Working as a Doctor in the UK or Ireland: Which Route Applies to Your Degree
If your medical degree was awarded in Spain or another European Economic Area country, you do not need PLAB to register with the GMC: there is a specific route, the Relevant European Qualification (REQ). If your degree comes from outside the EEA, the route is PLAB in the UK, and EPIC credential verification plus the PRES exam in Ireland. What decides your route is where the degree was awarded, not your nationality.
Which body registers you in each country, and what it requires
In the UK you are registered by the GMC (General Medical Council). A medical degree awarded in the EEA or Switzerland is classed as a Relevant European Qualification (REQ) and gives access to full registration without PLAB. For degrees from outside the EEA, the GMC accepts three ways of evidencing knowledge and skills: passing PLAB, holding a postgraduate qualification the GMC accepts, or sponsorship by a GMC-approved sponsor. In Ireland you are registered by the Irish Medical Council (IMC): qualifications obtained in the EU or EEA are recognised without examination, while those from elsewhere require credential verification through EPIC — run by ECFMG — and, in most cases, the PRES exam. The same doctor may need no exam in either country, or an exam in both.
Identify where your degree was earned
Your nationality is not what matters — the university is. A degree earned in Spain, Italy, France, Poland or Romania is an EEA degree even if you are Colombian or Venezuelan by origin.
Check which passport you work on
The passport determines the visa, not the professional licence. In the UK doctors enter through the Health and Care Worker route; in Ireland, EU citizenship removes the need for a work permit.
Confirm the language requirement
The GMC requires IELTS Academic 7.5 overall with a minimum of 7.0 per section, or OET Medicine with a B in each sub-test. Exemption depends on where your training was delivered, not on your actual fluency.
Build the file once
Degree, academic transcript, certified experience, current licence or registration and a certificate of good standing serve both routes. What changes is the required format, not the content.
Which route applies, by where your degree was awarded
Spanish, Italian or French doctor with an EU degree
You do not need PLAB. Your qualification is a Relevant European Qualification for the GMC and gives access to full registration through that route. In Ireland, the IMC recognises it without examination. What is still required is evidence of your knowledge of English and documentary verification. What Brexit changed was automatic recognition of specialist qualifications, not of the primary medical degree.
Eastern European doctor with an EEA degree
Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Czechia award EEA degrees with the same standing as a Spanish one, so the same REQ route applies at the GMC and the same exam-free recognition at the IMC. What matters is that your qualification is listed as a recognised one for the awarding country and that the documentation evidences the full programme.
Latin American doctor with European citizenship
Two different things coexist here: your European passport solves the visa, but if your degree was earned in Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina or Peru it remains a non-EEA degree. For the GMC, that means the PLAB route. For the IMC, EPIC verification and, in most cases, the PRES exam. Nationality does not change where a degree comes from.
Latin American doctor already recognised in Spain
The strongest starting point of all. Your file is already built, apostilled and translated, and a significant part carries over as is. It is specific enough to deserve its own guide, and we cover it separately.
The UK and Ireland, compared
| United Kingdom (GMC) | Ireland (IMC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Regulator | General Medical Council | Irish Medical Council |
| EEA or Swiss degree | REQ route, no PLAB | Recognised without examination |
| Non-EEA degree | PLAB 1 and PLAB 2 | EPIC verification (ECFMG) and PRES exam |
| English | IELTS Academic 7.5 overall with 7.0 per section, or OET Medicine B | IELTS Academic or OET as required by the IMC |
| Visa | Health and Care Worker: reduced fees, health surcharge exemption | EU citizenship: no work permit needed |
The order in which to request each document, and which ones expire
The two documents that expire soonest are the certificate of good standing and the certificate of professional standing. If you request them at the start, they are likely to expire before the rest of the file is complete, forcing you to request and pay for them again. The correct sequence is: language first, credential verification next, and short-validity certificates last. Gathering documents in the wrong order is the most common reason files stall.
We build the file, you choose the destination
We analyse your degree, tell you which route applies, and handle credential verification, registration and all documentation. You do not chase paperwork: you hire us and we run the process.
Start my UK registration processCommon questions
Do I need PLAB if I am a Spanish doctor?+
No. A medical degree awarded in Spain is a Relevant European Qualification (REQ) for the General Medical Council, and that route gives access to full registration without passing PLAB. PLAB is the route for qualifications awarded outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland. What the GMC does require from a Spanish doctor is evidence of knowledge of English and documentary verification of the qualification. The automatic recognition that changed with Brexit was that of specialist qualifications, not of the primary medical degree.
Does a Spanish doctor need an exam to work in Ireland?+
No. The Irish Medical Council recognises medical qualifications obtained in the EU or EEA without examination, so PRES does not apply to a Spanish degree. Formal IMC registration, a complete documentary file and language evidence where the body requires it are still mandatory.
I hold Spanish citizenship but studied medicine in Colombia. Which route applies?+
Citizenship solves the visa, not the qualification. Your degree remains non-EEA, so the GMC directs you to the PLAB route and the Irish Medical Council to credential verification through EPIC, run by ECFMG, plus the PRES exam in most cases. It is the most common confusion among those who obtained European citizenship after graduating.
Does the same documentation work for both the UK and Ireland?+
The core does: degree, transcript, experience certificates, current licence or registration and certificate of good standing. What changes is the format, the translation and the verification circuit. That is why it is worth requesting several legalised sets at once if you are considering both destinations.
Can I apply to both countries in parallel?+
Yes, and for some profiles it makes sense so you do not depend on a single timeline. The practical condition is that each body requires its own documentary set, so it should be planned from the start rather than duplicated later.
Does the UK visa salary threshold rule doctors out?+
Not in practice. Roles on national NHS pay scales are governed by that scale rather than the general Skilled Worker threshold, and the Health and Care Worker route keeps reduced fees and exemption from the immigration health surcharge. The bottleneck for an international doctor in the UK is documentary and linguistic, not immigration-related.