Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

Applying for registration with a licence to practise - for graduates who have passed the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test

You have three months to submit your application from when you start it online. If you have not submitted your application after three months you will have to start a new one. Instructions on setting up your online account are given at the end of this guidance.

This guidance provides information for doctors who:

  • are nationals of countries outside the UK, European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland who graduated from medical schools outside the UK

OR

  • are UK nationals who graduated from medical schools outside the UK, EEA or Switzerland

AND

Once you have passed the PLAB test you can apply for full registration with a licence to practise if you have completed your internship overseas. If you have not passed the PLAB test please read our PLAB test guidance (opens in a new window).

For your first 12 months of full registration with a licence to practise you will be required to work within an approved practice setting. This means that you will only be able to work in settings that have been approved by the General Medical Council as having sufficiently supportive and quality assurance systems aimed at improving quality in place.

Find out more about approved practice settings (opens in a new window).

Please note: You must be granted registration with a licence to practise within three years of the date on which you passed Part 2 of the PLAB test.

Your next steps

  • Read this guidance (9 pages)
  • Log in to GMC Online, complete your application and pay your fee
  • Send copies of your supporting documentary evidence by post

There is more information about these steps on the following pages of this guidance.

If you think this guidance doesn’t apply to you please contact us.