Professional Registration in the UK for Immigrants: How to Get Licensed

Many professions in the UK require registration with a professional body before you can practise. This guide explains which professions are regulated, how to register, and what overseas-qualified professionals need to do.

Checked 9 March 202611 min readWritten by the Rowan Editorial Team

Section: Practical Life in the UK
Reading time: 11 min
Last checked: 9 March 2026
Source: The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
Rowan does not: Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.

In short

A regulated profession is one you cannot practise, or whose title you cannot use, without being on a register.
The main health regulators are the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the General Dental Council, the General Pharmaceutical Council and the Health and Care Professions Council.
Some regulators set an examination for people qualified abroad. Each publishes its own route, fees and timescales.
UK ENIC issues statements of comparability for academic qualifications. It is run by Ecctis Limited: one service, two names.
Registration is separate from the visa. A sponsor can employ you only in the job on the certificate of sponsorship, and if that job needs registration, the registration has to be in place before you do it.

If you are coming to the UK to work in a regulated profession, you must be on the right register before you practise. Each regulator publishes its own route for people qualified abroad, its own fees and its own timescales — this guide names the regulators and does not invent the numbers. It also sets out what UK ENIC does, and how registration sits alongside a sponsored visa.

What Is a Regulated Profession?

A regulated profession is one where you must be registered with a specific body and meet set standards before you can use a professional title or practise. In the UK, regulation protects the public by ensuring professionals meet minimum competency standards.

If your profession is regulated and you work without registration, you could face criminal penalties. However, many professions in the UK are unregulated, meaning anyone can work in them without specific registration (though employers may still prefer qualified candidates).

Key Regulated Professions and Their Bodies

Healthcare

Doctors: the General Medical Council. A doctor qualified abroad normally has to sit the PLAB test or hold a qualification the council accepts. The assessment arrangements have been changing, so take the current route from the council itself. See our guide on Skilled Worker visas for doctors.
Nurses and midwives: the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Its route for someone trained abroad has two parts: a computer-based test of competence, and a practical examination called an objective structured clinical examination. See Skilled Worker visas for nurses.
Dentists and dental care professionals: the General Dental Council.
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians: the General Pharmaceutical Council in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has its own regulator, the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland.
Other health and care professionals: the Health and Care Professions Council, which covers physiotherapists, paramedics, radiographers, occupational therapists, dietitians and others.
Social workers in England: Social Work England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own social care register.

Legal

Solicitors in England and Wales: the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The route is the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, and a lawyer already qualified abroad may be exempt from part of it.
Barristers in England and Wales: the Bar Standards Board.
Scotland and Northern Ireland are separate legal jurisdictions with their own professions and regulators. Qualifying in England and Wales does not qualify you in Scotland.

Other Professions

Teachers in England: the Teaching Regulation Agency, which awards qualified teacher status and keeps the register. Scotland uses the General Teaching Council for Scotland, Wales the Education Workforce Council, and Northern Ireland the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland.
Accountants: general accountancy is not a regulated profession, and anyone may call themselves an accountant. Two parts of it are regulated: statutory audit and insolvency practice both require a licence from a recognised supervisory body. Chartered status through a body such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants or the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants is a professional qualification rather than a licence to practise. See Skilled Worker visas for accountants.
Engineers: engineering is not a regulated profession in the UK, and you do not need registration to work as an engineer. The Engineering Council keeps the register of chartered and incorporated engineers, through the professional institution for your discipline, and the protected part is the title rather than the work. See Skilled Worker visas for engineers.
Architects: the Architects Registration Board. "Architect" is a protected title in law: using it without registration is an offence.

The Registration Process

While every regulator has its own process, the general steps are:

Check eligibility: Visit the regulator's website to understand the requirements for overseas-qualified applicants.
Gather documents: Typically includes your degree certificate, transcripts, professional references, proof of work experience, and identity documents.
Apply for recognition of your qualifications: This may involve a UK ENIC comparability statement or the regulator's own assessment.
Complete any required exams or assessments: Some regulators require you to pass UK-specific tests.
Submit your registration application: Pay the registration fee and wait for approval.
Maintain registration: Most regulators require annual renewal and continuing professional development (CPD).

Registration and Your Visa

For Skilled Worker visa applications in regulated professions, you may need to show that you have registered or are in the process of registering. Your Certificate of Sponsorship should confirm your professional registration status.

Registration and sponsorship are two separate things, and neither substitutes for the other. A sponsor can employ you only in the job on the certificate of sponsorship, so if that job legally requires registration, the registration has to be in place before you do it. Some employers sponsor a worker while the registration is still in progress and place them in a role that does not require it in the meantime — but that arrangement has to fit the job on the certificate. Check with both the employer and the regulator.

UK ENIC and Qualification Recognition

UK ENIC is the UK National Information Centre for the recognition and comparison of international qualifications. It was called UK NARIC until 2021. It is run by Ecctis Limited under contract to the Department for Education — so if you see both names, they are the same service, not two.

Its main product for an individual is a statement of comparability, which says what your overseas qualification is comparable to in the UK. It is not a conversion of your qualification, and it does not by itself let you practise anything. Fees and turnaround times are published on the UK ENIC website. A number of regulators assess overseas qualifications themselves and do not want a UK ENIC statement, so check with the regulator before paying for one.

Costs and Timeframes

Every regulator publishes its own fees, and they are not comparable to each other. No central source lists them, so this guide gives no figures — a range invented for a guide is worse than no range at all. What to budget for, and to look up on the regulator's own site:

The application or registration fee
Any examination or assessment fee, charged per attempt in most cases
A UK ENIC statement of comparability, if the regulator asks for one
Document verification and translation
An annual retention fee to stay on the register

Factor these costs into your immigration budget. Some employers will cover registration costs as part of your employment package.

Continuing Professional Development

Once registered, most professional bodies require you to undertake continuing professional development (CPD) to maintain your registration. This involves ongoing learning, training, and development activities relevant to your field. Failure to meet CPD requirements can result in removal from the register.

Next Steps

Find the regulator for your own profession and read its route for people qualified abroad — that is the only authoritative source for the requirements, the fees and the wait. Ask the regulator whether it wants a UK ENIC statement before you buy one. And check whether your profession is regulated in the part of the UK you are moving to: several are regulated separately in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Related guides:

Questions and answers

Do I need professional registration to work in the UK?

It depends on the profession. A regulated profession is one you cannot practise, or whose title you cannot use, without being on a register. Doctors register with the General Medical Council, nurses and midwives with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, solicitors with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and architects with the Architects Registration Board. Many other professions are not regulated at all: nothing stops you working in them, though an employer may still want a qualification.

How long does professional registration take?

Each regulator sets and publishes its own timescales, and there is no common answer. Where an assessment or an examination is part of the route, the wait for a test date is usually the longest part. Check the regulator's own published guidance for the current position rather than any figure in a guide.

Do I need to take exams to register in the UK?

Some do. The Nursing and Midwifery Council route for a nurse trained abroad has two parts: a computer-based test of competence, and a practical examination known as an objective structured clinical examination. The General Medical Council route for a doctor trained abroad has centred on the PLAB test, and the assessment arrangements have been changing, so check the General Medical Council directly. The Solicitors Regulation Authority uses the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, with exemptions possible for qualified lawyers from abroad.

Will my home country qualifications be accepted?

Many regulators accept qualifications gained abroad, usually with an assessment to establish what they are equivalent to. For academic qualifications, UK ENIC — the UK National Information Centre, formerly UK NARIC — issues a statement of comparability. UK ENIC is the name of the centre; Ecctis Limited is the company that runs it under contract to the Department for Education. They are not two separate services. Professional competence is assessed separately, by the regulator, and a number of regulators do their own assessment and do not ask for a UK ENIC statement at all.

This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.

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