Overseas applicants
What you need to know if you trained outside the UK, or are applying from abroad.
Start with the equivalence route
If you trained overseas, apply through the equivalence route. A later UK qualification does not automatically remove the requirements that relate to your original overseas qualification.
If you have mixed training and are unsure which qualification applies, ask the RCT.
Applying from outside the UK
You must be based in the UK to apply. You meet this if you are employed in the UK in a role relevant to your scope of practice, or if you have a confirmed UK job. If you are applying from abroad with a job offer, send a signed copy of your job description with your application.
- Proposers. You need two UK-based proposers. One must be your prospective line manager or head of department. The other must be able to comment on your scope and level of practice. At least one proposer should hold relevant professional registration, for example RCT, HCPC, EngC, GMC or NMC.
- Supervision. If your new role is a supervised or training post, your employer arranges the supervision. The RCT does not approve posts. There is no minimum period of supervised UK practice.
- Evidence of practice. Practice outside the UK is accepted as evidence on the same basis as UK practice.
- Documents. Send your transcript and course curriculum with your application, not before.
- English language. You need your English language test result when you apply. See the requirements below.
- Guidance. Before you apply, the RCT’s guidance is limited to the requirements published on this website. Once you are ready to submit, the RCT can discuss your application with you.
- After you register. RCT registration applies to practice in the UK only. If you later move overseas to work for a short, fixed period, this is treated as a career break. If you move indefinitely or for more than a couple of years, your registration lapses and you return through the removal and restoration policy.
Qualification comparison
Provide a UK ENIC statement of comparability for each overseas qualification you submit. The statement compares your qualification with UK levels, and the RCT uses the FHEQ level it states. It is not evidence of English language ability.
English language evidence
The role of the RCT is to keep the public and patients safe. Therefore, the RCT requires a specific standard of English language proficiency to ensure that miscommunication between registrants and patients is prevented.
If you trained overseas and are not from a country the UK Home Office recognises as majority English-speaking, you must provide evidence of your English language ability.
You are exempt if you are a British citizen and provide proof, such as a UK passport, or if you have completed an undergraduate degree at a UK university and provide a certified copy of your certificate.
A UK Master’s degree or other postgraduate course does not exempt you if you were primarily educated and trained in a country that is not majority English-speaking. University entry requirements for postgraduate study are less rigorous than the RCT’s English language standards. Being taught in English does not, by itself, exempt you. Your current employment or employment history, including work in the NHS, does not exempt you either. If you are not exempt, there is no substitute for an IELTS or OET result: the RCT does not accept any other evidence of English language ability.
Check the Home Office country guidance.
The RCT accepts the following tests: