Evidence of fitness to practise

You will be asked to provide details of your registration and licensing for all the medical regulatory authorities of any countries where you have practised or have held registration or a licence in the last five years, even if you have not practised there.

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.

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

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 (PDF).

If you have undertaken any clinical attachments or observer-ships in the UK or overseas in the last five years that lasted longer than two months, you will need to obtain an employer reference form to cover each clinical attachment or observer-ship.

If you have been employed in a non medical capacity in the UK or overseas in the last five years, you will need to ask your employer(s) to complete the non medical employer reference form (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 your application is approved.

Below are examples of typical patterns of work experience and the evidence we request to cover them;

Example 1

Start Date	Finish Date	Experience	Evidence
21/08/05	29/08/07	Children’s Hospital, Andhra Pradesh, India	CGS from Andhra Pradesh Medical Council*
30/08/07	1/11/08	Maternity Hospital, Tamil Nadu, India	CGS from Tamil Nadu State Medical Council*
2/11/08	To date	Phlebotomist, UK	Employer’s Reference to cover non medical employment

*In this example, rather than obtaining a CGS from each state medical council, the doctor could obtain a CGS from the Medical Council of India.

 

Example 2

Start Date	Finish Date	Experience	Evidence
20/11/04	30/11/06	Hospital X, Pakistan	CGS from Pakistan Medical and Dental Council
1/12/06	30/03/06	Vacation	None required
31/03/06	31/12/06	Hospital Y, Russia	As there is no regulatory authority in Russia an employer’s reference is needed to cover this period
01/01/07	31/12/07	Hospital Z, Pakistan	The CGS from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council must cover this and the previous period of experience
01/12/07	01/06/2007	Studying for USMLE exams, USA	None required
02/06/2007	01/06/2008	Paramedic, USA	Employer’s Reference to cover non medical work outside UK
02/06/2008	To date	Care Assistant, UK	Employer’s Reference to cover non medical employment

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, please contact us for advice.

To be classed as a refugee, for the purposes of being registered with a licence to practise, 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 confirming you have been granted refugee status under one of the categories above.