DHA Licence for Nurses
A DHA licence for nurses is the registration you need to practise nursing on Dubai mainland. Verification is charged at the lower fixed package band that DHA quotes for nurses and allied health. Your good standing certificate must come from the nursing council holding your registration, which is frequently a state body rather than a national one.
Which council actually holds your registration?
For nurses this question causes more delay than the examination does, because the answer is often not the body you would name first.
Nursing registration in many countries sits with a state or provincial council rather than a national one. A nurse registered in one Indian state and working in another needs good standing from the council that holds the registration, not from the employer, not from a national body, and not from the state they currently work in.
Get this wrong and you obtain a document that looks correct, wait weeks for it, and find it does not satisfy the requirement. Establish the issuing body before you request anything, and remember the certificate expires six months after issue.
What does DHA require of nurses?
DHA assesses nursing applications against its published qualification requirements, which distinguish between qualification levels and between nursing titles.
Use the free Sheryan self-assessment before paying anything. For nurses it resolves the two questions that matter most: whether your qualification level is accepted, and which title you would be licensed under.
- A recognised nursing qualification
- Current registration with the nursing council you practise under
- Post-qualification clinical experience evidenced by signed certificates
- A good standing certificate from the registering council, under six months old
- [VERIFY: the minimum post-qualification experience DHA requires of nurses, and how diploma, bachelor and postgraduate qualifications map to nursing titles.]
What exam do nurses take?
A Prometric assessment set for nursing. Where your practice is in a defined specialty, the paper may be set for it rather than for general nursing.
Some qualifications and titles are exempt. Establish whether yours is before paying, because the fee is non-refundable and payable in full on each reattempt.
[VERIFY: DHA examination blueprint, question count, duration and pass mark for this profession and its specialties. Obtain from DHA before publishing any figure.]
Why no single question count applies across professions, and what to ask your authority instead, is covered on our Prometric explainer.
What documents do nurses need?
What to assemble, with the items specific to nurses marked by what they have to establish.
- Passport and photograph to the authority specification
- Nursing qualification certificate, attestedAttested in the country that issued it.
- Academic transcripts
- Current nursing council registrationFrom the council that holds your registration, which may be a state body.
- Good standing certificate from that same councilLess than six months old at submission. Frequently the slowest document in a nursing file.
- Experience certificates signed by HR or the nursing directorA ward sister or unit manager signature is commonly returned.
- Specialty or post-basic qualifications, where heldRelevant where you are applying under a specialty title.
Good standing must come from the nursing council that holds your registration, which may be a state rather than a national body, and GCC authorities generally accept one only while it is under six months old. The sequencing trap is explained on our good standing guide.
How much does it cost for nurses?
Regulator and third-party fees only, paid by you directly to the authority or provider. Where a row reads Not published we hold no sourced figure and will not estimate one.
| Item | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Primary source verification | AED 1,150-1,500 | Varies with number of credentials submitted. Fixed packages also quoted at AED 1,235 doctors / AED 935 nurses and allied health. |
| Fixed verification package | AED 935 | The band DHA quotes for nurses and allied health. |
| Examination | USD 180-300 | By profession and specialty. Non-refundable; full fee payable on each reattempt. |
| Application | AED 1,000-2,000 | |
| Good standing certificate | AED 100-500 | Varies by issuing country. Must be less than 6 months old at submission. |
| Total government fees | AED 4,400-8,100 |
Nurses are named explicitly in the lower of the two fixed verification packages DHA quotes. A nursing file usually carries fewer separate credentials than a medical one, which is what the band reflects.
Our advisory fee is not published. It is quoted per case, in writing, after a free eligibility consultation, because it depends on your title, how many credentials need verifying and whether attestation applies. The costs page explains what moves that number.
How long does it take?
Typically 4-12 weeks for DHA licensing overall. Dependent on how quickly primary source verification clears.
The good standing certificate is the item most likely to set the pace of a nursing application. Council turnarounds vary widely, and a certificate that arrives promptly but from the wrong council has to be requested again from the right one.
Because the certificate expires six months after issue, requesting it too early is its own delay. Ideally request it once verification is well advanced.
Verification itself runs 15-25 working days from the date of payment and submission of a complete set of documents, and a resubmission costs 50 to 100 percent of the original fee. See DataFlow verification.
Where does this sit in the wider process?
This page covers nurses under DHA specifically. The authority, the sibling professions and the same profession elsewhere in the Gulf are covered separately.
- DHA licensing in Dubai, the authority page for every profession
- DHA licence for physiotherapists, a comparable clinical or allied route
- DHA licence for doctors, a comparable clinical or allied route
- Healthcare licensing across the GCC, if the country is not settled yet
What else do nurses ask?
Which council should issue my good standing certificate?
The one that holds your registration. In countries where nursing is registered at state or provincial level, that is the state council, not a national body and not the state where you currently work if you registered elsewhere. Confirm it before requesting, because a certificate from the wrong council does not satisfy the requirement.
Does my diploma qualify, or do I need a degree?
DHA publishes which qualification levels it accepts and which title each maps to. We hold no sourced statement of the minimum for nurses, so we will not give you one. The free Sheryan self-assessment answers it for your specific qualification at no cost.
How much is verification for nurses?
Nurses fall in the lower of the two fixed packages DHA quotes, the band it describes as nurses and allied health. The general verification range and the fixed package figure are both published on this page.
Can I start before I have a hospital offer?
Yes. Eligibility and verification do not require an employer. The licence itself is issued against a facility, so that final step waits for one, but the stages that take the longest do not have to.
Do you place nurses in Gulf hospitals?
No. We are not a recruitment agency, we do not place candidates, and we do not recruit nurses into any country. We prepare the DHA registration that makes you licensable. Finding the role is between you, employers and licensed recruitment agencies.
My experience certificate is signed by my ward manager. Is that acceptable?
Usually not. Experience certificates not signed by HR or the nursing director are a documented reason for DHA returning an application. Getting the right signature first time is faster than getting it twice.