HCPC Registration for Internationally Trained Radiographers: Step by Step (2026)

Before you start

Disclosure: Zapx Labs makes Migo AI Mobility, which helps healthcare professionals with registration and relocation. Every figure below comes from the HCPC or GOV.UK as we read them on 8 November 2026, linked at the end. Regulators change fees and processes, so check the official pages before you pay or submit anything. This is general information, not legal or immigration advice.

Radiographer, diagnostic radiographer and therapeutic radiographer are protected titles in the UK. To use them, and to work as a radiographer, you must be on the HCPC Register.

The international route is for people who trained and qualified outside the UK, in a qualification relevant to an HCPC profession, and who have never been registered with the HCPC before. People with a qualification from, or lawful practice in, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland or Switzerland may apply through a separate Free Trade Agreement route on a paper form. Applicants with refugee status or humanitarian protection can apply without the scrutiny fee by emailing the HCPC for the form.

What it costs

HCPC fees last changed on 29 April 2025. A consultation that closed on 17 July 2026 proposed raising the annual registration fee to £128.40, phased in from 2027, with equivalent rises to other fees, so check before you apply.

• Scrutiny fee: £678.38, one-off and non-refundable, paid online after you complete the application. Your application is not submitted until it is paid.
• Registration fee if you are accepted: £370.02 for international applicants. It covers the rest of the current registration year plus the next two-year cycle; if you join in the first year of your profession's cycle, only two years are payable.
• Renewal after that: £123.34 a year, paid every two years.
• Total to get on the Register: £1,048.40, before English tests, document certification, translation, visa and travel.

English language requirements

If your qualification was not from a country on the HCPC's exempt list (which includes Australia, Canada, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Malta, New Zealand and the USA), you need a test certificate no more than two years old when the HCPC receives your application. Tests must be taken at an official test centre, not at home.

• IELTS: 7.0 overall with no element below 6.5.
• OET (Radiography): 1400 in total with no element below 300.
• TOEFL iBT (not accepted if taken in the UK): for tests from 21 January 2026, overall 5, with reading 4.5, listening 5, writing 4.5 and speaking 5. Tests before that date need 100 out of 120.

Step 1: Gather and certify your documents

The HCPC warns that incorrectly certified documents can significantly delay an application, so prepare them before you open the form. Copies must be certified by a person of standing in the community, and anything not in English needs a certified copy of an official translation. Upload files in the format the HCPC asks for, because unreadable files also cause delays.

• Certified proof of identity and address, plus any change-of-name document.
• A course information form, completed by your university or training institution, and the qualification certificate that first let you practise.
• Your English language certificate, unless you are exempt.
• The standards of proficiency mapping document for your profession.
• A signed declaration allowing the HCPC to verify your background information.

Step 2: Complete the online application

You create an account on the HCPC application portal and complete seven sections: your details, your qualification, professional experience, professional registration and membership, English language proficiency, the standards of proficiency mapping document, and declarations.

The professional experience section allows up to 20,000 characters. List your experience most recent first, explain any gap of six months or more, include at least one example, and give a professional referee with an official organisational email address; personal email addresses are not accepted.

The HCPC says professional experience accounts must be in your own words and that you must not use AI, including for grammar checking, or text from job descriptions and other sources. It checks international applications for plagiarism and AI. Write these sections yourself, whatever tools you use for the rest of the process.

The mapping document must reference every standard and point to where in your application the evidence sits, rather than containing the evidence itself. Download the version for your profession and complete it in size 12 Arial.

Step 3: Review and assessment

After you submit and pay, the HCPC aims to update you within 10 working days. If anything is missing or certified incorrectly, you have six months to supply it; if you don't and you don't get in touch, the application is withdrawn and you must start again.

A complete application goes to two assessors from your part of the Register, who compare your education, training and experience with the HCPC standards of proficiency. They decide only on what you submitted. Separately, the HCPC runs verification checks with your education provider and relevant regulators. The HCPC currently says it takes three months from a complete application to a first decision, because of high volumes.

Step 4: The decision

You receive the decision by email with a Record of Assessment explaining it. There are three outcomes on the international route: you are accepted onto the Register and pay the registration fee; you are asked to take a test of competence to inform the decision; or you are refused. A period of adaptation applies only to Free Trade Agreement applications.

The Health and Care Worker visa

Most radiographers moving to the UK for work use the Health and Care Worker visa. Medical radiographers are occupation code 2254. Check GOV.UK before you apply, because the rules change.

• You need a confirmed job offer and a certificate of sponsorship from a UK employer approved by the Home Office.
• Salary: usually at least £25,000, or the going rate for the job if that is higher.
• Application fee: £324 per person for up to three years, £628 for longer, the same inside or outside the UK.
• No immigration health surcharge for you or your partner and children.
• Savings: £1,270 held for 28 days, unless you have been in the UK on a visa for 12 months or your employer covers your first month's costs.
• The visa can last up to five years before you need to extend it.

Doing it yourself, or getting help

You can complete the HCPC application entirely on your own. The HCPC's step-by-step guidance is detailed, and the regulator fees are the same however you apply. What usually takes the time is coordination: chasing your university for the course information form, getting copies certified, lining up referees, and keeping the visa and job offer moving in parallel.

Migo AI Mobility is built for that coordination. You tell it your goal, for example registering as a radiographer in the UK, and it builds a journey plan, collects and checks your documents, prepares an evidence map and drafts for you to review, and follows up on each step, with experts on the regulated steps. Every payment, submission or sensitive action arrives as an approval card showing its reason, scope and cost, and you can pause, decline or revoke consent at any time. Creating your plan is free; paid steps show their credit cost before you approve them, and credit packs start at $19. HCPC and Home Office fees are separate and paid to them.

Migo is independent. It isn't affiliated with the HCPC, the NMC, the NHS or the Home Office, and it doesn't give legal or immigration advice. In line with the HCPC's rules, your professional experience accounts must still be written by you.