Overseas doctors who want to work in Britain have to undergo criminal checks but poor record-keeping in their home countries can make thorough searches difficult.

The path to a possible job in Britain requires applicants to pass through several barriers, the first of which is demonstrating competence in English. The test, set by the Professional and Linguistics Assessments Board, is split into two – the first can be done in the country of origin but the second must be sat in the presence of the General Medical Council in London.

Both parts must be passed to qualify for registration with the council, but applicants will be registered only if they have a job, so the next step is to apply to the NHS for work. Given a job, the foreign graduate will be given “limited registration”, which means he or she can work as a doctor but only in a setting in which they are supervised by more senior doctors – normally an NHS hospital. Both Mohammed Asha and Bilal Abdulla currently hold such positions in the NHS.

Such limited registration normally lasts for a year or eighteen months, and may need to be renewed if there is a change of job. As doctors progress into permanent employment they will gain full registration.

Getting a job is often much harder than passing the language test. Unemployment among overseas doctors is high. One doctor recently committed suicide when he could not find work.

The second part of the language test gives the council a chance to check the identity of the doctor against, say, a passport photo. But a hospital offering work would also be expected to check references and qualifications.

Criminal records checks are also carried out, but may be hard to complete satisfactorily for all overseas applicants, due to poor record-keeping in their home countries. In the case of terrorist offences, it is quite possible that the perpetrators are first-time offenders, in which case no criminal record exists.

Dr Asha and Dr Abdulla qualified in 2004, one in Jordan and one in Iraq. That means that they are still at the beginning of their professional careers and would have been working as senior house officers in hospitals.

Either or both may have been caught up in the chaos surrounding appointments to training posts. It is expected that at least 10,000 doctors will be disappointed because there are far too few training posts this year to satisfy everybody – though everybody, the Department of Health says, will get a job of some sort.

After years or relying on overseas doctors to fill UK jobs, the Government has recently attempted to slow the flow by requiring them to have work permits. But court action by the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin put that move on hold for the time being.

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