Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure that immigration rules are not a barrier to international trainee GPs remaining in UK general practice after completing training.

The Home Office have already delivered a range of measures to support the health and care sector. The Home Office launched the Health & Care visa in 2020, which makes it easier, cheaper, and quicker for health workers – including GPs - to come to the UK to work compared to other immigration routes.

International medical graduates may use the time between the end of their training and the end of their visa to apply for work and are eligible for the skilled worker route. The sector and its membership bodies are best placed to help match these individuals with those vacant positions, so should focus on identifying even more effective methods to improve this mechanism.

We strongly encourage more GP surgeries to become Home Office approved sponsors, as this is the best way for the sector to retain international medical graduates as GPs, providing them with the ability to continue to renew their visa while living in the UK and to qualify for permanent settlement in due course.

Sponsorship is straightforward and business-friendly, the majority of sponsors on our register are SMEs, much like GP surgeries are likely to be. The Government is working to increase the number of GP Practices registered as Home Office sponsors.