GMC registration and a license to practice is the ultimate thing you need to work as a doctor in the UK. How to get GMC registration? There are three different ways you can get GMC registration:

1. Passing the PLAB Exams
2. Obtaining any acceptable post-graduate qualification
3. Sponsored by a GMC approved sponsor

We will discuss all of these routes with special attention to step by step guidance on how to apply for GMC registration online after passing PLAB 2.

Passing the PLAB exams

This is by far the most taken route by International Medical graduates, especially junior doctors. If you want an overview of how to become a doctor in the UK via this PLAB route, please check this out, Planning your PLAB journey.

If you have just completed PLAB 2 and looking out for how the GMC registration process works, you’re in the right place. Congratulations, first! Your hard work and determination has paid off. Now let’s proceed.

How to apply for GMC registration

I hope you have already read about Evidences needed for GMC registration application, to get an idea on what documents you need to send after you make the application.

Steps of making the online application

It all starts from the root, your GMC online account. After having your results of PLAB 2 published there, you can submit an application right then.

• Go to “My Registration” > “My Application”.
• Continue with Application.
• You’ll see “IMG2” pathway of applying after passing PLAB 2. Click Apply.
• No to the EC right. (Yes, if it applies. Check here further for EC rights in GMC)
• No for specialist / GP register. (you will be applying for these after you have sufficient training or CCT/CESR in the UK)
• If you’ve completed an internship? Yes.
• Then input your internship details. It’s better to divide into specialties here or as it shows in your internship completion certificate.
• Then they check your name. Don’t overlook that NO to other names. It will take you to the next page after you confirm that the details aren’t different.
• The next one, “Your Recent Professional Experience”, is pretty challenging and a lot of applicants have trouble filling the information correctly according to how the website wants it. In this section whenever anything that is marked required but not relevant, e.g hours of work during your vacation- you write “Not Applicable” or “N/A”. You can’t leave any required field blank.
• Here’s how to tackle it:
  • Go back 5 years from the present date. Your first entry should start from that date. (Instead of choosing from the calendar every time, you can simply type the dates in dd/mm/yyyy format)
  • I was a medical student on that date. If that’s the case for you too then the first entry’s ending date is when you obtained your PMQ and you were studying there in your medical college as a medical student.
  • Be very thorough in stating everything you did over the last five years, even to the dates. Like if your last entry’s ending date was 12/07/2016, next entry’s starting date should be 13/07/2016.
  • You mention your internship here as one continuous year (if it was). No need to divide it into separate specialties (You can write the names of the specialties separated by commas)
  • You enter all your employment or attachment history.
  • Your last entry’s ending date should the date you selected in the beginning.

Remember, don’t feel reluctant to mention a professional experience, just because you think it will be a hassle to gather evidence for that.  If you do that, you are technically violating the core guidance of Good Medical Practice on honesty and integrity.  If found, you may be banned from applying for GMC registration.

• Next page is your “Registration and licensing history”. After you choose the country, the page will reload to give you the option to choose the medical regulatory authority of that country. You fill it up as it applies to your case.
• Now starts their long interrogation about your “Fitness to Practice” and in most cases, I hope, all the answers are NO. I read through all the questions, and I suggest you do that too.
• Finally, the declaration page appears. You check the box and proceed to payment.

I hope you already know how much you’ll have to pay. If you don’t, please check this page of GMC Fees.

You will receive a detailed email of which papers to send to GMC with elaborate instructions required to complete your further registration process upon confirmation of your payment.

Check this post to know further about evidences needed for GMC registration and how to obtain them.

Obtaining acceptable PG Qualification

Please look here, acceptable postgraduate qualification, to see if your post-graduate qualification is accepted by GMC, for you to apply for registration and license to practice without taking the PLAB exams.

If your degree is there, your next steps will be:

• Getting the required score in IELTS/OET
• Opening a GMC online account
  How to open GMC online account might help.
• Verifying you PGQ and PMQ verified by EPIC.
  Have a look here for further instruction about the process. EPIC for GMC registration.
• Making an online application from your GMC online account.
  Just as outlined above.
• Waiting for approval of your application
• Attending an ID check

Sponsored by a GMC approved sponsor

Few doctors who meet up the stringent criteria for being sponsored can get GMC registration by this pathway. Widely known is the Medical Training Initiative (MTI). Read the post for further information and guidance.

To conclude, GMC will try to complete/close your application within three months. If you are stuck with any forms or evidences, the first place you can seek help is from themselves. If you call them, they are really helpful and ready to guide you in your application process every step of the way. And another big advice, honesty is the best policy! Do not lie or submit falsified documents. Maybe what you have “heard” or you are worried about is nothing to worry about at all. Ask them!

Congratulations again.
Good luck on Applying for jobs in the NHS!