's, Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, and Happy Valley-Goose Bay; the Centre for Nursing Studies in St. John's; and the Western Regional School of Nursing in Corner Brook. Whichever site you attend, you follow the same curriculum and earn the same Memorial University degree.
The program has received the full seven-year accreditation from the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) — the highest possible accreditation period — four consecutive times, and all three schools are approved by the NL College of Nurses. By graduation, students complete more than 1,600 hours of hands-on clinical experience in health-care settings.
Admission is competitive and coordinated by the Undergraduate Nursing Admissions Office. Applications are open for Fall 2027, with an application deadline of January 20, 2027 and a document deadline of February 3, 2027. The accelerated option is paused for Fall 2027 — the College will not be accepting applications to the accelerated option at any campus for that intake — and there is an LPN bridging option beginning in Spring 2027 at the Centre for Nursing Studies.
If you graduated from the nursing program in Newfoundland and Labrador or another province or territory, apply to the College as an exam candidate. The NL College of Nurses new graduate RN page sets out the process:
Applications will remain open for 12 months. Once the College receives all required information, including your criminal record check and confirmation of program completion, you will be provided with a decision within three business days.
Criminal record check. Only criminal record checks obtained within the last six months will be accepted. You are encouraged to use the online criminal record check service provider, CSI Screening, and select the Enhanced Criminal Record Check option — CSI Screening will provide your results electronically to the College within 24 to 48 hours. If you obtain a check through local police or the RCMP, the original hard copy must be submitted to the College by mail or in person; if it is received electronically, the College must be able to confirm the document is valid. If you have been convicted of an offence, you must disclose this information to the College and will be required to provide additional documentation.
English language proficiency. You can meet English language proficiency through completion of a nursing education program or language proficiency testing. Review the College's English language proficiency requirements to determine whether you need to submit a test of English proficiency or meet one of the other methods of demonstrating proficiency. The test names and minimum scores were not stated on the College pages, so none are stated here — check the College's English language proficiency page before you apply.
For graduates of nursing education programs in Newfoundland and Labrador, the College receives confirmation of successful program completion directly from the Office of the Registrar at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Graduates of a nursing education program outside Newfoundland and Labrador must submit an official transcript from the university where they completed their nursing education, sent directly to the College from the university.
The NCLEX-RN is the approved RN licensure exam. When you submit your application to the College, you must also register and pay the NCLEX-RN exam fee with the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). When the College approves your exam-candidate application, it will also grant you exam eligibility on the NCSBN site, and you will receive an Authorization to Test (ATT) email from Pearson VUE, the exam vendor, for exam scheduling — follow the instructions in the ATT email to schedule your exam.
The fee to write the exam is $360 CAD, and you may write the NCLEX-RN only once every 45 days, a Pearson VUE rule. The $360 fee and the 45-day rule are stated on the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba NCLEX-RN page, which publishes the national exam fee; the NL College pages do not state the exam fee themselves.
You do not have to wait for exam day to start working. After the College approves your exam-candidate application, you can apply for a temporary licence to practise, which lets you work before writing the NCLEX-RN. A temporary licence is valid for four months while you prepare for the exam, and a temporary RN licence is required to start work, including orientation events and activities.
Apply through the Nurse Portal and pay the licensure fee of $156.40 CAD, including HST. The professional liability protection fee of $78.20, including HST, is paid directly to the Canadian Nurses Protective Society (CNPS). Detailed information on the temporary application process is provided in an email from the College confirming your exam-candidate application has been approved. Once the temporary licence has been issued, you will receive an email that your registration change has been approved, and your name will display on the College's Search for a Nurse directory — check your licensure status there to confirm your licence has been issued.
Once you have passed the NCLEX-RN and met all requirements, apply for a practising RN licence. The annual licensure fee is $402.47, and the professional liability protection fee of $78.20 must be paid directly to the Canadian Nurses Protective Society (CNPS). You must confirm your licensure status through the College's Search for a Nurse directory. It is your responsibility to ensure you are licensed before commencing nursing practice.
Do not practise without a licence. Practising without a valid practising or temporary licence will result in an Unauthorized Practice Fee of $100 per day worked, up to a maximum of $1,000, and a referral to the College's Quality Assurance program where the period of unauthorized practice exceeds seven days from and including the first day of practice. This applies to nursing practice in all domains: clinical, administration, education, and policy/research.
Apply as a Canadian RN. The NL College of Nurses Canadian RN page covers nurses with a current licence in another Canadian province or territory, and nurses previously licensed elsewhere in Canada:
Once the College receives all required information, including your criminal record check, you will be provided with a decision within five business days. If you are eligible, the College will direct you to the next steps to be granted a practising RN licence. The annual licensure fee is $402.47 CAD, plus the $78.20 professional liability protection fee paid directly to the CNPS.
Internationally educated nurses follow a separate path, set out on the NL College of Nurses internationally educated RN page. This section is for you if you were educated at the registered nurse level and completed your entry-level education program outside Canada, and you do not hold RN registration in another Canadian province or territory. You must complete your own application — you cannot use an immigration consultant, company, or any other third party to complete or take part in the College's application process, and if a third party is involved you may no longer be eligible to seek licensure.
Education pathways. The College assesses your application under one of two pathways. Under the designated-countries pathway, if you completed your entry-level nursing education in Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, or the United States, you meet the education requirement for registration. Under the general pathway, if you completed your entry-level nursing education outside one of the designated countries, you will require a further competence assessment through Inspire Global to determine if your education meets the requirements for registration. You are not eligible to apply if you were educated only as a midwife or specialty nurse, such as a community health or public health nurse — you must have completed a general nursing program and be licensed as a registered nurse in the general class — or if you completed a psychiatric or mental health nursing program outside Canada, in which case you may be eligible for licensure as a registered psychiatric nurse but must first obtain an RPN licence in another Canadian province.
Educational credential assessment. You need an educational credential assessment (ECA) if you are educated outside Canada. It confirms that you graduated from an accredited nursing education program and determines the general academic level of the credential in Canada. All ECAs must come directly to the College from the issuing organization, and you must have applied for and received your ECA report from one of the approved providers — World Education Services (WES), the International Credential Assessment Service of Canada (ICAS), the International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS), the International Credential Evaluation Service at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, or the National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS) — before you submit your application to the College. If you already completed an ECA for immigration purposes, you can ask the provider to send a copy to the College, though you may need to upgrade your report to the standard version first. You pay any ECA fees directly to the organization you choose.
The application. Sign up for an account in the College Nurse Portal and choose the correct application: if you have not passed the NCLEX-RN, apply as an exam candidate; if you have passed the NCLEX-RN through another jurisdiction, apply as practising. Upload two government-issued identification documents, one with a photo, and identify all jurisdictions where you are currently and were previously licensed. Provide employment information for all your nursing employers in the last five years and declare any suspension or termination. Self-report the number of hours you worked as an RN over the last five years. Currency of practice is set in legislation: graduation from an entry-level nursing program in the last three years, or practice as an RN for 1,125 hours in the last five years or 450 hours in the last two years, or completion of an approved re-entry program in the last three years. For practice hours to be recognized, you must have been licensed as an RN in the country, state, or province where you worked the hours. Submit the $172.50 CAD application processing fee, including HST, with your application; it is non-refundable, and applications remain open for 12 months.
Decision and outcomes. Once all required documentation has been received, your file is sent for review, and a complete application is decided within 30 business days. If you meet the education and currency of practice requirements, you are eligible for an RN licence — the annual licensure fee is $402.47 and the professional liability protection fee of $78.20 is paid directly to the CNPS — or, if you have not yet taken the NCLEX-RN, you are eligible for the exam and a temporary licence if you have a potential RN employment opportunity in Newfoundland and Labrador; a temporary licence is a time-limited, four-month permit, with a fee of $156.40 plus the $78.20 CNPS fee. If you meet the education requirements but not currency of practice, you may be eligible for a temporary licence to take part in the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership Program with a Newfoundland and Labrador employer, or you may be required to complete the IEN bridging or re-entry program. If you do not meet the education requirements under the general pathway, you will be required to complete a competency assessment using Inspire Global — it has computer and in-person components — and any bridging education the assessment outcome identifies, or you can choose to complete the full IEN bridging or re-entry program; there are fees for both the Inspire Assessment and the bridging courses. If you are missing specific content areas from your nursing program, such as paediatrics, you may be eligible for a temporary licence with restrictions while you complete the required education, or your application may be denied. If you meet neither the education nor the currency requirements, you will be required to complete the full IEN bridging or re-entry program, or your application may be denied.
This guide covers the College's jurisprudence requirements as published. None of the NL College of Nurses application pages — the new graduate, Canadian RN, and internationally educated RN pages — lists a jurisprudence examination or jurisprudence module as a registration step. This guide therefore states no jurisprudence requirement: do not assume one exists, and check the College's website before you apply in case one is added.
The English language proficiency test names and minimum scores for the NL College of Nurses were not stated on the College pages, so no test names or scores are stated here; check the College's English language proficiency page before you apply. The NCLEX-RN exam fee of $360 CAD is published by the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba, not on the NL College pages, so confirm it with the NCSBN when you register. No tuition figure for the Memorial University BScN is stated here: tuition was not verified on the official pages, and the tuition support of up to $8,000 at the Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, and Happy Valley-Goose Bay sites is stated on the Memorial page as funding pending government approval, so it was not carried as a firm figure. No processing timeline for an internationally educated nurse's application beyond the 30-business-day decision on a complete application was published on the official pages, so none is stated.
A baccalaureate nursing degree from an approved program. In the province that means the four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) (Collaborative) Program at Memorial University of Newfoundland, delivered by three schools — the Memorial University Faculty of Nursing, the Centre for Nursing Studies, and the Western Regional School of Nursing — at six sites: St. John's, Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, and Corner Brook. All three schools are approved by the NL College of Nurses, and the program holds the full seven-year accreditation from the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing, four consecutive times. Students complete more than 1,600 hours of clinical experience by graduation.
Apply as an exam candidate. Sign up for an account in the College Nurse Portal, then apply as an Exam Candidate and complete the application: upload two government-issued identification documents, one of which must contain a photo, plus a legal change-of-name document or marriage certificate if your name has changed. Submit the College application processing fee of $172.50 CAD, including HST, with your application; the fee is non-refundable. Applications remain open for 12 months. Once the College has all required information, including your criminal record check and confirmation of program completion, you will be given a decision within three business days.
Only criminal record checks obtained within the last six months are accepted. The College encourages you to use its online provider, CSI Screening, and select the Enhanced Criminal Record Check option; CSI Screening provides results electronically to the College within 24 to 48 hours. If you obtain a check through local police or the RCMP, the original hard copy must be submitted to the College by mail or in person. If you have been convicted of an offence, you must disclose it to the College and provide additional documentation.
Yes, on a temporary RN licence. After the College approves your exam-candidate application, you can apply for a temporary licence to practise while you prepare for the NCLEX-RN. A temporary licence is valid for four months. Apply through the Nurse Portal and pay the licensure fee of $156.40 CAD, including HST; the professional liability protection fee of $78.20, including HST, is paid directly to the Canadian Nurses Protective Society (CNPS). A temporary licence is required to start work, including attending employer orientation. Once it is issued, confirm your licensure status through the College's Search for a Nurse directory.
Apply as a Canadian RN. Create a Nurse Portal account, select the Practicing licence option, and pay the same $172.50 CAD application processing fee, including HST. Identify every jurisdiction where you are currently or were previously licensed — in most cases the College can verify your current licensure online — and provide your nursing employment information for the last five years, declaring any suspension or termination. You must declare the number of hours you practised as an RN in the previous five years: a current licence plus practice hours in the previous five years meets the currency of practice requirement. With no practice hours in the previous five years you may be eligible for the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership Program with a Newfoundland and Labrador employer; with no practice hours in the last ten years you are not eligible and must complete an RN re-entry program. A decision comes within five business days once all required information is received, and the annual licensure fee is $402.47 CAD plus the $78.20 CNPS professional liability protection fee.
First, get an educational credential assessment (ECA) from one of the approved providers — World Education Services, the International Credential Assessment Service of Canada, the International Qualifications Assessment Service, the International Credential Evaluation Service at BCIT, or the National Nursing Assessment Service — and have it sent directly to the College before you apply. If you completed your entry-level nursing education in Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, or the United States, you meet the education requirement; if you were educated elsewhere, you need a further competence assessment through Inspire Global. You must show acceptable English proficiency, submit a criminal record check, and apply through the Nurse Portal as an exam candidate if you have not passed the NCLEX-RN, or as practising if you passed it through another jurisdiction. A complete application is decided within 30 business days. Currency of practice means graduation in the last three years, or 1,125 hours as an RN in the last five years, or 450 hours in the last two years, or an approved re-entry program in the last three years.