GP or junior doctor in the UK: your Skilled Worker visa, step by step

GP register, then performers list

The General Medical Council draws a line between two kinds of registration. Every doctor treating patients in the UK needs full registration with a licence to practise; the GMC describes the licence as what allows prescribing and treating patients. For most doctors trained abroad, full registration comes through the PLAB test. That is enough for a foundation post or a hospital post in training, both of which gov.uk lists under code 2211.

General practice asks for a further step. In the GMC's words, doctors only need to apply for specialist registration or GP registration if they want to practise as a consultant or as a GP in the UK health services. A GP who did not complete UK GP training joins the GP register through the Portfolio pathway, which replaced the route formerly called CEGPR. The GMC says a Portfolio pathway application can take between 6 to 12 months to process. And even with GP registration in hand, a GP must be admitted to a performers list before seeing patients. Build all three stages, licence, GP register and performers list, into your timeline.

The GMC pages checked for this site state no fees, so this page gives none.

What the doctor pay scale means for code 2211

Gov.uk publishes no going rate for generalist medical practitioners. It publishes a national pay scale instead, and a Skilled Worker sponsor must pay at least the scale figure for the grade it is recruiting into. The England table below runs from a foundation year 1 doctor at £36,616 (National pay scales for eligible healthcare occupation codes, effective July 22, 2025) to a salaried GP at £73,113. A GP practice, an NHS trust and a private provider are all held to the same figures for the same grade.

The grade is a matter of the post, not of how many years you have practised abroad. A foundation year 2 post carries £42,008 (National pay scales for eligible healthcare occupation codes, effective July 22, 2025) in England regardless of who fills it. A specialty registrar post in GP training carries between £49,909 and £61,825. This page does not tell you which grade you will be appointed at.

The route's general thresholds are £41,700 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025) and £33,400. Code 2211 is not on the Immigration Salary List (ISL), which is the list of occupations allowed to use £33,400. The doctor scale is the operative figure for a pay-scale code, and it is worth noticing that a foundation year 1 salary of £36,616 (National pay scales for eligible healthcare occupation codes, effective July 22, 2025) sits below the £41,700 general threshold. A reduced general threshold can apply to new entrants, such as early-career doctors or those switching from the Student or Graduate routes, and the salary checker linked above shows how the scale and the thresholds interact for a specific offer.

Doctor pay scale, England (annual)

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each publish their own table on the same GOV.UK page. Use the table for the nation where the practice or hospital is.

Who falls under code 2211

Gov.uk lists three related titles for this code: general practitioners, hospital doctors in training and foundation doctors. So a newly arrived doctor starting a foundation post and an experienced GP joining a practice are sponsored under the same number. The sponsor picks the code for the Certificate of Sponsorship, and the code has to match the real duties. Consultants and specialty doctors belong under code 2212 instead.

Health and Care Worker visa for doctors

Doctors under code 2211 are eligible for the Health and Care Worker visa. Compared with the standard Skilled Worker application, the fee is lower and the immigration health surcharge is not charged. That surcharge would otherwise be £1,035 (UK Home Office, effective February 6, 2024) per person per year, and it is charged for each dependant as well as the doctor. Over a multi-year visa with a family the difference is substantial. The concession attaches to the occupation code on the certificate, so confirm the sponsor is using 2211 and the Health and Care route. Immigration rules are amended regularly; re-read the gov.uk page before you apply.

Other routes for doctors

• Canada Express Entry, 2026. IRCC confirmed on 18 February 2026 a new category for foreign medical doctors with Canadian work experience. The Canadian experience is a condition of the category, so it suits doctors already working in Canada rather than those applying from abroad.
• Provincial nomination in Canada. Healthcare streams run in many provinces, and a nomination adds 600 CRS (Comprehensive Ranking System) points.
• Switching from another UK visa. Doctors already in the UK, for example after a UK medical degree on a Student visa, can often move onto Skilled Worker once a licensed sponsor offers a post.

Our assessment checks you against every open UK and Canadian route in about three minutes and shows your score, where you stand and the first thing that would raise it. No card needed for that. Seeing every route in full needs a plan. See where you stand →