International Students Can Practice Medical in the UK Without TOEFL & IELTS

Usually, anyone who wants to move to the UK has to appear in TOEFL and IELTS to apply for a Tier 2 visa that is a general visa. These English tests make sure the applicants know enough English to survive in an English-speaking country. The following rule is now changed for the nurses, doctors, and midwives who wish to practice medicine in the UK. 

For applicants belonging to the medical field, it is mandatory to take the OET, Occupational English Test. OET is an English language test that determines the English language communication skills of professionals of preventive medicine. The health care professionals who wish to register themselves and practice medicine in an English-speaking atmosphere will have to clear this test. 

Previously these professionals had to appear for OET to register themselves to practice medicine in the two health care boards of the UK that are the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council. It was followed by appearing in the IELTS and TOEFL exam to confirm their English proficiency to apply for a Tier 2 visa. But now they can only clear the OT exam, and without taking the exam of IELTS or TOEFL, they can start practising medicine in the UK.

The CEO, Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment, Sujata Stead said that the contouring of the English language testing by the UK Home Office cinched that doctors, midwives, dentists and nurses who are accepted by the licensed body after passing the English Language test, do not need to sit for another test for the already proven language proficiency.

Note that the CBLA is the body that conducts the OET that is a venture amongst the Box Hill Institute and the Cambridge Assessment English. Whereas Cambridge Assessment English is a department of the University of Cambridge and it is a not-for-profit organization.

OET is the entry and exit test accepted by educators as healthcare courses and by healthcare professionals as a recruitment benchmark. The test is considered as a criterion of English proficiency by the healthcare boards for registration schemes of different countries.

 It is accepted in the UK, Dubai, New Zealand, Ireland, Namibia, Singapore, and Ukraine. Countries such as Australia and New Zealand take it for visa and migration purposes too.

The categories of practitioners for whom the test is mandatory to take are dentistry, dieticians, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry, veterinary science, speech pathology, radiography, occupational therapy, and medicine.

This change will be observed from the 1st of October 2019. The change will give instant access to the staff such as dentists, midwives, doctors, and nurses, in hospitals and medical practices across the country. The new amendment will be applied to all Tier 2 visa applicants submitted after the mentioned date.

The rule brings ease for practitioners who wish to practice medicine in the UK without the need of taking two English proficiency tests, one for practising their field of interest and the other for the visa application.