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Pinoy Abroad

Pinoys urged to apply as UK lifts visa quota for nurses, doctors


Filipino health professionals looking to work in the United Kingdom can now take advantage of the UK government's decision to remove its visa quota on nurses and doctors.

The UK Home Office relaxed immigration rules to remove nurses and doctors from the Tier 2 migration classification, created to form a cap on skilled migration.

In a statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the Philippines is seen by the British government "as one of the best sources of world class healthcare professionals, particularly nurses."

"We expect more Filipino nurses and doctors to take advantage of the increasing demand in the UK health care sector," Bello said.

Nurse-applicants must attain an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 7.0 and a two-part competency examination composed of Computer-Based Test (CBT).

Both nurses and the Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE), which is done in England.

Meanwhile, hybrid modes of deployment of FIlipino healthcare professionals based on the proposed draft bilateral agreement provided by the Health Education England (HEE) are under discussion by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

The Philippine Overseas Labor Office in London reported that nearly 100 percent or 1,446 (94.9 percent) out of the 1,524 Filipinos deployed to the UK in 2017 were nurses.

Most of the 75,787 Filipino workers in the UK as of December 2017 are professionals and highly-skilled workers. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News

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