Important information for International Medical Graduates
This guidance sets out our requirements for registration with a licence to practise for International Medical Graduates (IMGs).
You need to read this guidance if you are:
- A national of a country outside the UK, European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland who graduated from a medical school outside the UK
OR
- A UK national who has graduated from a medical school outside the UK, EEA or Switzerland
AND
Employment Prospects
We strongly recommend that before you apply for the PLAB test, specialist or GP certification or registration with a licence to practise that you find out whether you have a realistic chance of obtaining the kind of job you want.
The job market in the UK is very competitive and you should think very carefully about whether you are willing to take the risks involved in competing for posts.
Information about the number of applicants for posts categorised by specialty and location can be found at the British Medical Journal Careers website and guidance called ‘Working and training in the National Health Service – A guide for IMGs’ can be found on the NHS Employers website.
Help with registration fees for refugee doctors living in the UK
If you are a refugee doctor seeking registration in the United Kingdom, you may be eligible for a discount on the fees you must pay to register with the GMC. Please see our
Help for refugee doctors page for further guidance.
IMG doctors are eligible for two types of registration: provisional registration with a licence to practise and full registration with a licence to practise. If you have completed an acceptable internship either overseas or in the UK you will be eligible for full registration with a licence to practise.
If you have not completed an acceptable internship you will be eligible for provisional registration with a licence to practise. Provisional registration with a licence to practise is granted for the purpose of completing an acceptable programme for provisionally registered and licensed doctors. In the UK, this is the Foundation Programme Year 1 (F1).
Please note:
The purpose of provisional registration is to enable you to participate in and complete an acceptable programme for provisionally registered doctors.
The only acceptable programme for provisionally registered doctors that the GMC has recognised is the Foundation Programme.
Provisionally registered doctors are only permitted to take up F1 posts in the Foundation Programme. To do so you must also hold a licence to practise.
The Foundation Programme is a 12 month programme which must meet the requirements set out in the GMC's guidance The Trainee Doctor (pdf).
If you are appointed to a Locum Appointment for Training (LAT) post the postgraduate deanery or foundation school must be involved in recruiting you to that post and the post must be part of a programme. They will also ensure that the arrangements for signing the Certificate of Experience are clear.
The Certificate of Experience provides evidence that you meet the requirements for full registration. It must be signed by the University or their designated representative in the postgraduate deaneries or foundation schools.
Locum appointments for service (LAS) posts must not be undertaken by provisionally registered doctors.
Once you are registered you have an obligation under Good Medical Practice to keep up to date with and adhere to the laws and codes of practice relevant to your work - paragraph 13 refers. This includes working within the scope of your registration and only undertaking posts that your registration allows. Serious or persistent failure to follow Good Medical Practice will put your registration at risk.
Please note that in order to undertake any other posts, including Foundation Year 2, you must hold full registration.
If you have completed an acceptable internship you are only eligible for full registration.
To obtain registration with a licence to practise you will need to provide evidence of all of the following:
Acceptable primary medical qualifications
Your primary medical qualification must be acceptable to us for the purpose of registration with a licence to practise.
For information about our criteria and details of qualifications that are not acceptable please read our guidance on acceptable primary medical qualifications.
English language capability
This will normally be demonstrated by achieving the required results in the academic version of the IELTS test: an overall band score of 7 and a minimum score of 7 in each of the areas tested (speaking, reading, writing and listening). Your IELTS test will only be considered valid for a period of two years.
In some circumstances you may be able to provide alternative evidence of your English language capability, please refer to our English language requirements guidance for further information.
Fitness to Practise
As part of your application you will be asked to complete a fitness to practise declaration. It is important that you answer this honestly and provide further information for any question you answer ‘yes’ to. Please see our guidance on the declaration of fitness to practise for further information.
Registration and Licensing history
You will be asked to provide details of your registration or licensing for all the medical regulatory authorities of any countries where you have practised or have held registration or a licence in the last five years.
Please note: we require details of each medical regulatory authority that you have been registered or licensed with, even if you have not practised under their jurisdiction.
Certificates of Good Standing
You will be asked to provide a Certificate of Good Standing (CGS) from each of the medical regulatory authorities that you have listed.
In cases where you are no longer registered or licensed, this may be known as a certificate of past good standing.
Certificates of Good Standing can take some time to arrive, please ensure you have all CGS before you apply for registration with a licence to practise.
Further guidance on CGS can be found in our application guidance.
Knowledge and skill
You will be asked to provide evidence of your medical knowledge and skill. This can be provided in one of four ways:
- A pass in the PLAB test
For more information please see our PLAB Test guidance (opens in a new window). A pass in the PLAB test is only valid for three years. Please note that you must have been granted registration with a licence to practise by the third anniversary of your PLAB 2 exam or you will need to re-sit the PLAB test.
- An acceptable postgraduate qualification (PGQ)
Details of the UK and international qualifications that we accept can be found in our acceptable PGQ guidance. If your qualification is not on this list we will also accept a letter from a UK medical Royal College confirming that an international qualification is equivalent to its own qualification. Please note that you must be granted full registration with a licence to practise within three years of passing your postgraduate qualification or it will no longer be acceptable.
- Sponsorship by an approved sponsor
The GMC has a list of organisations and individuals approved to sponsor doctors for the purpose of full registration with a licence to practise. If your sponsor is not on this list then you cannot apply using sponsorship as evidence of your knowledge and skill. For further details please see our list of approved sponsors.
- Eligibility for entry onto the Specialist Register or the GP Register
You must have been found eligible to apply for entry onto the Specialist or GP Registers. For more information see our Specialist and GP Certification section.
Experience
If you are applying for full registration with a licence to practise you will also need to provide evidence that you have gained experience necessary for practising as a fully registered medical practitioner in the UK.
To be eligible for full registration with a licence to practise you must have satisfactorily completed either F1 in the UK, or a period of pre-graduate or postgraduate clinical experience. This period of clinical experience will usually be referred to as an internship. You will be asked to provide details of your pre-graduate or postgraduate internship.
To be acceptable your internship must be either:
- A 12 month programme that includes a minimum of three months in surgery and three months in medicine or
- a programme of at least 10 months duration that includes a minimum of three months in surgery and three months in medicine which also includes an additional period of study of up to two months in order to prepare for an exit exam, together with successful completion of all exit examinations or
- The equivalent of two years full time post qualification experience at a publicly funded hospital in at least two branches of medicine and/or surgery.
Approved practice settings
For your first 12 months of full registration with a licence to practise you will be required to work within an approved practice setting.
For more information on approved practice settings, please see our guidance on approved practice settings.
The guidance you are reading is to help you understand your next steps to apply for registration with a licence to practise before you decide to work in the UK. You can find step by step instructions on the application process in our application guidance.
You should not attempt to complete your application without reading the application guidance thoroughly to make sure you have all the documentation you need. If you submit your application before you have all the documentation you need this will delay the processing of your application.
Useful website links section
Links to some useful websites providing information for internationally medical graduates, refugee or asylum seeking doctors can be found in our fees section.