Singapore Nursing Board

The Singapore Nursing Board (SNB) is the regulatory authority for nurses and midwives in Singapore and a statutory board under the Ministry of Health (SNB, Who we are, accessed 31 August 2026). The Nurses and Midwives Act 1999 establishes the statutory framework for registration and enrolment of nurses, registration of midwives, certification of Advanced Practice Nurses and related regulation (SNB, Functions of SNB, accessed 31 August 2026; Singapore Statutes Online, Nurses and Midwives Act 1999, accessed 31 August 2026). SNB is therefore a professional regulator, not a nursing school, hospital employer, trade union or general healthcare service provider.

Registration, enrolment and practising certificates

SNB approves or rejects applications for registration and enrolment of nurses, registration of midwives and certification of Advanced Practice Nurses, and issues practising certificates (SNB, Functions of SNB, accessed 31 August 2026). A person must be registered or enrolled with SNB and hold a valid Practising Certificate (PC) before practising nursing or midwifery in Singapore; SNB states that practising without a valid PC is an offence under section 26(1) of the Nurses and Midwives Act (SNB, Becoming a nurse or midwife, accessed 31 August 2026). Registration or enrolment and the PC are related but distinct: being listed on the Register or Roll does not by itself answer whether the current practising certificate is valid.

Applications are assessed when SNB has received the required fees and documents, and the outcome is communicated after the requirements are met (SNB, Apply for registration / enrolment, accessed 31 August 2026). The exact route depends on the applicant's training, category and circumstances. Foreign-trained nurses and midwives have additional requirements and must generally have an employment offer from an eligible Singapore healthcare institution before an institution's human-resources team can submit an application for SNB consideration (SNB, Foreign Trained Nurses / Midwives, accessed 31 August 2026). These pages describe regulatory routes, not a promise that an applicant will be registered or employed.

Education, standards and professional conduct

SNB accredits Singapore courses and institutions used for nursing, midwifery and Advanced Practice Nurse registration or certification, and regulates standards for training and education (SNB, Functions of SNB, accessed 31 August 2026). It also regulates standards and scope of practice and professional conduct and ethics for registered nurses, enrolled nurses, registered midwives and Advanced Practice Nurses. An accredited programme is therefore an entry or qualification pathway recognised for the relevant SNB purpose; accreditation is not the same as a practising certificate and does not make every graduate automatically authorised to practise.

SNB's professional guidance works alongside the Act. The Board publishes codes, scope-of-practice material, core competencies, continuing professional education information and renewal guidance for nurses and midwives (SNB, For nurses and midwives, accessed 31 August 2026). The applicable category, registration conditions and current guidance matter when answering whether a particular activity is within scope; a nursing qualification alone should not be treated as a blanket authorisation for every clinical task.

Foreign-trained application boundary

Foreign-trained nurses and midwives who wish to work in Singapore must be registered or enrolled with SNB, and SNB requires an employment offer from an eligible Singapore healthcare institution with inpatient services before it will consider the application. The employing institution’s human-resources team must first confirm its eligibility with SNB and submit the online application on the applicant’s behalf (SNB, Foreign Trained Nurses / Midwives, rechecked 12 September 2026). Applicants also need an equivalent pre-registration or pre-enrolment qualification, registration in the country where they trained, a current practising licence, and relevant clinical practice in their home country within the preceding five years. SNB states that it does not work with employment agents. These are application conditions for foreign-trained applicants, not a general rule that all nursing applicants require an employer-sponsored route.

SNB and the healthcare Professional Boards secretariat

The Secretariat of healthcare Professional Boards (SPB) supports SNB with secretariat and operational functions from 1 January 2020, but SNB retains autonomy and independence over professional and statutory matters under the Nurses and Midwives Act (SNB, Secretariat of healthcare Professional Boards, accessed 31 August 2026). This division helps explain why application administration, fees or online services may be presented through a shared healthcare-professional platform while registration, professional standards and statutory decisions remain SNB matters. SNB should also not be collapsed into the Singapore Medical Council or Allied Health Professions Council: those boards regulate different professional groups under their own legislation.

The practical boundary is simple: SNB answers whether a person is authorised and professionally regulated as a nurse or midwife; hospitals and other healthcare institutions answer employment and service-delivery questions; MOH sets wider health policy; and the Nurses and Midwives Act supplies the legal framework. Current registration, renewal and foreign-trained application requirements should be checked on SNB's live pages because fees, forms and administrative instructions can change even when the Board's statutory role remains stable.