When you are ready to apply for GMC registration, you will need to use GMC Online to make your application. If you are applying through the PLAB route, after passing your PLAB 2 the GMC will send an email to inform you that you can now start your application for GMC registration.
In this post, we will guide you through the whole process of making your online GMC application.
The best advice we can give you is to plan and prepare. To make the GMC application process as smooth as possible you need to apply at the right point in time.
Step-by-step guide
You will need to make your online application through GMC online. Sign into GMC online (or create an account if you have not done so), then click on ‘My Registration’, then on ‘My applications’ and ‘Apply’.
In your application you will be asked to fill out the ‘GMC registration form’, which consists of 8 sections:
1. Your full name with all middle names if applicable.
2. Details of your internship including each rotation with dates and speciality.
In order to get full GMC registration, you must have an acceptable internship and experience. In our previous post you will find everything you need to know about the GMC internship criteria and the documents you will need to submit with your application for full GMC registration. Please keep in mind it is not a requirement to have completed an internship if you are applying for provisional GMC registration and aiming for doing your internship in the UK through a 2-year UK Foundation Programme (UKFP).
3. Professional Experience
You will need to give the GMC details of all your postgraduate medical experience, non-medical experience and certain other activities and clinical gaps for the last 5 years or since you graduated. You will need to mention everything you have done in the past 5 years or since graduation and the gap between the activities should not be more than 28 days. If you have been studying or preparing for your exams, you will need to mention all study periods. If you were travelling, you will need to mention that too including travel dates.
4. Licensing with details of your Certificate of Good Standing
When applying for GMC registration, you will be asked to name all countries where you have practised medicine or held medical registration even without practising medicine in the last 5 years. You will need to provide a certificate of good standing from the medical regulatory authorities for each country where you have been registered at that time, even if you have not been practising there. Read more about the Certificate of Good Standing in our previous blog or on the GMC website.
5. Fitness to Practise
In order to demonstrate your fitness to practice medicine in the UK, you will need to give the GMC details of all your postgraduate medical experience, non-medical experience and certain other activities for the last 5 years or since you graduated. The GMC will likely ask for employer references to cover non-medical work or medical practice for which you did not hold registration. Read more about this in our previous post
6. The declaration
When making your online application, you will be asked to fill in the declaration. The GMC wants to know whether you are an honest and safe doctor, so there is specific information the GMC wants to hear from you. This comprehensive GMC guide contains a very detailed section for each question you are asked on your application, so to save your time we will not duplicate this information in this blog post. We just recommend you read the guide thoroughly before filling in the declaration. Read more about this in our previous post.
7. Payment
Payment is £157 if your Primary Medical Qualification was obtained less than 5 years ago, £406 if more than 5 years ago. All registration fees can be found on the GMC website here. Doctors whose gross annual worldwide income from all sources is below whose annual income is lower than £32,000 may be entitled to a 50% discount on the value of their annual retention fee. Further information can be found on the GMC income discount page.
8. Supporting documentation
After you have applied and paid the registration fee, you will receive an immediate response by email from the GMC listing the required documentation you will need to submit. Supporting documentation usually includes:
Passport/ Right to work in the UK documents
Primary Medical Qualification
Certificate of Good Standing
Evidence of your English proficiency (IELTS/OET/alternative evidence)
Internship Certificate
Employer References
EPIC verification number
If you missed the GMC registration webinar and would like to know the main steps you need to take in order to obtain full registration to practice, you can watch it for free here.
Key points to remember
Do not send documents the GMC has not asked for. If you send irrelevant documents, it will simply make the whole process longer and more worrying for you.
You will have 90 days to complete the application (from the date of submission). This is why it is important to have all necessary documents ready before applying.
For any documents not submitted in English, you must submit a translated version. GMC has a list of translation services you can use if needed. Alternatively, you may want to use official translation services in your country.
You will have the same GMC advisor throughout the whole process, who will know where you are with your application.
If the GMC needs any additional information or documentation, they will contact you. Please do not bombard the GMC with irrelevant questions and requests to speed up your application. You will be contacted if more documents or evidence are needed.
After you have sent all required documents and the GMC has checked them, you will be informed about a final decision on your application. The decision timeline varies, from 2 weeks to few months. It really depends on how tidy your submitted documents are.
Having questions?
1. You can always ask our friendly team members, mentors and senior IMGs for advice here. Our guidance is free.
2. We encourage you to watch the Q&A session from a 1-hour interactive and engaging webinar with the GMC on the GMC registration process.
3. Check the Apply for Registration tool from the GMC here.
4. Look at the examples from Omar's experience with the online application process here.
In our next post, we will tell you what you may need to do after your application is approved by the GMC.