What changed for internationally qualified nurses in 2025 was an addition, not a replacement — and that is why older guides read as wrong

The change is real, it is dated, and it is narrower than most write-ups of it suggest. On 23 April 2025 a new NMBA registration standard came into effect, called General registration for internationally qualified registered nurses. It added two pathways. It removed nothing.

Most of the confusion online comes from treating it as a replacement for the existing process. NMBA puts the opposite in a single line on its own standard page: “Please note for applicants who do not meet the requirements of this standard, the existing IQNM assessment process remains in effect.”

What did not change

Three things people often assume were swept away are still exactly where they were.

The streams are still A, B and C. NMBA’s assessment stages page states: “When an internationally qualified nurse or midwife (IQNM) completes the Self-check they will be advised if they are in Stream A, B, or C, or if Ahpra needs to assess their qualification(s) before assigning a stream.” Not one, two, three. Not renamed. Anything that tells you the streams were renumbered in 2025 is wrong.

The three qualification assessment criteria are unchanged, and still decide the stream — criterion 1 on recognition for registration in the country of qualification, criterion 2 on quality assurance and accreditation as at the date you qualified, criterion 3 on academic level against the Australian Qualifications Framework.

Outcomes-based assessment still exists. Stream B still means the MCQ and then the OSCE, in that order. What the 2025 standard adds is a way for some Stream B candidates to avoid it, which is a different thing from abolishing it. NMBA’s wording on the criteria page is precise: a Stream B candidate “need[s] to complete the outcomes-based assessment, unless you meet the requirements of the Registration standard: General registration for internationally qualified registered nurses.”

What the new standard actually does

It is for registered nurses only. The standard states its scope in its own summary: it “sets out the eligibility requirements of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) for internationally qualified registered nurses (IQRNs) applying for general registration as a registered nurse in Australia”, and “establishes two (2) pathways”.

It also states three exclusions on its first page, and they are easy to miss:

“This standard does not apply to IQRNs who have a sole qualification in mental health nursing, paediatric nursing, or disability nursing.”

“This standard does not apply to IQRNs who have a substantially equivalent qualification.”

Enrolled nurses and midwives are outside it entirely — the standard is about registered nurses. On the second exclusion, see why NMBA does not publish a definition of “substantially equivalent”: the standard is built for people whose qualification is not in that category.

Pathway 1 is for a nurse who qualified in one of the approved comparable jurisdictions. The requirements are a relevant qualification obtained in such a jurisdiction that led to general registration there, plus “completion of a minimum of 1,800 hours practice as a registered nurse in any of the NMBA-approved comparable jurisdictions since 1 January 2017”, plus a statement from each relevant employer confirming they are satisfied the nurse “has the necessary knowledge, skills and ability to practise at the standard expected of a registered nurse by the regulatory authority” of that jurisdiction, plus current or previous general registration there, a Certificate of Good Standing, and the NMBA’s ordinary mandatory registration standards.

Pathway 2 is for a nurse who qualified elsewhere and then went through one of those jurisdictions. The requirements are a relevant qualification obtained outside the approved list since 1 January 2017, “successful completion of a regulatory examination process for internationally qualified registered nurses in any of the NMBA-approved comparable jurisdictions”, current or previous general registration there since 1 January 2017, and 1,800 hours of practice there since the same date.

The list that decides everything

Both pathways turn on a single published list. NMBA’s Approved list of comparable international regulatory jurisdictions, as at April 2025, names:

• United Kingdom
• Ireland
• United States
• Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario
• Singapore
• Spain

Canada is on the list as two provinces, not as a country. That distinction is doing real work and is frequently dropped in summaries.

NMBA states the list “will be published on the NMBA’s website” and is amendable “from time-to-time after consultation” — so it is a live list, and the version above carries an April 2025 date stamp. Check it against the NMBA page on the day you rely on it rather than against this article.

New Zealand is deliberately absent, and NMBA explains why in its fact sheet: “New Zealand is not listed because experienced IQRNs who hold registration with the Nursing Council of New Zealand are already eligible to apply for registration in Australia under the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act.” That is a separate and older route — see how New Zealand registration transfers to Australia.

Two details in the fine print that decide most cases

The 1,800 hours are a jurisdiction test, not just a volume test. They must be worked in an approved comparable jurisdiction, and since 1 January 2017. NMBA explains the number itself: “The 1,800 practice hours is approximately equivalent to working one year full-time in Australia − calculated at 38 hours per week over 48 weeks”. It explains the date separately, as based on research commissioned by the International Nurse Regulator Collaborative “which found that comparable jurisdictions had implemented rigorous assessment processes for nurses from this time”.

Field of practice matters in the United Kingdom. The fact sheet answers this directly and it disqualifies a large group of people who assume they are covered:

“In the UK there are four fields of nursing practice (adult, children, learning disabilities, mental health). You must complete the CBT exam and hold registration in the field of adult nursing to be eligible for Pathway 2. IQRNs who complete the CBT exam and hold registration in the UK in one of the other fields are not eligible under the registration standard.”

For dual registration, the fact sheet allows eligibility where “your registration includes general registration as a registered nurse (adult)” and the 1,800 hours were worked as an adult registered nurse, but states that if “your registration is limited to a sole area of practice (e.g. mental health only), or you do not have sufficient practice hours as general adult nurse, you are unlikely to be eligible under this standard.”

Also note Pathway 2’s qualification date limit. The fact sheet is explicit: “If you meet all other criteria under Pathway 2 but obtained your primary qualification before 1 January 2017, you will not be eligible under the registration standard.” The stated reason is to ensure a supporting qualification “reflect[s] recent education, teaching and practice standards”.

How you find out which applies to you

Through the same front door as before. The fact sheet: “After creating a new practitioner account via the Ahpra portal, you will be prompted to complete a Self-Check… Once you complete the Self-Check you will be assigned a stream, which may include one of the new pathways within the registration standard.”

And it adds the caveat that matters: “Important: Eligibility for the registration standard will only be confirmed following a full Ahpra assessment of all required documents.” The Self-check assigns; it does not decide. NMBA publishes a two-page Pathways diagram for IQRN registration standard eligibility as a flowchart for working through the questions yourself before paying anything.

Why the change happened, in NMBA’s words

The fact sheet gives the rationale plainly, and it is worth reading because it tells you what problem the standard was built to solve:

“The existing pathways for registered nurses (RNs) whose qualification does not meet the NMBA’s requirements require that they successfully complete a multiple-choice examination and a clinical examination or that they upgrade their qualification to one that meets the NMBA requirements. The standard streamlines the assessment and registration process for eligible experienced IQRNs who may have qualified in other countries but have registered and practised as a registered nurse in an NMBA-approved comparable jurisdiction.”

NMBA links this to the Australian Government’s Independent review of Australia’s regulatory settings relating to overseas health practitioners. The standard was approved by the Ministerial Council on 26 September 2024 and took effect on 23 April 2025.

Other 2025 changes that are smaller but still catch people out

The exam policies were reissued. The IQNM page lists an IQNM Exam Policy – IQNM misconduct during the assessment process with a date of effect of 1 July 2025, and shows the version it replaced as having run “22 January 2020 to 30 June 2025”. The MCQ exam page shows the same pattern for the IQNM Exam Policy – MCQ examination results. If you are reading a policy PDF you downloaded earlier, check the date of effect on the cover.

The NMBA fee schedule in force is dated 18 September 2025. Any figures quoted against an earlier schedule are stale.

How to tell whether the guide you are reading is out of date

Four quick tests, all checkable against the pages linked above:

1. It describes streams as 1, 2 and 3 rather than A, B and C.
2. It states that every Stream B registered nurse must sit the MCQ and OSCE, with no mention of the April 2025 registration standard.
3. It treats the comparable-jurisdiction list as covering Canada as a whole rather than British Columbia and Ontario.
4. It presents the 2025 standard as the new process for all internationally qualified nurses and midwives, without noting that it excludes enrolled nurses, midwives, and sole qualifications in mental health, paediatric or disability nursing.

A guide can be wrong in the opposite direction too — written after April 2025 and treating the streamlined pathways as the only route, when for most applicants the Self-check, criteria and outcomes-based assessment are still the whole journey.

This site summarises published rules. It is not Ahpra or the NMBA, it performs no assessments, and nothing here predicts whether any individual is eligible under either pathway — NMBA states it “will consider the individual circumstances of an IQRN when deciding an application for registration”, and that decision is the Board’s. For anything about visas, go to the Department of Home Affairs or a registered migration agent.