Kerala nurse: DHA exam and licence.

Who regulates what

The Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council (KNMC) describes itself as "an autonomous statutory body constituted by the Government of Kerala under the provisions of Nurses and Midwives Act 1953". Its listed functions include registration as RN and RM, reciprocal registration, renewal, and "Verification of Registration and Diploma certificates from authorities inside and outside India".

The Indian Nursing Council (INC) sets the national standard of training and runs the Nurses Registration and Tracking System (NRTS), which gives each nurse a National Unique Identity Number (NUID). INC says plainly that "The enrolment under NRTS is neither license nor registration given by INC", and that the RN or RM number from the state council is the legal licence to practise. So for DHA, the document that matters is your state registration, which for you is KNMC.

What KNMC publishes, and what we could not read

The council's working website is knmc.org. We read these pages on 16 October 2026. The home page links a guidance document for the good standing certificate, the verification certificate, duplicate certificates, the No Objection Certificate (NOC) and the migration certificate, and a separate notice about the good standing and verification fee. It also carries renewal notices and says the renewal instructions must be read before an online application.

We could not read the guidance document reliably. It is in Malayalam with a font encoding that did not extract, and we did not guess its contents. So this page lists no documents for the council, no steps and no amounts. Read the guidance on knmc.org yourself, and confirm on the council's site.

One more check. The Indian Nursing Council's list of state councils gives a different web address for Kerala (keralanursingcouncil.org). On 16 October 2026 that address showed a parked page, not the council. If you reach a site that is not knmc.org and asks for money or documents, stop and check the INC list again.

What DHA asks of a Kerala nurse

These are DHA's requirements from the PQR (April 2025) and the Licensing Manual. They are the same for every applicant, whatever the home state.

A Registered Nurse needs a bachelor's degree in nursing of at least three years full time and no experience for the title, subject to the gap of practice rules. An Assistant Nurse needs a diploma of nursing of not less than 18 months. If your qualification is a diploma, the PQR table's diploma row is Assistant Nurse. DHA's credentialing team decides your title, so use the Self-Assessment Tool. A nurse with a bachelor's degree who is licensed as an Assistant Nurse can apply to upgrade if the assistant experience has not exceeded five years.

You also need a valid registration in the country of last employment, a good standing certificate not older than six months when you apply, a valid Basic Life Support certificate, and your academic transcript, which DHA uses for credentialing. PSV through DataFlow covers your qualification, experience and registration. All documents not in English or Arabic need a legal translation.

The exam

The Registered Nurse exam (RNT0312) is 150 questions in 3 hours, including registration time, with a 50 percent pass score. DHA lists four content areas and no weights. DHA says the exam is in English and conducted in any Prometric centre across the globe, but it does not list centres. Whether there is a centre in Kerala, and when appointments are open, is not stated by DHA. We could not read Prometric's page, which blocks scripted access, so check it yourself.

Meddex has 919 questions tagged for nurses and full-length mocks of 150 questions, with the mock pass mark set to 50 percent. The ten study domains are Meddex's own split, not DHA's, and there is no Assistant Nurse or midwife material. None of this is a promise of a pass.

Where delays can come from, according to DHA's documents

These are the points DHA's own documents flag. They are not guesses about any council.

• A document that DataFlow cannot verify (an "unable to verify" result) can be sent for re-verification up to twice, and a discrepancy result once.
• A good standing certificate older than six months when you apply will not meet DHA's rule, so plan the order of steps around it.
• The name in your passport must match the name registered in Sheryan. If it does not, DHA says to contact it at least five days before the exam.
• DHA may reject an application if you do not respond for more than three months.
• A registration is valid for one year and has to be activated into a licence by a health facility.

Protect yourself

Start from official portals only.