Information for people with professional qualifications

Many highly qualified people move to the UK with many years of experience in their chosen profession yet face barriers accessing the same type of work in this country. There are approximately 400 different professional member organisations, so it is impossible for this Toolkit to give specific advice on specific professions. Therefore, this section focusses on common threads.

Professional bodies and specialist programmes

Contact the professional body governing your area of work. These organisations aim is to maintain high standards within that profession. The organisations with the highest number of members are within healthcare, accountancy, engineering, and human resources.

For Teachers, there is a lot of information in one easy to access website put together by the Department for Education. Get Into Teaching also has a page dedicated to non-UK Teachers.

If you are a refugee and a doctor you may be eligible for help from the General Medical Council.

English language requirements

To work in your profession in the UK, you will require a very good level of English and most employers will require IELTS certification (International English Language Testing System). The test is recognised as the best indicator of a good ability to communicate in English and assesses listening, reading, writing, and speaking. The fee for IELTS is approximately £185 (price correct July 2022)

Some areas of work require subject specific language skills. If you are a medical professional and wish to work in the healthcare sector, you will also need to pass an OET (Occupational English Test). The fee for OET is approximately £320 (price correct June 2022.)

The Phoenix Project provides English language sessions and other support services to refugee and other displaced doctors.

UK-ENIC

As well as requiring a high level of English, some qualifications gained abroad are not given the same status in the UK. If you did not get your qualifications in the UK, they may not be recognised in this country.

UK ENIC is the UK National Information Centre for international qualifications and skills and provides an online service that compares overseas qualifications to the UK education system. The service provides a Statement of Comparability which is recognised by UK employers and universities.

The service costs around £50 + VAT (price correct July 2022)