If you're already a qualified nurse trained outside Canada, you don't re-enrol in a nursing degree to practise there — you go through NNAS, the National Nursing Assessment Service, which verifies your existing credentials and produces a report your target province's regulatory college uses to decide your next step. It's the single most misunderstood part of the Canadian nursing pathway: not a licensing exam, not a guarantee of registration, and not something you can skip by applying to a province directly. This guide walks through the process step by step.
Who NNAS Is For (and Who It Isn't For)
NNAS is for internationally educated nurses (IENs) — nurses who already hold a nursing qualification and, typically, a nursing licence from a country other than Canada, and want that education and experience assessed for Canadian registration purposes.
NNAS is not for:
- Students with no prior nursing qualification who want to become a nurse in Canada for the first time — that route is a standard BScN application to a Canadian university, covered in our Study Nursing in Canada guide.
- Nurses seeking registration in Quebec, which runs its own separate process through the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ) rather than accepting NNAS reports.
If you're unsure which category you fall into, see our NCLEX vs NMC vs AHPRA vs NNAS guide, which clarifies exactly what NNAS is (and isn't) relative to the other acronyms IENs commonly encounter.
What NNAS Actually Does
NNAS is a non-profit credential-assessment service, established by Canada's nursing regulators in 2012 and issuing advisory reports since 2015 — it is not a government body, not a licensing exam, and it never grants or denies you the right to practise. Its entire function is to:
- Collect and independently verify your nursing education, employment history, and licensure records.
- Compare your credentials against Canadian nursing education and practice standards.
- Issue an Advisory Report — a document, not a licence — that your target provincial or territorial nursing college then uses to decide whether you're eligible to proceed directly to NCLEX-RN, or whether you need a bridging program or additional coursework first.
Step-by-Step: The NNAS Process
Step 1: Create an NNAS Portal Account
Register on the NNAS online portal with your email and basic details, and agree to the Terms and Conditions. This account is where you'll manage your entire application — entering personal details, education and employment history, and tracking document status.
Step 2: Choose a Service Tier and Pay
NNAS offers two service tiers, priced and processed differently:
| Service | Approximate Fee | Scope | Advisory Report Timeline (once all documents received) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expedited Service | ~CAD 750 | Covers multiple professions and regulators at a single price; no extra fee to add additional regulators | Within 5 business days |
| Regular Service | ~USD 650 (roughly CAD 845) | Covers a single profession and regulator; additional regulators cost extra (roughly USD 55–220 depending on whether it's the same or a different profession) | Within approximately 12 weeks |
Additional fees to budget for: document translation (charged per page if any of your documents aren't in English or French), application reactivation if your file lapses, and an appeal fee (refundable if the appeal succeeds) if you want to dispute your Advisory Report's findings. Treat all figures here as approximate and confirm the exact current fee schedule directly at nnas.ca/fees before paying — NNAS fees are reviewed periodically and the expedited tier is priced in CAD while the regular tier is priced in USD, which matters for budgeting.
Step 3: Submit Your Information
Complete the portal's data-entry sections: personal details, full nursing education history, employment history, and licensure records. The portal saves your progress, so this can be completed at your own pace before document submission begins.
Step 4: Document Submission — Mostly Not by You
This is the step that most surprises applicants: most required documents cannot be submitted by you personally. NNAS requires documents to come directly from the issuing institution or authority — your nursing school, your licensing body, and past employers — as a Third Party, to verify authenticity. Categories typically required:
| Document Category | Who Submits It |
|---|---|
| Proof of identity (passport or equivalent) | You, directly, via the portal |
| Educational transcripts and diploma/degree certificates | Your nursing school, sent directly to NNAS |
| Nursing licensure/registration records | The licensing authority in each country where you've held a nursing licence |
| Employment verification | Current and/or past employers, confirming your clinical practice history |
Because these documents depend on third parties responding — some nursing schools and licensing bodies are faster than others — this step is usually the single biggest source of delay in the entire NNAS timeline. Start requesting these as early as possible, and follow up directly with each institution rather than assuming they'll respond promptly on their own.
Step 5: NNAS Verifies and Issues Your Advisory Report
Once all required documents are received, NNAS verifies them — including contacting issuing institutions directly to confirm authenticity — and compares your nursing education and experience against Canadian standards. It then issues your Advisory Report within the timeline for your chosen service tier (5 business days for Expedited once complete; approximately 12 weeks for Regular).
Step 6: Apply to Your Target Province's Regulatory College
With your Advisory Report in hand, you apply directly to the nursing regulatory college in your target province (for example, the College of Nurses of Ontario, BC College of Nurses and Midwives, or the College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta) — this can typically be initiated directly from the NNAS portal. Each provincial college makes its own decision based on your Advisory Report: some applicants are approved to proceed directly to NCLEX-RN; others are told they need a bridging program, supervised practice period, or additional coursework to close an identified gap before proceeding.
Step 7: English (or French) Language Proficiency
Most provincial colleges require evidence of English (or French, in bilingual/Quebec-adjacent contexts) proficiency at this stage if your prior education wasn't conducted and assessed in English. Commonly cited accepted tests include IELTS Academic, OET (accepted in most provinces), and CELBAN (Canadian English Language Benchmark Assessment for Nurses — a test built specifically for the Canadian nursing context). Acceptance and required minimum scores vary by province — confirm directly with your target college, since this is one of the more province-variable steps in the whole pathway.
Step 8: NCLEX-RN — The Final Licensing Step
Whichever route you took to get here, the licensing exam itself is the same across nearly all of Canada: NCLEX-RN, developed by the US-based NCSBN and adopted by Canadian provincial/territorial regulators in 2015 (replacing the older Canadian Registered Nurse Examination, CRNE). It's administered exclusively in the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) format as of 2026 — see our full NCLEX-RN guide for international nurses for the current format, question types, and preparation approach. Quebec is the exception, using its own French-language OIIQ exam instead.
Passing NCLEX-RN still doesn't automatically license you — you then complete final registration with your specific provincial college, which may include additional province-specific requirements.
Typical End-to-End Timeline
| Stage | Typical Duration |
|---|---|
| NNAS document collection and verification | 12–16 weeks is commonly cited as realistic once you start actively requesting documents, though the Advisory Report itself is issued within 5 business days (Expedited) or ~12 weeks (Regular) after all documents are received — document collection from third parties is usually the longer variable |
| Provincial college review of your Advisory Report | Several weeks to a few months, varies significantly by province |
| English proficiency test (if required) | Self-paced, depends on your preparation timeline |
| NCLEX-RN scheduling and sitting | Typically scheduled within weeks once your Authorization to Test is issued |
| Full NNAS-to-licence process, end to end | Commonly cited in the range of 12–18 months, though this varies substantially by how quickly third-party documents arrive, whether a bridging program is required, and provincial processing volumes |
Treat all timeline figures as approximate. The single biggest variable most candidates underestimate is how quickly their nursing school and former employers respond to NNAS's document requests — start this step as early as possible, well before you expect to need your Advisory Report.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Applying directly to a provincial college before going through NNAS. For internationally educated nurses, NNAS (or Quebec's OIIQ equivalent) generally comes first — skipping it wastes an application cycle.
- Underestimating third-party document response times. Request transcripts, licensure verification, and employment letters as early as possible — this is the most common source of delay.
- Assuming your Advisory Report guarantees NCLEX-RN eligibility. The provincial college makes that decision based on your report — some applicants are directed to a bridging program first.
- Not confirming your target province's specific English-test and score requirements before booking a test — these vary by province and aren't standardized across NNAS itself.
- Letting your NNAS application lapse. Applications remain active for a limited period (commonly cited as 12 months from fee payment) — a reactivation fee applies if you miss this window.
Prepare for IELTS with Gabble — IELTS Academic is commonly accepted at the provincial registration stage that follows your NNAS Advisory Report. Gabble's AI-powered speaking and writing feedback gives instant, criterion-based scoring to help you reach the band score your target provincial college requires.