Doctors Moving from the UAE: Canada, Australia, NZ and UK Pathways

Cosmos Immigration
Doctors Moving from the UAE: Canada, Australia, NZ and UK Pathways

You hold a DHA, DOH or MOHAP licence, have spent years on the wards here in the UAE, and are now weighing Canada, Australia, New Zealand or the UK. This guide sets out, as at September 2026, what each regulator and immigration department actually publishes.

At a glance

  • Canada: IMGs must pass the NAC Examination, a half-day OSCE, to apply for residency through CaRMS. Ontario and British Columbia also run 12-week Practice Ready Assessment routes for family physicians.
  • Australia: the Australian Medical Council lists 4 assessment pathways; most UAE-trained doctors use the Standard pathway. Registration itself is granted by the Medical Board of Australia.
  • New Zealand: the Medical Council of New Zealand accepts NZREX Clinical, PLAB Parts 1 and 2, or AMC exams passed in the last 5 years, plus a route for 29 comparable health systems.
  • UK: the GMC’s PLAB test has 2 parts. Doctors in occupation codes 2211 and 2212 can use the Health and Care Worker visa without paying the immigration health surcharge.
  • Everywhere: medical registration and immigration are separate processes run by separate bodies.

Two tracks, not one: registration and the visa

The mistake we see most often in our Dubai office is treating the move as a single application. In all four countries, the medical regulator decides whether you may practise, and the immigration department decides separately whether you may enter and stay. Our skilled talent visas page covers the immigration side across several countries.

Canada: the NAC Examination, residency and practice-ready routes

The Medical Council of Canada runs physiciansapply.ca, an account-based portal for credential source verification, MCC exam applications (MCCQE and NAC), Educational Credential Assessment reports, and the Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada.

The NAC Examination, a half-day Objective Structured Clinical Examination, assesses your readiness to enter a Canadian residency program; IMGs must take it to apply for residency through the Canadian Residency Matching Service, CaRMS.

Practice Ready Assessment for family physicians

Two provinces publish an alternative for internationally trained family physicians. In Ontario, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario runs Practice Ready Ontario: candidates work under supervision for 12 weeks, then sign a three-year Return of Service agreement to practise where the Ministry of Health assigns them.

British Columbia’s similar PRA-BC program (2012-2014) also leads to provisional registration with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC after a 12-week clinical field assessment.

The immigration side

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada publishes two separate pages for doctors. The Express Entry category-based stream for medical doctors is for physicians with at least 1 year of full-time Canadian medical work experience in the last 3 years. If you have never worked in Canada, IRCC lists several other routes instead, including the standard Express Entry programs, the Provincial Nominee Program, and rural or Francophone community pilots.

The link between the two tracks is the ECA: physiciansapply.ca notes that ECA reports are sometimes needed to immigrate to Canada and can be requested inside your account. Our Canada page explains Express Entry more broadly.

Australia: the AMC Standard pathway and the Medical Board

The Australian Medical Council sets out 4 assessment pathways for international medical graduates: Standard, Competent authority, Specialist, and Short-term training in a medical specialty. The AMC manages the assessment process for the Standard pathway only; granting registration is the Medical Board of Australia’s job.

Which pathway fits a UAE-based doctor?

The Competent Authority pathway is for IMGs seeking general registration who trained and hold current registration in one of a small set of recognised countries. If your primary medical degree is not from one of them, you are likely to use the Standard pathway instead; check the AMC’s current guidance for your specific case.

Specialists have their own route: a fast-track pathway to specialist registration for eligible internationally qualified medical specialists, run by the Medical Board of Australia and administered through Ahpra.

The immigration side

Australia’s skilled visas depend on the Department of Home Affairs’ skilled occupation lists (MLTSSL, STSOL, ROL and CSOL), published as a legislative instrument rather than a fixed list; medical practitioner occupations can move between them. Our Australia page covers the skilled visas themselves.

New Zealand: registration first, then a PGY1 role

Every doctor in New Zealand must be registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand. The examination route requires a pass, within the last 5 years, in NZREX Clinical, PLAB Parts 1 and 2, or the AMC MCQ and Clinical examinations. Two other routes exist: a Competent authority route for UK and Irish graduates, and a comparable health system route covering 29 recognised comparable countries.

NZREX Clinical

If you are not eligible under any other pathway, you must sit and pass NZREX Clinical. A pass is valid for 5 years from the date of the exam, and to be registered afterwards you need to secure a PGY1 role with a prevocational training provider in New Zealand. As at September 2026, applications for the 5 September 2026 sitting were closed, with the next sittings scheduled for 6 March 2027 and 4 September 2027.

Health New Zealand also runs an NZREX primary care pathway, funded from March 2025, that lets overseas-trained doctors already living in New Zealand move into general practice over a 2-year training period. Up to 100 doctors can join the pathway.

Specialists

The Council’s specialist registration pathway, with applications processed within 20 working days, is for IMGs with specialist qualifications from the UK, Ireland or Australia in 7 areas: anaesthesia, dermatology, emergency medicine, general practice, internal medicine, anatomical pathology and psychiatry. Specialists qualified elsewhere use the standard vocational scope pathway instead. Our New Zealand page covers the country’s skilled migration options.

UK: PLAB, English evidence and the Health and Care Worker visa

The General Medical Council uses the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test, PLAB, to check that doctors who qualified abroad have the knowledge and skills to practise medicine in the UK, in two parts.

When you apply for registration with a licence to practise, the GMC also needs to be satisfied you have the necessary knowledge of English across speaking, reading, writing and listening. Accepted evidence changes over time, so read the GMC’s live guide rather than any cached score.

The immigration side

The Health and Care Worker visa allows medical professionals to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with the NHS, an NHS supplier, or in adult social care, under occupation codes 2211 (generalist) and 2212 (specialist medical practitioners). You, your partner and children do not pay the healthcare surcharge, and the visa can lead to settlement after 5 years.

The four countries side by side

Country Registration body Assessment or exam pathway as published Typical visa route as published
Canada Medical Council of Canada; provincial colleges such as CPSO and CPSBC NAC Examination then residency via CaRMS; or 12-week Practice Ready Assessment for family physicians in Ontario or BC Express Entry standard programs if no Canadian experience; doctors category needs 1 year of Canadian work
Australia Medical Board of Australia; Australian Medical Council assesses the Standard pathway Standard pathway for most graduates outside the recognised-country list; Competent authority pathway for recognised countries; a specialist fast-track pathway via Ahpra Skilled visas tied to Home Affairs occupation lists set in a legislative instrument
New Zealand Medical Council of New Zealand NZREX Clinical, PLAB Parts 1 and 2, or AMC exams within 5 years; comparable health system route (29 countries); then a PGY1 role Not verified for this post; we check Immigration New Zealand’s live pages during your assessment
UK General Medical Council PLAB Parts 1 and 2 plus evidence of knowledge of English Health and Care Worker visa, codes 2211 and 2212, no immigration health surcharge

From the UAE: what this means for you

Start with the paperwork every regulator will eventually ask for, because it is slow to gather from here: degree certificate, internship completion, transcripts, and your DHA, DOH or MOHAP licence with a certificate of good standing. Get reference letters from former hospital employers while you still have their contact details, and factor in UAE attestation queues and any embassy steps before booking an exam date.

For Canada, open your physiciansapply.ca account early, since credential verification and any ECA you need both run through it. For the UK, book your English test only after reading the GMC’s current evidence page, and check exam and test-centre schedules in Dubai and Abu Dhabi before committing leave. We do not publish timelines, because they change with each sitting.

Frequently asked questions

Can I apply for Canadian permanent residence before I am licensed in Canada?

IRCC’s guidance for doctors who have not worked in Canada points you toward other routes rather than the doctors’ category, which requires at least 1 year of Canadian work as a medical doctor in the last 3 years. Your ECA can be requested through physiciansapply.ca.

My degree is from India, Pakistan or Egypt. Does the Competent Authority pathway apply to me?

In Australia, that pathway is limited to doctors from a small list of recognised countries; if yours is not among them, the Standard pathway applies instead. In New Zealand, the Competent authority route is for UK and Irish graduates only.

Does the UK Health and Care Worker visa cover specialists as well as GPs?

Yes. GOV.UK lists 2211 (generalist) and 2212 (specialist medical practitioners) as eligible occupation codes for jobs with the NHS, an NHS supplier, or in adult social care.

What to do next

Ask us for a free eligibility assessment covering both tracks, registration and immigration. Call our Dubai office on 04 357 7796, or book a review through our contact page. Our consultants are individually registered with the CICC for Canada and MARA for Australia.

We do not promise outcomes: registration decisions belong to the regulators and visa decisions to the immigration departments, and no consultant can change that.

Sources

Not sure which route fits you? Book a free eligibility assessment with our Dubai or Abu Dhabi team. No obligation.

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