SNB Licensure Exam Booking and Fees: From Job Offer to Test Appointment

The booking sequence from job offer to appointment

You cannot buy a seat for this exam as an individual. The route below is the one SNB describes for foreign-trained nurses. Each step depends on the one before, so a delay at the start moves everything.

1. Job offer. An eligible Singapore healthcare institution with inpatient services offers you a post. Before it can proceed, its HR confirms by email with SNB that it can employ foreign-trained nurses.
2. Employer application. HR submits the SNB examination application through NRS1.5, with your documents. SNB assesses the application and communicates its decision to the employer, not to you.
3. ATT. Pearson VUE emails you an Authorisation to Test. The ATT period is usually four months but can differ, so read the dates in your own email.
4. Pearson VUE account. Create an account with your name exactly as your employer submitted it. A mismatch can cost you your seat on the day.
5. Schedule and pay. Pick a date and test centre inside the ATT period. Pay by debit or credit card, or use a prepaid voucher that HR has bought.
6. Print your confirmation. SNB expects a printed copy of the confirmation email on test day.

Fees at a glance

These fees come from the SNB page titled Current prescribed SNB fees. The page shows no effective date, so we record the date we read it: 25 October 2026. Amounts are in Singapore dollars. The exam fee is quoted before the prevailing GST.

Two things about money are easy to miss. First, a prepaid voucher bought by HR is non-refundable and expires 12 months from the date of issue. Second, if you do not schedule the exam inside the ATT period, HR must submit a fresh application, and a new payment follows. The SNB pages do not say who bears the costs, so settle that with your employer before the application starts. MedPass Exams does not set or collect any of these fees.

How the ATT window works

The ATT is the permission slip. Without it you cannot schedule. With it you have a limited window, usually four months, in which to choose a date. If the window passes without a booked exam, the application lapses for practical purposes and your employer must start again.

Why the window matters for planning

Treat the window as a deadline for your preparation. If your ATT arrives while your study is half finished, you have two choices. You can book near the end of the window and use the time. Or you can book early and accept a free reschedule if you are not ready, provided you move the date more than 24 hours before. The second choice has a cost: each reschedule uses time inside a finite window.

Reading your own ATT email

Check four details when it arrives: the start and end dates of the window, the exact spelling of your name, the exam name (RN, not EN) and any instruction about the candidate ID. If any of these looks wrong, contact your HR contact first and Pearson VUE second, before you pay.

Rescheduling, cancelling and no-shows

Pearson VUE manages changes through your account. The rules below come from the SNB CBT FAQ dated 8 May 2025.

The gap between 24 and 48 hours deserves a note. The 24-hour limit is for rescheduling and the 48-hour limit is for cancelling. If you are unsure which applies to your case, treat 48 hours as the safe line and act earlier.

Test-day requirements that affect your booking

Your booking is only as good as your ID. The CBT FAQ and the Pearson VUE page set the following requirements.

• Original hard-copy passport. It must be government-issued, from your country of citizenship, in English, with photo and signature.
• Name match. The name on your passport must match the name your employer submitted to SNB.
• Arrival. Be at the centre 30 minutes before your appointment.
• Printed confirmation. Bring a printed copy of your confirmation email.
• Non-disclosure agreement. Accept it within five minutes of starting, or the exam ends.

Our exam day guide covers the morning in order. If your passport is close to expiry or your name has changed since you applied, tell HR before the application is submitted, not after.

A worked planning timeline

The SNB pages give no standard processing time for the employer application, so we cannot promise dates. The example below shows how to work backwards from a hiring date, using only the periods that are published. The assessment period is left as an unknown on purpose.

If your employer wants you to start work by a fixed date, count back from that date using the longest realistic range at each unpublished step, not the shortest. A plan that only works if everything is fast will fail the first time one step is slow.

Document readiness before the application

Delays in the employer application most often come from the documents, not from the exam. The SNB foreign-trained page lists a nursing transcript with theory and clinical hours, graduation certificates, the registration certificate, a current practising licence and evidence of past employment. A letter explaining any service gap of more than a year is also required. Documents not in English need a certified English translation. Registration and transcript checks are done directly with the home regulator or institution, and SNB prefers an email from the institution's official address to its verification mailbox.

Ask your home regulator and university early how long they take to reply and whether they charge. Those bodies work on their own timetable. Our eligibility guide has a checklist.

Checklist for the week you book

1. Read the ATT email and note the window end date in your calendar.
2. Confirm the exam is the RN examination, not the EN examination.
3. Match your Pearson VUE profile name to your passport.
4. Choose a centre you can reach 30 minutes early, allowing for transport delays.
5. Check that your passport is in date and the original is in your hands.
6. Pay, then save and print the confirmation email.
7. Set reminders at 48 hours and 24 hours before the exam.
8. Tell HR the date, so that leave and any prepaid voucher can be planned.

Common booking mistakes and how to avoid them

• Waiting for a "good" date and letting the ATT expire. Book inside the first half of the window.
• Using a different name spelling. Match the passport letter for letter.
• Assuming a voucher can be refunded. It cannot, and it expires after 12 months.
• Missing the cancellation window. Set a calendar reminder for 48 hours before.
• Travelling without a printed confirmation. Print it the day before.
• Planning the whole move around one date. A second attempt cannot be taken until six months after the first, so keep a fallback in your employment plan.

Where this fits in the wider process

Booking is the middle of the process. Before it comes eligibility. After it come the result, registration and, if needed, a retake. For an overview of all stages, see the exam hub. When you are ready to practise under timed conditions, the MedPass Exams question bank follows the SNB test plan.

What we cannot tell you

We cannot tell you when the next seat will be available at your nearest centre, because SNB does not publish a fixed sitting calendar and Pearson VUE shows availability only inside your account. We cannot confirm whether fees have changed since 25 October 2026. And we cannot promise that your employer will pay or reimburse the exam fee. Use the SNB fees page and your own ATT email as the final word.