UK foundation program for Irish-educated Canadian

[samthefish]

I am a Canadian studying medicine (year 2 of a 4 year program) in Ireland and I am looking into working in the UK in the future. My mother has UK citizenship/passport, but I do not.

Does anyone know if the application process differs for me because I am not a UK citizen? Will I but put at the bottom of the list for spots in the UK when I apply?

If I do my residency in Canada or the US, am I able to work in the UK afterward? I have heard that if you want to work in the UK/Europe at any point, you have to have completed your intern/foundation year here.

If anyone has any insight on this that would be great, didn't get much of an answer when I emailed the foundation program about it. Thanks!!

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[WhiteBreadNButta]

Can you acquire UK citizenship? I think that would make your life a whole lot easier.

Surely there must be some sort of visa available for the children of British citizens that will put you on higher footing.

EDIT:

Maybe this: https://www.gov.uk/ancestry-visa

After 5-years of living in the UK you would be able to apply for citizenship.

 

[sassa]

I am a Canadian studying medicine (year 2 of a 5 year program) in Ireland and I am looking into working in the UK in the future. My mother has UK citizenship/passport, but I do not.

Does anyone know if the application process differs for me because I am not a UK citizen? Will I but put at the bottom of the list for spots in the UK when I apply?

If I do my residency in Canada or the US, am I able to work in the UK afterward? I have heard that if you want to work in the UK/Europe at any point, you have to have completed your intern/foundation year here.

If anyone has any insight on this that would be great, didn't get much of an answer when I emailed the foundation program about it. Thanks!!

From my understanding, you can't apply to the UK for Foundation Years unless you're an UK or EU citizen. I don't even think you'd get put on the list, let alone at the bottom as it stands at the moment.

I'm the in the process of getting my Italian citizenship so I can apply to the UK as I'd like to work there if I don't match back to Canada. I'm still writing my USMLE steps but for me, the US is a 3rd choice if I can secure my Italian status before the next 2 years are up. If your mother has UK citizenship / passport, you may be able to get it by relation. Check into that.

I can't help you on the working post-residency but I'm pretty sure you can work anywhere ... at least in other fields you can. Medicine specifically though I'm not sure.

 

[petyr_baelish]

I was able to get a UK passport through my father, and I wasn't born there. So either your mom is a UK citizen by descent or you may have misinterpreted your chances -- I'd contact a solicitor to find out if there are any loopholes you can exploit.

 

[Medstart108]

If you studied in Ireland and applied to the UK without EU citizenship you wouldn't get a spot.

 

[samthefish]

My mom has her citizenship by descent, I've looked into it with a lawyer and I cannot get my citizenship

If you studied in Ireland and applied to the UK without EU citizenship you wouldn't get a spot.

Any reference for that?

 

[samthefish]

I was able to get a UK passport through my father, and I wasn't born there. So either your mom is a UK citizen by descent or you may have misinterpreted your chances -- I'd contact a solicitor to find out if there are any loopholes you can exploit.

My mom is a UK citizen by descent, unfortunately wasn't born there. I've looked into getting my citizenship with a lawyer (although this was before I stared medical school, so not specifically regarding the UK foundation program). I can't get a citizenship/passport but I have a "right of abode" and can get work visas...

 

[samthefish]

Can you acquire UK citizenship? I think that would make your life a whole lot easier.

Surely there must be some sort of visa available for the children of British citizens that will put you on higher footing.

EDIT:

Maybe this: https://www.gov.uk/ancestry-visa

After 5-years of living in the UK you would be able to apply for citizenship.

I've looked into it with a lawyer and found exactly what you found - can't get citizenship but can get an ancestry visa. Don't know what effect this would have in getting a spot in the foundation program though?

 

[Medstart108]

My mom has her citizenship by descent, I've looked into it with a lawyer and I cannot get my citizenship


Any reference for that?

http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/pages/home/how-to-apply/FP2015-Eligibility-Information

Go to the FP eligibility criteria. You would need a right to work but its impossible to get a right to work if you aren't a UK/EEA national. Since Foundation is oversubscribed every year, no one gets spots if they don't have right to work.

http://www.nhsemployers.org/~/media/Employers/Publications/Working and training in the National Health Service - A guide for IMGs FINAL.pdf

Another link which says basically the same thing.

 

[petyr_baelish]

There has been a rule change that non-EU grads of UK schools can get foundation spots. This might sound crazy, but perhaps you could try to transfer to Queens U in Belfast or some other UK school to finish your degree?

 

[Medstart108]

There has been a rule change that non-EU grads of UK schools can get foundation spots. This might sound crazy, but perhaps you could try to transfer to Queens U in Belfast or some other UK school to finish your degree?

UK schools don't accept transfers from other schools for this very reason. Not sure about ROI and QUB, maybe they have something but from my experience no UK school would accept a transfer student. They almost never from other UK schools let alone a non-UK school.

Also, this wasn't a rule change it was always like this.

 

[loler]

Go to the FP eligibility criteria. You would need a right to work but its impossible to get a right to work if you aren't a UK/EEA national. Since Foundation is oversubscribed every year, no one gets spots if they don't have right to work.

To clarify, I think you could get the right to work if you are a non-EU citizen who marries an EU citizen, correct?

Marrying an EU citizen is actually not a bad way to get the right to work apart from the fact that doing so is probably illegal i.e. marrying someone for the sole purpose of gaining immigration benefits.