Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

Documents you must submit: evidence of qualifications (primary medical qualification) - page 3 of 9

You will be asked to provide details of your primary medical qualification.

You will need to first check that your primary medical qualification is accepted by the GMC. The GMC currently regards most, but not all, of the primary medical qualifications listed in the Avicenna Database (formerly the WHO Directory of medical schools) (opens in a new window) as acceptable for the purposes of registration with a licence to practise with the GMC.

Please note that the GMC's definition of an acceptable primary medical qualification was revised in September 2006. We strongly recommend that you read our guidance on acceptable primary medical qualifications (opens in a new window) for further information.

We will ask you to send us this document by post.

Internship

You will be asked to provide details of your pre-graduate or postgraduate internship. To be eligible for full registration you must have satisfactorily completed either Foundation Year 1 (F1) in the UK, or a period of pre-graduate or postgraduate clinical experience that provides an acceptable foundation for future practice as a fully registered and licensed medical practitioner. This will usually be referred to as an 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.

Once we receive your application, you will be asked to provide evidence of your internship. We will ask you to send us this document by post.

If you have completed your internship in the UK

You must submit as evidence:

  • a Certificate of Experience if you have completed the F1 programme
  • if you have not completed the F1 programme but have undertaken PRHO roles under limited registration and now wish to apply for full registration with a licence to practise you will need to provide consultant reports covering your last 12 months of experience. Download the consultant report form (112k, pdf)

If you have completed your internship overseas

You must submit as evidence:

  • a certificate of completion of your internship or a letter from your university or the hospital where you completed your experience confirming that you have completed your internship.

  • If you have completed a 10 month internship and taken an exit exam we will need to see proof that you have passed the exam.

The evidence must specify the dates and specialties of all rotations that you have undertaken.

You are reading the guidance for applying for registration for graduates from medical schools in countries outside the UK and EEA who have completed an internship and intend to take the PLAB test. If this is not the guidance you need, click here to return to the Applications menu.