Experiences and motivations of international doctors who join the UK medical register and do not practise as a doctor in the UK
Why did we commission this research?
Our The state of medical education and practice in the UK: workforce report 2025 highlighted changes in trends amongst doctors joining UK practice from abroad. These included doctors taking longer to connect with a designated body and a significant minority relinquishing their licence to practise or leaving our register entirely without gaining employment.
We commissioned this research to better understand these trends in more detail, and to highlight the experiences and motivations of this group of doctors.
What were the key findings?
- The research found no evidence that internationally trained doctors join our register to secure employment in a different country.
- 79% of survey respondents said that the UK was the only location they were considering when they were thinking of a move to practise abroad.
- Lack of available jobs, high competition for vacancies and limited feedback from employers were among the barriers encountered by survey respondents.
- Interview participants felt there was a growing requirement for applicants to have prior NHS experience, which was challenging to obtain.
- Many survey respondents had given up their licence to practice but remained on the register as they still hoped to find work in the UK in the future.
- Many interview and survey participants believed that greater support should be provided to internationally qualified doctors during the process of applying for jobs.
What did the research involve?
We surveyed more than 850 internationally qualified doctors who had joined and subsequently left the register, or given up their licence to practise, without working as a doctor in the UK.
This was complemented by 30 qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of survey participants that explored some of the survey findings in greater detail. We also conducted six stakeholder interviews with representatives from medical bodies and organisations supporting international doctors.
