Using your primary medical qualification

We can sometimes accept your primary medical qualification as evidence of your knowledge of English.

Is your primary medical qualification from an acceptable institution?

If your primary medical qualification was awarded by a university on the list below, you can't use it as evidence. You will need to submit other evidence as detailed in this guide.

If your awarding body does not appear on the list, we may accept your degree as evidence of your knowledge of English if it meets the criteria below.

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Please note that if your awarding body does not appear on the list, it does not mean that we will accept a letter from it as evidence of English. We will assess it and may accept it as evidence of your knowledge of English if it meets the criteria below.

When can you use your primary medical qualification as acceptable evidence?

We may accept your primary medical qualification if it:

  • is less than two years old when you apply for registration, and
  • was taught and examined solely in English.

You'll need to email us a letter or certificate from your university or medical college that confirms:

  • all of the course, including clinical activities, was taught and examined solely in English
  • at least 75% of any course related clinical interaction, including personal contact with patients, their families and other healthcare professionals, was conducted in English i.e. without any translation support 
  • the date you passed your final exam

Please email this letter or certificate to us with confirmation of whether you have taken the academic IELTS test or the OET (medicine version). If you have, please provide your Test Report Form if you’ve sat IELTS, or your candidate number if you’ve sat OET.

Also, if you sat your final exam more than two years ago you’ll need to email us references from all your employers for the last two years confirming your English language capability.

We'll only accept references from countries where the first and native language is English.

You do not need to provide us with the above evidence if:

If you can't meet these criteria, you can't use your primary medical qualification as evidence of your knowledge of English. Keep reading this guide to see if you can submit other evidence. Or you may wish to sit either IELTS or the OET.