Registering as a doctor – page 4 of 9

Documents you must submit: Certificate of Good Standing

You will be asked to provide details of your registration for all the medical regulatory authorities of any countries where you have practised or have held registration in the last five years.

Please note that we require details of each medical regulatory authority that you have been registered with, even if you have not practised in that jurisdiction.

Certificates of Good Standing (CGS) that you provide from countries that you are no longer working in must cover all of your experience in that country, otherwise you will be asked to provide an up to date CGS which will delay your application.

We will need to see a Certificate of Good Standing from each of the medical regulatory authorities that you have listed.

In cases where you are no longer registered, this may be known as a certificate of past good standing.

The certificate of good standing must confirm that

• you are entitled to practise medicine in the appropriate country AND
• you were not disqualified, suspended or prohibited from practising medicine AND
• the regulatory authority is not aware of any matters that call into question your good standing.

If there is no medical regulatory authority in the country to issue Certificates of Good Standing or Past Good Standing, you will need to ask your employer(s) in each of those countries to complete the employer reference form (79kb, pdf).

Certificates of Good Standing and employer references are only valid for three months from the date that they are issued and must be valid on the date that registration is approved.

You can find out who the medical regulatory authority is for each country, and their contact details, in our certificate of good standing contact database (opens in a new window).

Please ensure that you have obtained a CGS from all medical regulators that you have worked under or been registered with in the last five years before submitting your application. This will help us to assess your application as quickly as possible.

If you are unable to get a CGS or employers reference because you have not worked in the last five years we will ask for other evidence of your good standing. If this applies to you please contact us and we will advise you what evidence you need to send.

We will ask you to send us these documents by post.

If you are a refugee

We realise you may not be able to provide us with the appropriate Certificates of Good Standing. If that is the case, then you will need to provide us instead with a structured character reference (33kb,pdf) from a medical practitioner who is registered with the GMC. If you are unable to obtain a structured character reference please contact us for advice. Structured character references are only valid for three months from the date that they are signed. 

To be classed as a refugee for the purposes of registration you must be granted refugee status under one of the following categories;

• Refugee status (having been recognised as a refugee under the 1951 United Nations Convention).
• Indefinite leave to remain (with refugee status).
• Indefinite leave to enter (with refugee status).
• Exceptional leave to remain (granted prior to 1 April 2003).
• Humanitarian leave to remain (also known as humanitarian protection, granted on or after 1 April 2003).
• Discretionary leave to remain (with no restrictions on working, granted on or after 1 April 2003).

You will also need to submit your Home Office letter or Immigration Status Document confirming you have been granted refugee status under one of the categories above.