Priya(29)

I grew up in Eindhoven as the child of Indian parents, studied medicine at the TU/e campus in collaboration with Radboud University, and specialised in acute medicine. The Dutch healthcare system is good, but career opportunities in my specialty were limited. The NHS in the UK actively recruits international doctors, and Birmingham has one of the largest hospitals in Europe.

The British General Medical Council (GMC) must register you before you can work as a doctor in the UK. With a Dutch degree I didn't need to take additional exams — my training was recognised. However, I did have to take an IELTS test to prove my English, despite being fluent. A score of 7.5 on each component was required. The GMC registration process took six weeks.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham arranged my Skilled Worker visa. As an NHS doctor I fell under the Health and Care Worker visa, a subcategory with lower costs: no Immigration Health Surcharge and reduced visa fees of £284. That saves enormously compared to the standard Skilled Worker visa. The entire visa process took four weeks.

Birmingham is the most diverse city in the UK outside London. That was a deliberate choice. In Eindhoven I sometimes felt like an outsider despite being born there. In Birmingham diversity is the norm. The Balti Triangle has fantastic Indian food, there's a large Hindu community, and my colleagues on the ward come from twenty different countries. I feel more at home here than anywhere else.

NHS work is tough but rewarding. The workload is high — A&E waiting times are a national problem. But the collegiality is strong, the training is excellent, and career paths are clear. As a registrar I earn about £55,000 per year, and with on-call supplements I reach £65,000. I'm paying off my student loan from the Netherlands via DUO — that continues from abroad.

My advice to Dutch doctors: the UK offers enormous opportunities, especially in specialties with shortages. The bureaucracy (GMC, visa, NI number, HMRC) is time-consuming but well-documented. Start the GMC registration process at least six months before your planned move. And don't automatically choose London — Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds often offer better work-life balance at lower costs.