Eligibility to apply for registration

To be eligible to apply for registration via the international route:

• You must have undergone training outside the UK, and attained a qualification delivered outside the UK
• Your training and qualification must be relevant to one of the professions we regulate
• You must not have been registered with the HCPC previously

If you are a citizen of Switzerland or have refugee status, please click the next tab for information about SMR applications and refugee applications.

The HCPC is a UK-wide regulator of 15 professions. Provisions of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act are not applicable to our registration processes.

To be eligible to apply for registration based on mutual recognition under the Swiss Citizens Rights Agreement you must be:

• A Swiss national.
• A non-EEA member state national who is the spouse or dependant of a Swiss national.
• A UK national settled in Switzerland.
• A non-EEA member state national who is the spouse or dependant of UK nationals settled in Switzerland.

And

• Your qualification was obtained in the EEA or Switzerland by 31 December 2020
• You hold a third country qualification that is recognised in Switzerland by 31 December 2020
• You have completed an application to have your qualification recognised in Switzerland by 31 December 2020
  
  

Unlike a regular international application, which can be done online, applying via SMR requires a paper application form.

How to apply via the SMR application route

To be eligible to apply for registration based on the UK-Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein Free Trade Agreement you must be a Specified State professional. This means that you:

• hold a qualification in the relevant profession that was awarded in one of the Specified States; or
• have been engaged in the lawful and effective practice of the relevant profession in one of the Specified States.

Under the terms of this application route, by ‘Specified State’ we mean one of following: 

• the Kingdom of Norway;
• the Principality of Liechtenstein; or
• Iceland.

Unlike a regular international application, which can be done online, applying via FTA requires a paper application form.

How to apply via the FTA application route

Refugee status - how do I make a refugee application?

If you've been granted refugee status, or given leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom on humanitarian protection grounds, you can make a refugee application which will mean you won't need to pay a scrutiny fee. 

To do this, please contact us by emailing international@hcpc-uk.org to request the refugee application form and guidance.

We'll send these to you along with the documents you'll need to include to demonstrate your status.

We ask that you provide us with as much information as possible with your application, but if you are unable to provide all of the information needed (for example, because documents have been destroyed or you cannot obtain them), we ask that you include a letter that explains why you cannot provide it.

When you're ready, send your documents via recorded post to:

If you require assistance, please call the Registration team on 44 (0)300 500 4472 or 44 (0)20 7582 5460.

For refugee allied health professionals seeking advice and information on how to find jobs, gain experience and other useful assistance, NHS employers has online information.