ATTN: all medical students

Petition against new immigration/work permit rules for international medical students.

This online petition simply calls for a delay in the implementation of
the new immigration and visa rules for international medical students
currently studying at a UK medical school, until they have completed
their entire postgraduate training (to CCT level or equivalent). Rather
than introduce these new immigration and visa changes in one step, we,
the undersigned, would ask the Home Office to phase in the new
regulations over time.

The Home Office has recently announced changes to the immigration rules, which
will make it almost impossible for international (non-UK/EEA) doctors to get
post-foundation programme jobs in the UK. Under the new rules, all international
doctors will need to be awarded a work permit in order to work in the UK, and will only be
offered a job if there is no suitable EU or UK applicant for the job that they
are applying to.

Whilst this should ensure that there are enough jobs nationwide for medical graduates
of EEA/UK origin, our international medical students have had the rug pulled
out from under them.

When our current international medical students decided to pursue their medical education in the UK, the immigration rules that existed at the time entitled them to the same access to post-graduate jobs and training as UK graduates.

However, the government has decided to change the rules, with no exemption for those international students who are already studying medicine in the UK. We believe this is a serious injustice for those international students who made their decision to pursue their medical education in the UK on the basis that they would be permitted to complete their post-graduate medical training here. Many will now be forced to return to their home countries after just one year as an SHO, in order to complete their postgraduate training.

This petition asks that the new rulings be phased in, and that international students (who will graduate or have already graduated from a UK medical school) are allowed to complete their post-graduate training in the UK. We believe this is the only fair and honourable way for the government to proceed, as our current international students had no idea, when they decided to study here, that the goal posts would be moved so dramatically midway through their undergraduate/ postgraduate education.

-->The government has recently announced changes to the immigration rules, which will make it almost impossible for international (non-UK/EEA) doctors to get post-foundation programme jobs in the UK.

Under the new regulations, graduating International Medical Students (IMS) will be EXCLUDED for appointment in training posts after Foundation Year 2 unless there is evidence from the employer that there are no qualified UK/EEA applicants for the post.

This prevents all applicants from being assessed fairly during the process of recruitment, thus ending the equal opportunities policy and enforcing discriminatory practice.

Many International Medical Students who chose to study medicine at UK institutions were led to believe that equal opportunities for appointment to training posts would apply upon graduation.

The majority of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) trained in the UK come from developing countries with limited opportunities and resources for specialised training. Denying IMGs equal opportunities to train could mark looming healthcare crises in these countries due to future shortages of specialists.

Training links between various countries and the NHS that have been carefully nurtured for over 50 years could be dissolved.

To find out more about this issue, please visit this website: http://www.medschoolsonline.co.uk/index.php?pageid=149.