Certificate of good standing

It is issued by the regulator or licensing authority that holds your current or past registration, not by your employer. Depending on the issuer it shows your registration dates, your licence status, your qualification and whether there has been any suspension, condition, warning or other fitness to practise outcome. Some regulators call it a Certificate of Current Professional Status (CCPS); the terms are used for the same document.

It is different from a police clearance certificate, which covers criminal records, and from employer references, which describe your work. Most applications need all three.

Almost every registration route asks for one from each place you have been registered. The details differ:

• UK, GMC: applicants must give a certificate from every regulator they have been registered or licensed with in the last five years. The GMC says certificates are valid for three months from the date of issue and must still be valid on the date your application is approved. If there is no medical regulator in a country to issue one, the GMC asks for an employer reference form instead.
• Ireland, NMBI: a CCPS is needed from all jurisdictions where you are or were registered, issued within the six months before you submit your application.
• Ireland, Medical Council: an original certificate dated within the last three months must be sent directly by each overseas registration authority to the Council.
• Germany: the federal recognition portal lists a certificate of good standing from the country where you most recently worked, with a German translation, no more than three months old when submitted.

If you are leaving the UK or Ireland, the GMC, NMC and Medical Council all issue certificates for you to send abroad. See CCPS for how to request one.

1. List every regulator you have been registered with, including expired registrations and other countries or states.
2. Check the receiving regulator's rules on age, delivery and translation before you request anything.
3. Apply to each issuing regulator, usually through its online portal, giving the receiving regulator's name and address.
4. Ask the issuer to send it directly to the receiving regulator where that is required. Many regulators will not accept a copy you forward yourself.
5. Track it, and make sure it arrives within its validity window.

The GMC usually processes requests within 10 working days, and the NMC usually issues within 24 hours once it has what it needs. Other regulators, including many outside Europe, can take longer and may charge a fee.

The most common problem is timing. Because certificates last only three to six months, a request made too early can expire before your application is decided, and you will have to ask again. Other problems include forgetting an old registration in another country, sending a copy when the receiving body wanted it direct from the issuer, and missing translations. If you have worked in the Gulf, our guide from a Gulf licence to UK registration explains how this works with Gulf regulators.