UK keeps immigration-status priority for 2027 specialty training recruitment, NHS England confirms

The Medical Training (Prioritisation for Specialty Training Programmes) Regulations 2026 were laid before Parliament on 14 September 2026, and NHS England's medical recruitment team set out the resulting changes in a notice dated 21 September. The regulations carry the 2026 immigration-status rules into 2027 recruitment. Applicants with British or Irish citizenship, Commonwealth right of abode, indefinite leave or EU Settlement Scheme status are in the priority group, as are graduates of UK, Irish, Icelandic, Liechtenstein, Norwegian or Swiss medical schools and doctors who have completed or are on the UK Foundation Programme or, for higher entry, a relevant UK training programme. The Royal College of Physicians said on 17 September it was disappointed that the regulations keep immigration status rather than significant NHS experience, which it had proposed defining as three years, as the basis for priority.

For international graduates on other visas, including partner or dependant status, prioritisation applies at both the interview and the offer stage for almost all specialties, with ACF Round 1, GP ST1 and Core Psychiatry CT1 applying it at offer stage only. Non-priority applicants can still apply and be interviewed, but receive offers only after appointable priority applicants are exhausted and vacancies remain. Round 1 applications close on 19 November 2026 and Round 2 on 10 December 2026, and Round 2 applicants are now capped at five applications.

Read the NHS England prioritisation guidance before applying.