Onterra Tutor🇨🇦 Nigeria to Canada nursing registration (NNAS)
A Nigerian-trained nurse aiming to work in Canada first applies through the National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS), which routes your credentials to the nursing college of the province you are targeting. The college, not NNAS itself, sets the English requirement, and most provincial colleges ask for a noticeably higher score than the CLB 7 that is merely the general immigration floor for skilled migration.
The requirement at a glance
| Test accepted | IELTS General Training (most colleges); CELPIP-General also widely accepted |
|---|---|
| Typical provincial college requirement | 7.0 overall, no skill below 6.5 (CLB 9 range) |
| Ontario (CNO), commonly | Around CLB 7 to 9 depending on the exact registration pathway |
| Express Entry floor for comparison | CLB 7 (6.0 in each skill) is only the general skilled-migration minimum |
What people miss
- Confirm the specific score with the college of the province you are applying to register in; British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta have each published their own figures and they are not identical.
- NNAS itself is a credential-routing and verification service; it does not set the English score, so passing NNAS assessment does not mean you have met your target college's language requirement.
- The NCLEX-RN licensing exam that follows registration is itself a demanding English reading task, which is part of why colleges set the language bar above the immigration minimum.
- A nurse already qualified through the NMC in the UK or AHPRA in Australia still needs to meet the Canadian college's own English requirement separately; registrations are not transferable between countries.
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Questions people ask
What IELTS score does a Nigerian nurse need for Canada?
Most provincial nursing colleges ask for IELTS General Training 7.0 overall with no skill below 6.5, which is well above the CLB 7 that is only the general Express Entry floor. Confirm the exact figure with your target province's college.
Does NNAS set the English requirement?
No. NNAS verifies and routes your nursing credentials; the province's own nursing college decides the English score and every other registration requirement.
Figures reflect commonly published requirements, checked September 2026, and can change. Confirm against the official government or regulator source before you book.