Registering as a doctor – graduates from medical schools in countries outside the UK and EEA who have an acceptable post graduate qualification
This section provides registration 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
- do not have EC rights (33kb,
pdf)
AND
- hold an acceptable primary medical qualification (PMQ)
AND
- have a UK or international postgraduate qualification recognised by the GMC
OR
- have a letter from a UK medical Royal College confirming that an international qualification is equivalent to its own qualification.
For your first 12 months of full registration 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.
For more information on approved practice settings, please see our page on approved practice settings
(opens in a new window).
Your application will be an online application. At the end of this guidance you will be given a link to enter our secure web portal which is called MyGMC.
Your steps to registration
- Read this guidance (14 pages)
- Set up a MyGMC account
- Log in to MyGMC, complete your application and pay your fee
- Send copies of your supporting documentary evidence by post
- Visit one of our offices for an identity check
There is more information about these steps on the following pages of this guidance.
Important licensing information
The licence to practise will be introduced on 16 November 2009. To practise medicine after licensing begins, doctors will, by law, need to be registered with a licence to practise. All newly registered and newly restored doctors will automatically be granted a licence to practise when licensing is introduced. You can find out more in our licensing and revalidation guidance.

