A Guide in Becoming a Nurse in Dubai

This is all about my journey as a Nurse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Since there are not much detailed posts and information when I looked over the internet, to help all of you out there I decided to make one.

If you are now at the point in your life when you are one or two of these: you want a career boost, gain better experience, earn more than what you do now, live a tax free-life, encouraged by one or two of your relatives or friends, follow your family in the Middle East (or husband in my case), or simply because it is one of the countries open nowadays where nursing is in demand, you will always deem for a better life for you and your family.

As I share my experiences, I will give some tips for you to save time and money as you go through the whole process of getting registered.

First Step: Get Your Documents Ready

You would not want to end up waiting in vain from winter to summer for your documents to come as what happened to me.

To help you in getting your documents ready, here is a list from the Dubai Health Authority or DHA website from the pdf downloaded file:

*please read the above carefully

You should have your:

High School Diploma or Certificate
Nursing Diploma or Certificate
Nursing Transcript with Related Learning Experience
Certificates of Employment or Experience (signed by Human Resource, Nursing, or Medical Director)
Nursing Licenses (Valid, from country of graduation and/or last employment)
Good Standing Certificateï»¿s
Passport Copy (front and back)
Passport Sized Photo (colored, white background)

You can visit [THIS LINK] to view online from the website. Scroll down to the Nurses tab then click the link To view licensure requirements and recognized specialty qualifications.

If you are from the Philippines, you might want to process this ahead of time before you come here in Dubai especially the documents from PRC. In my case they would not give me Good Standing Certificate because my license is expiring this year 2013 so I renewed my license first before I got to process the certificate which took me another 3 weeks or so waiting for my license to get here for my signature then back to the Philippines to process the certificate.

Another thing to discuss is the Attestation, Authentication, Red Ribbon of documents. While it says in the image above (Documents Required image) that "Qualifications Attestation by the UAE embassy and/or Ministry of Foreign Affairs is NOT required.", some of the companies here were looking for it when I tried applying for a nursing job in some Home Nursing companies. It is also required for the application of visa to have your documents authenticated with Red Ribbon then have it attested by the UAE embassy.

The documents I have "red-ribboned" were nursing diploma and transcript of records and marriage certificate.

Second Step: Scan the documents.

Once you completed all the documents, have it scanned in a clear copy

Yesterday I submitted all the scanned documents for my application for registration through [DHA WEBSITE] (

Third Step: Create an account then follow the procedures on the video.

Before anything else, you must have an individual account in their system. You have to sign up as NEW USER. This video will guide you through the whole process including the submission of all the necessary documents online. Although the applicant is a Dentist, the whole process is just the same. I actually played the video while I am submitting my documents and made sure that I follow the steps.

Fourth Step: Pay with a local UAE bank account or credit card

On the last page which includes authorization, you need to download the letter then sign it and upload it back with your particulars and the date. Once you reach the payment section, you need to have a local UAE credit card or bank account to be able to pay. In my case I tried to use my Singapore bank account (debit/credit card) to pay thinking it would go through but always prompted me a Failure Transaction Status on my receipt. I called the DHA hotline (800-DHA or 800-342) to confirm and they told me to pay ONLY with the local bank account.

Next...

Next is to wait for the assessment of all the submitted documents which will take up to 6 weeks. Hopefully, it won't take that long for me because I want to continue my nursing career as soon as possible.

I hope this helps you make your own experience in registering as a Nurse here in Dubai easier as for the "First Phase". I am anxious and excited for the exam and since I am always at home, I am trying to look for some review materials to refresh my knowledge about the fundamentals of nursing.

Any comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome ?

~"Have Faith, Grace Always Abounds"~

a-guide-in-becoming-a-nurse-in-dubai.pdf