Problems with National Recognition Centre for the UK when applying for the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme - information update
September 2007
The BMA has continued to lobby on behalf of those doctors whose applications to the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) are being declined because their medical degrees are not deemed equivalent to UK Bachelor’s degrees. This means that they cannot secure sufficient points for their HSMP application. We know that doctors have had specialty training programme offers withdrawn because they have not been able to secure HSMP status for this reason.
In its correspondence to the Department for Education and Skills (DFES), and the Home Office the BMA questioned the suitability of the points-based system, and the criteria against which individual elements were scored. We proposed that being registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) should be sufficient to gain points under the academic qualification category. A doctor’s fitness to practise is robustly assessed by the GMC prior to their granting registration and thus the ability to practise medicine in the UK.
To date the BMA has received unsatisfactory responses from both the DfES and the Home Office with each party indicating that the problem lies with the other.
The Home Office states that, when assessing HSMP applications, it does not make a specific assessment of an applicant's ability to perform a particular job, but rather that the assessment for the HSMP is based on the general ability of a person to succeed in highly skilled employment in the UK. The Home Office further states that, in order to practise in their chosen profession, applicants must meet the HSMP criteria, as well as those for the relevant UK regulatory body.
It is contradictory, and difficult to comprehend, that when the GMC – responsible by statute for the regulation of the medical profession – has declared an individual's degree acceptable for the purposes of registration to practise medicine, UK NARIC, which specialises in the evaluation of academic (rather than medical) qualifications, can declare the same degree as being equivalent only to a Higher National Diploma (HND). Further, when a doctor has already clearly demonstrated effective and safe performance in employment in the UK, at the level – and often beyond the level – for which NARIC makes its assessment, it is difficult to understand why the scoring system should not be structured to recognise this.
The BMA has recently received information suggesting that UK NARIC has expressed an inability to compare medical degrees without General Medical Council support, whilst the Home Office continues to use the NARIC Database to compare qualifications for the purposes of HSMP applications. We have sought clarification from UK NARIC on this matter, as well as details as to how often the NARIC Database is updated, and whether the Home Office always receives these updates.
We have also received anecdotal evidence that there is variation in the outcomes of decisions made by UK NARIC, with some doctors from the same medical schools having their qualifications recognised and others not. If this is indeed happening, it is a cause for concern. But as long as this information remains anecdotal, we cannot act on it. We are therefore asking any doctors who are in this situation to contact us urgently at internationalinfo@bma.org.uk with as much information as possible.
We are also interested to hear from any doctors who have at any time formally appealed a decision by NARIC not to recognise their degree as equivalent to a UK degree. If this applies to you, please also contact us at internationalinfo@bma.org.uk