Working and Living in Northern Ireland
There are around 6,500 social workers registered with NISCC to work in NI and approximately 70 of them are internationally qualified social workers (IQSWs) i.e. they completed their social work qualification outside of the United Kingdom.
Social workers who are trained and qualified in the European Economic Area (EEA) have the right to practise anywhere in the EEA as long as they are appropriately trained and qualified.
NISCC is committed to Directive 2005/36/EC and will ensure a transparent and fair approach is used to determine whether a social worker can gain NISCC registration and the right to practise in Northern Ireland. We will also apply the same standards and approach when assessing applications for registration made by social workers who qualified outside the EEA.
Moving to live and work in another country is complicated and some of our IQSWs have kindly shared some of the information they have learned on their journey to completing their NISCC registration and practising as a social worker in NI.