The GMC’s Workforce report 2025 shows a dramatic rise in international doctors applying for the first year of UK specialty or core training (CT1/ST1), intensifying pressure on an already competitive training pipeline.  

According to the report, 5,326 nonUK PMQ doctors applied for CT1/ST1 posts in 2018/19. By 2023/24, that figure had more than tripled to 18,857. The report stresses these are numbers of doctors applying, not total applications, a key distinction because doctors can apply to multiple training posts in the same recruitment year.  

While applications have surged, offers have not risen at the same pace. In 2023/24, 4,406 nonUK graduates received an offer equating to under a quarter (23%) of nonUK applicants being offered a CT1/ST1 place. The report notes that the peak nonUK offer proportion was in 2019/20, when 53% (3,507) of nonUK applicants received an offer, highlighting how sharply the success rate has since fallen.  

The report also places these figures into the wider offer pool. It states that of 12,716 doctors who received an offer in 2023/24, 7,770 were UK graduates and 4,406 were nonUK graduates, meaning nonUK doctors made up roughly a third of those receiving training offers that year.  

The GMC argues this growth in international applications is linked to workforce pathways in the UK. Many international doctors, the report says, apply for specialty training after spending several years in locally employed (LE) roles. In other words, training applications are not separate from service staffing: they are often the next step for doctors who have already been contributing to daytoday NHS provision outside formal training.  

Why it matters: The report’s foreword highlights that postgraduate training is a key part of the UK’s workforce engine. Even as the number of doctors offered training places has “nearly doubled” over the last decade, the number of applicants has also grown, driven in part by increasing international interest. The report frames this as both an opportunity and a challenge: international doctors help fill service gaps and sustain training numbers in some programmes, but the widening gap between applicants and offers increases frustration, delays progression, and could change how attractive the UK remains as a destination for global talent.