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Any person who is not a Resident
of a European Union country will require a work permit before
being able to take up an offer of employment in the UK.
Work Permits can only be obtained by employers.
Employers must be able to show that they are not able to recruit
a suitably qualified person who is already resident in the
EU/UK before a permit can be issued. Posts that do not require
a professional qualification (i.e. healthcare assistants and
clerical & administrative posts) can usually attract large
numbers of applications from the local population and therefore
applicants requiring work permits are unlikely ever to be
considered.
The main shortage areas in the UK are for
skilled staff, in particular for doctors and dentists. You
can find more information on the International Recruitment
of Healthcare Professionals on the Department
of Health web-site.
In addition various schemes and programmes
do exist that might help other individuals i.e. for commonwealth
citizens on working holidays and for post graduate doctors
and dentists looking to study in the UK. Details of most of
these schemes can be found at http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk
All applicants for jobs in the UK health sector will be expected
to be proficient in both written and spoken English. If English
is not your first language you may be required to do an IELTS
test. IELTS is a comprehensive test of English Language proficiency
which is designed to test the ability of non-native speakers
of English who may wish to train or study in English.
IELTS
is accepted by many professional organisations including the
Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) who require a minimum
score of 6.5 and the General Medical Council (GMC) who require
a minimum score of 7.0.
Unless a job advert specifically states that applicants from
outside of the EU are welcome, or the vacancy is for a post-graduate
doctor or dentist who is already registered with the GMC/GDC,
we strongly advise you to contact the employer, BEFORE applying
for the job, to check that they will be able, and willing,
to apply for a work permit on your behalf.
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