When and how to check your primary medical qualification is acceptable
- Summary
- When we assess whether an overseas primary medical qualification is acceptable
- When and how to check your primary medical qualification is acceptable
- Our criteria for acceptable overseas qualifications
- Overseas medical qualifications we do not accept
Before you apply to take the PLAB test or to register with us, you must check we accept your qualification. If you take the PLAB test and later find we don’t accept your qualification, your PLAB fees will not be refunded.
If you make an application for registration, it will be closed while we assess your PMQ.
Your PMQ must satisfy all our criteria for overseas qualifications (on the next page of this guide) to be acceptable. The criteria may change over time, meaning a qualification we accept now may not always be acceptable. So it’s important you check this before you book a PLAB test place or apply for registration.
We do not accept qualifications from some institutions. And others we only accept qualifications from in certain cases, based on previous assessments against our criteria. If your awarding body is on either of these lists (in this guide), or is not listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools, you need to contact us with details of your PMQ and awarding body before you apply to take PLAB or to register with us.
We will assess your qualification as quickly as possible. But there can be delays while we get information from your awarding body.
It is at our discretion to determine which overseas qualifications we accept for registration and therefore you can’t appeal to us against our decision.
If we find your PMQ acceptable, you will need to meet all our registration requirements to be granted registration with a licence to practise.
As part of your registration application, your PMQ will need to be independently verified before we can grant you registration. Read about primary source verification.
