Doctors and Dentists Visas — Get Up to 26 Months of Permission to Stay in UK

If you come to the United Kingdom as a postgraduate doctor or dentist, you will be given permission to enter and stay in the United Kingdom for a maximum of 26 months. If you have not finished your course within this time, you will need to apply to extend your stay. You will able to stay in the United Kingdom for a maximum of three years in total as a postgraduate doctor or dentist.

Requirements

In order to come to the United Kingdom as a postgraduate doctor or dentist you must:

• have successfully completed and obtained a recognised United Kingdom degree in medicine or dentistry within the last 12 months from either:
  
  
  • a publicly funded institute of further or higher education; or
    
    
  • a genuine private institution which maintains satisfactory records of enrolment and attendance; and
    
    
• have previously been granted permission to enter and stay in the United Kingdom:
  
  
  • for the final academic year of the studies referred to above; and
    
    
  • as a student for at least one other academic year of the studies referred to above; and
    
    
• hold a letter from the Postgraduate Dean confirming you have a full-time place on a recognised Foundation Programme; and
  
  
• intend to train full-time on the Foundation Programme; and
  
  
• be able to maintain and accommodate yourself and any dependants without the use of public funds; and
  
  
• intend to leave the United Kingdom when your permission to stay expires, unless you have been given permission to stay as:
  
  
  • a doctor or dentist undertaking a clinical attachment or dental observation post;
    
    
  • a work permit holder;
    
    
  • a highly skilled migrant or a tier 1 migrant;
    
    
  • a person intending to establish themselves in business;
    
    
  • an innovator; and
    
    
• provide the written consent of your sponsor to enter or remain in the United Kingdom as a postgraduate doctor or dentist if your study at medical or dental school, or any subsequent study was sponsored by a government or international scholarship agency; and
  
  
• hold a valid entry clearance for entry under this category.
  
  

Switching

You will only be able to switch to the postgraduate doctor or dentist category if you:

• meet all the eligibility requirements for the postgraduate doctor or dentist category, including having completed your medical or dental degree in the last 12 months; and
  
  
• currently have leave to remain in the United Kingdom as either:
  
  
  • a student; or
    
    
  • a doctor or dentist undertaking a clinical attachment or dental observation post.
    
    

If you meet the requirements you can apply to extend your stay in the United Kingdom as a postgraduate doctor or dentist.

At the end of the three year period, you will be expected to leave the United Kingdom unless you are successful in the professional and linguistics assessments board (PLAB) test and granted leave to remain as:

• a doctor or dentist undertaking a clinical attachment or dental observation post;
  
  
• a work permit holder;
  
  
• a highly skilled migrant or a tier 1 migrant;
  
  
• a person intending to establish themselves in business;
  
  
• an innovator.
  
  

Questions

What is meant by adequate maintenance?

Providing the level of maintenance is broadly equivalent to that of a person receiving income support and the associated benefits that normally accompany it (e.g. housing benefit, council tax relief, free school meals) then that will be considered to be adequate for the purposes of the immigration rules.

Maintenance can usually be provided by a third party sponsor such as a relative. However, third party support is not permissible in child cases.

What is meant by adequate accommodation?

Accommodation must be adequate for the person coming to the UK other than in the student category. For people seeking entry on a long-term basis there are two main considerations:

1. the sponsor/applicant must 'own or exclusively occupy' the proposed accommodation in family cases. Accommodation can be shared with other members of a family provided that at least part of the accommodation is for the exclusive use of the sponsor and his dependants. This may be as small as a separate bedroom but must be owned or legally occupied by the sponsor.
   
   
2. the proposed accommodation must not be overcrowded once the applicant arrives. A room must have a floor area larger than 50 Sq. ft. and normally used as a bedroom or living room. It relates number of rooms to number of persons, allowing for the fact that children aged between 1 and 10 years only count as half a person: 1 room = 2 persons, 2 rooms = 3 persons, 3 rooms = 5 persons, 4 rooms = 7.5 persons, and 5 rooms = 10 persons.
   
   

What is meant by Public Funds?

Under the Immigration Rules, if you want to travel to the UK you must be able to support yourself and live without claiming certain benefits.

Public funds are income-related benefits paid by the state. These include:

1. Housing - accommodation as a homeless person and accommodation from a local authority register;
   
   
2. Benefits - income support/Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Attendance Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, State Pension Credit, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit.

Social housing, education, health care and benefits paid as a result of contributions such as incapacity benefit or contributory job seekers' allowance are not considered to be a public funds for the purposes of the Immigration Rules.