Trained in India?
The verification body, documents, English-test position, and NNAS shortcuts for nurses educated in India, on the way to a Canadian licence.
Which body verifies my registration?
Your state nursing council, not the Indian Nursing Council. The INC handles equivalency of foreign qualifications separately. indiannursingcouncil.org ↗
What documents do I need?
Your state council completes the registration verification. Your university sends transcripts.
State councils vary widely in processing speed, and some require in-person or agent-facilitated requests.
Heads up
The INC transcript proforma must be handwritten with no corrections or overwriting, and must carry the awarding authority's seal or stamp on every page. INC also requires a Demand Draft of ₹5,000 payable to the Secretary, Indian Nursing Council, New Delhi, for the equivalence fee. Documents are frequently rejected on formatting alone.
Do I need an English test?
India is not on the NMC majority-English list, but nursing education is typically in English, and CNO and BCCNM accept English-medium education as proof.
Can I skip NNAS?
Not in the four NNAS provinces. Alberta's CRNA pathway includes India.
Which Canadian designation will I map to?
Needs verification
Advisory services commonly report that GNM diploma holders are assessed as LPN-equivalent while BSc Nursing graduates are more often assessed as RN-equivalent. This is a reported tendency, not published regulator policy. No Canadian regulator publishes a rule tying credential type to designation, and every assessment is made case by case. Do not plan around this as though it were guaranteed either way.
Needs verification
Designation mapping is decided case by case by the regulator you apply to. Use the notes above as orientation, not a guarantee.
Province shortcuts
Alberta — CRNA comparability pathway
CRNA accepts nurses educated in the United States, the Philippines, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, Nigeria, Jamaica, New Zealand, and Ireland. CRNA states this “represents 94 per cent of IENs who have applied for licensure in Alberta in the past five years.” This covers all eight countries on this site. nurses.ab.ca ↗
Heads up
Nova Scotia's expedited pathway for nurses licensed in the Philippines, India, Nigeria, the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand was paused to new applicants effective January 20, 2025, with no reopening date announced. It has not reopened. The regular NNAS route remains open. Note the regulator has also rebranded: the Nova Scotia College of Nursing is now the Nova Scotia Nursing and Midwifery Regulator (NSNMR), formed June 30, 2026. Use nsnmr.ca ↗.
How NNAS works
NNAS Expedited Service costs $750 CAD, covers RN and LPN together in one application, and issues the Advisory Report within five business days of receiving the last document. Regular Service begins at $650 USD (NNAS estimates approximately $845 CAD) for one profession and one regulator. The Registered Psychiatric Nurse pathway runs through Regular Service only, not Expedited.
Heads up
The CAD figure for Regular Service is NNAS's own approximate conversion and moves with the exchange rate. Treat it as an estimate, not a fixed price.
Key fact
NNAS stopped collecting language test scores on October 14, 2022. Proof of language proficiency now goes directly to your provincial regulator, not to NNAS.
Key fact
You cannot submit your own education or registration verification forms. Your school and your licensing authority must send them to NNAS directly. Translations must also be mailed directly by the translator, not by you or anyone related to you.
Which provinces require NNAS? Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan. Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Newfoundland & Labrador do not.
Back to choosing where you trained