Consultant or specialist doctor in the UK: your Skilled Worker visa, step by step

The Specialist register and the Portfolio pathway

Full registration with a licence to practise is the baseline for every doctor in the UK, and for most international doctors it is reached through the PLAB test. The GMC is clear that the licence is what permits prescribing and treating patients. But the GMC is equally clear about the ceiling on full registration alone: doctors only need to apply for specialist registration if they want to practise as a substantive, honorary or fixed term consultant in the UK health services. Read the other way round, a consultant appointment is not open without it.

Specialists whose training was not in a GMC-approved programme use the Portfolio pathway to join the Specialist register. The pathway used to be called CESR, and you will still see that name used. The GMC states that a Portfolio pathway application can take between 6 to 12 months to process. That is worth knowing before accepting a consultant offer with a fixed start date, because the visa cannot fill the gap that missing registration leaves. Specialty doctor and specialist doctor grades, by contrast, sit below consultant and do not depend on the Specialist register in the GMC's description of who needs it.

The GMC pages reviewed do not state fees, so none are given here.

The England scale for code 2212

Occupation code 2212 has no going rate. Gov.uk instead publishes national pay scales for eligible healthcare occupation codes, and the Certificate of Sponsorship must carry a salary at or above the scale figure for the grade. Three grades on the England table are the ones consultants and specialists are hired into. A specialty doctor is paid £59,175 (National pay scales for eligible healthcare occupation codes, effective July 22, 2025). A specialist doctor is paid £96,990. A consultant is paid £105,504. The wording of the last two grades is close enough that offers get misread, so ask which grade the contract uses before you do any arithmetic. Private hospitals appointing consultants are bound by the consultant figure for their nation, exactly as NHS trusts are.

The grade is set by the post, and this page does not predict which grade a given applicant will be offered. Because every figure on this scale for a consultant or specialist grade sits well above the general Skilled Worker threshold of £41,700 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025), and above the £33,400 lower threshold that applies to occupations on the Immigration Salary List (ISL), the scale itself is the number that matters. Code 2212 is not on the ISL. The salary checker linked at the top of this page applies the scale and thresholds to a specific offer.

Doctor pay scale, England (annual)

England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own tables on the same GOV.UK page, and the nation of the hospital decides which one applies.

Five titles under one code

Gov.uk attaches five related titles to code 2212: consultants, specialty doctors, surgeons, anaesthetists and psychiatrists. The sponsor decides which occupation code goes on the Certificate of Sponsorship, and it must reflect what the doctor will genuinely do. A surgeon appointed as a consultant and a psychiatrist appointed as a specialty doctor are both 2212, at different points on the scale. Foundation posts and training posts are coded 2211, generalist medical practitioners, not 2212.

Fees and the surcharge on a consultant's visa

Specialists under code 2212 apply through the Health and Care Worker visa, a Skilled Worker visa reserved for eligible health and social care roles. Its application fee is below the standard Skilled Worker fee. It also carries no immigration health surcharge, whereas other work visas charge £1,035 (UK Home Office, effective February 6, 2024) per person per year, dependants included. For a consultant relocating with a family the exemption covers everyone on the application. The visa route follows the occupation code on the certificate, so have the sponsor confirm in writing that it is issuing under 2212. Rules are updated from time to time; check the gov.uk page shortly before applying.

If the consultant route is not open yet

• Canada's 2026 category for foreign doctors. IRCC confirmed on 18 February 2026 a new Express Entry category for foreign medical doctors with Canadian work experience. The Canadian experience is a condition of the category; check the detail before planning around it.
• Canada Provincial Nominee Programs. A nomination adds 600 CRS (Comprehensive Ranking System) points, and healthcare streams exist in many provinces.
• Global Talent visa. Specialists with a research and academic profile can be endorsed under the academia and research route, with no sponsor and no job offer needed.

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