EEA-EFTA country- qualified pharmacists

1. Providing evidence of your English language skills

You will need to provide us with evidence of your English language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. We expect this evidence to be obtained before you apply, so it can be considered with your application.

We will accept:

• a certificate of an English language test taken in a test centre, where you have met the minimum criteria set out in our guidance
• a pharmacy qualification taught and examined in a majority English speaking country, other than the UK
• evidence of work as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician in a majority English speaking country, that meets our minimum criteria

2. Providing evidence of your pharmacist qualification and supporting documents

You will need to provide evidence of your qualification, ID and supporting information. You will need to arrange for certain documents to be sent directly to the GPhC by the appropriate regulator and competent authority.

3. Qualification and supporting documents check

We will review your qualification to see if we think it is comparable to a UK pharmacist qualification.

We may contact you for additional information if your application is missing any supporting documents.

4. Self-assessment and evaluation 

When we have reviewed your evidence of qualification and supporting documents, if we think that your qualification may not be comparable to a UK pharmacist qualification, we will send you a self-assessment form.

We ask you to complete this self-assessment so you can explain what steps you have taken, if any, to address potential gaps between your qualification and a UK pharmacist qualification.

5. Evaluation

Our assessors will review your self-assessment.

If we identify differences between your qualification and a UK pharmacist qualification, we will then consider reasonable and proportionate next steps.

For example, you may be required to complete an adaptation period such as a workplace training, or pass an aptitude test (exam), before we can recognise your pharmacy qualification and you can apply to join the GPhC register as a pharmacist.

6. Completing any additional requirements

If we require you to complete an adaptation period (training), or an aptitude test (exam), you will need to send us evidence of having met these requirements.

7. Notifying you of the outcome

When your application is complete (we have checked your ID, qualifications and supporting documents and we are satisfied that you have completed any applicable additional requirements) we will send you the application form you will need to fill in to apply to join the register as a pharmacist.

Under the UK-EEA EFTA agreement, we will contact you within four months of us having received a complete application.

Applying to register as a pharmacist

We expect you to apply to register as a pharmacist within three months of us notifying you that your application for recognition of your qualification has been successful.

As part of your application to register as pharmacist in Great Britain, you will be asked to complete fitness to practise declarations and to check again that your supporting documents are up to date.

The costs to join the register are:

• Application fee: £114
• First year registration fee: £276

Managing your registration

If your application to join the register is successful, we will send you a confirmation letter.

To manage your registration and complete your revalidation each registration year, you will need to create a new myGPhC account.