British Council :With new visa norms, practising medicine in UK to become simpler for doctors

Practising
medicine in the UK will become simpler for doctors, nurses and other healthcare
professionals as the country has changed its visa norms by doing away with the
requirement of two separate English tests, according to the British Council.

 Earlier the candidates had to clear two
separate tests for registering with relevant healthcare regulator in the UK and
for immigration purposes.

The British
Council conducts the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam
for non-native English language speakers.

The
candidates earlier had to take exams like IELTS or OET to register with Nursing
and Midwifery Council and the General Medical Council which are the two
healthcare boards in the UK and they also had to clear IELTS (UKVi) to apply
for visa.

According to
the British Council, since the benchmark of English tested for the registration
as healthcare professional was already high, there was no need for copying the
exercise and the change in visa norms will make practising medicine in the UK
smooth for healthcare professionals.

The change
in norms has also been welcomed by officials at Cambridge Boxhill Language
Assessment, which conducts the Occupational English Test (OET).

Sujata
Stead, CEO, Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment said, “The UK Home
Office has streamlined English language testing ensuring that doctors,
dentists, nurses and midwives who have already passed an English language test
accepted by the relevant professional body, do not have to sit another test
before entry to the UK on a Tier 2 visa.”

“This
change will make sure that hospitals and medical practices across the country
will be able to access the staff they need more quickly,” she added.

The change
is applicable to all Tier 2 (general) visa applications submitted from October
1.