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Nurses: Migrant Workers

Asked by Marsha De CordovaLabourDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 9 March 2026UIN 115989

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Internationally Educated Nurses registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council have lived in the UK for over five but fewer than ten years.

Answered by Karin Smyth

The Department does not hold information on the length of residence in the United Kingdom of internationally educated nurses registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

The NMC publishes statistics as part of its biannual registration data reports on the number of nurses who obtained their nursing qualification outside of the United Kingdom, by the length of time since their first registration with the NMC. Nurses though may have been resident in the UK prior to their first registration, so this is not the same as length of residence.

Also, length of time since first registration does not necessarily mean unbroken or continuous registration. Registrants may leave the register for a variety of reasons, for one or more period during their careers.

This information can be found in the ‘UK permanent Register data tables’ in the worksheet ‘Time’, at the following link:

https://www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-accounts/registration-statistics/

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