Doing F1 overseas

Your medical school will oversee your F1 training

As a graduate from a UK medical school, F1 is still part of your basic medical education. Your medical school is therefore required to oversee your F1 training. When you complete your training, it is the medical school's or local foundation school's responsibility to sign off your certificate of experience. The certificate of experience is the evidence we’ll need to confirm that you’re eligible to apply for full registration.

If you’re thinking of taking your F1 year outside the UK, you must have the following in place before you do.

• Prior confirmation from your medical school that they support your overseas training (some medical schools will not support posts outside of the UK).
• Prior confirmation from your local foundation school/LETB/deanery that they will have oversight of the quality of your training (some postgraduate deans do not accept posts outside of the UK).
• Hold provisional registration with us while you're doing your approved overseas training
• Make sure that you’re appropriately registered with the relevant medical regulatory authority in the country where you’re planning on working.

Once your school has confirmed your overseas training, they will let us know. We’ll then grant approval for you to do your F1 training outside of the UK.

If your overseas training is not pre-approved

If your post isn’t pre-approved you won't be able to get a signed certificate of experience on completion of your training. This means you would not automatically be eligible to apply for full registration if you choose to return to the UK and work here in future.

In the future, we may able to consider any experience you have gained overseas, for the purposes of assessing your eligibility for full registration. But this would be entirely at the registrar’s discretion. There is no guarantee you would be able to apply for full registration on the basis of this experience.

You don't need provisional registration with us if you’re doing an overseas training post that hasn't been approved. Please be aware that if you take an unapproved post, you may only be eligible to apply for provisional registration if you plan to return to the UK and work in the future.

What should I do when I finish my approved overseas training post?

You should speak to your medical school and local education and training board or postgraduate dean. Ask them what evidence they need to confirm that you have completed your programme and met the same outcomes as the foundation programme curriculum. Once you have completed all their requirements, they will be able to complete your certificate of experience and you’ll be able to apply for full registration with us. 

Make sure you know what information you’ll need to get signed off before you start your overseas training post, as you should be gathering the evidence as you go through your training.

Taking time out from overseas training

If you want to take time out from an overseas training programme, you should inform your medical school and local education and training board or postgraduate dean about your break in practice. You should also give up your provisional registration and licence if you’re not practising, because you have a three year and 30 day limit to hold provisional registration.