BNLE (Bahrain Nursing Licensing Exam)

On 14-06-2024 | Read time about 6 Minutes

What is Bahrain Nursing Licensure Exam (BNLE)? 

If you intend to work as a registered General Nurse in the Kingdom of Bahrain, all nurses must pass the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) BNLE exam.

BNLE exam eligibility for nurses

To apply for BNLE exam, you must have:

A recognized Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing
Minimum of four (4) academic years educational program duration or Diploma/Associate Degree in Nursing – OR Minimum of 3 years educational program duration or Diploma in Nursing and Midwifery Degree OR Minimum of 3 ½ academic years educational program duration.
A minimum of 1 year clinical experience post qualification and registration (for non-Bahrainis).

BNLE Bahrain Nursing Exam

Bahrain nursing licensing exam (BNLE) is an electronic computer-based exam with a total time of 2 hrs 30 minutes .

(The examination's seating time is 3 hrs. Actual examination time is 2.5 hrs.)

BNLE Bahraini nursing exam results

The examination results will be emailed to the candidates via their registered email within 24 hours of completion of their examination.

The pass score is set at 60% for Bahrain nursing exam. There is no negative marking in the exam.

Bahraini nursing exam total number of Attempts

Nurses have a total of four examination attempts provided the following conditions are adhered to:

You may attempt the exam four consecutive times provided the attempts are done within a maximum of three years from the date of the first attempt.
Bahraini nurses who d not pass after the fourth attempt, are required to go through a period of training in a licensed health care facilities accredited by NHRA for minimum six months.
After proof of completion of training, two more consecutive exam attempts may be permitted provided that the attempts are within two years from the date of completion of training.

Bahrain Nursing exam (BNLE) Result Validity

The validity of the Bahrain license examination is 5 years.

Bahrain prometric exam fees

	Amt in USD	Amt in BHD
Dataflow		BHD 136
Prometric		BHD 20
Registration	289	BHD 70

Break or Gap in practice (applies to Bahrainis ONLY)

Nurses who have not been working in clinical practice for at least 3 years, but wishes to be licensed in the Kingdom of Bahrain are required to pass the NHRA licensure assessment as the first step to obtain the license to practice and must undertake the following actions:

Apply directly to take the NHRA licensing exam if passed the first exam attempt professional will obtain a license to practice and work under the supervision of a licensed professional in same profession for one year.
A professional who fails in the first exam attempt will be required to go through CPD credits and a clinical training program and must follow the requirements below:

All training programs CPD credits shall be carried out in an approved practice setting by NHRA in: -
- (6) months of training on a full-time basis (7 hours a day/ 5 days a week).
- 100 CME/CPD credits.
.All Nurses are required to complete a training program which shall be determined by NHRA in the specialty field
- Nurses after completion of CPD credits, and the clinical training are required to re-attempt the NHRA licensure exam. Once passed, the professional will obtain a license to practice and work under the supervision of a licensed professional for one year.

Non-Bahraini nationals will not be able to apply for a license if they have a gap of clinical practice of three (3) years and above.

BNLE Application and Registration

NHRA only accepts complete application submitted through the online system MEHAN.

A license application is considered complete if the following documents are submitted: Invitation: an invitation should be done by the facility through the electronic system (munshaat.nhra.bh), the professional will receive an invitation email with a link to MEHAN (mehan.nhra.bh). then he should sing up and complete the new application request.

The following documents are required for new license applications:

Verification report through one of the following companies (Dataflow\Quadra bay): (Verification of ALL qualifications, full experience, good standing certificate and license)
Good standing certificate from licensing authority of last country of practice (should not be older than 6 months)
Curriculum Vitae (C.V)
Copy of attested education certificate
Work experience certificates
Copy of the valid license from the licensing authority from last country of practice
Copy of valid passport
Passport size photo with white background
Application submission fees 20 BD

Process: Once a decision is reached, the applicant will be notified through the online system:

If the applicant needs to pass the licensure exam, the eligibility code will be sent through the online system. The applicant must upload the exam result through the online system (please refer to Licensure Examination Guide for further details about the examination).
If the application is approved a letter addressed to the Labor Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) will be issued.
If an application is rejected, the reason for the rejection will be detailed in the online system.

After the applicant obtains the work permit from LMRA, the following documents must be uploaded through the online system for the license to be issued:

Copy of CPR
Health fitness certificate from a licensed facility in Bahrain

Upon submission of the health fitness and CPR, the application will be approved if the applicant is found fit. A notice to pay will be generated automatically through the online system MEHAN.

Once the payment is made online, the electronic license will be issued in the applicant’s account in MEHAN.