Rules preventing asylum seeker doctors from working in the NHS have been formally overturned, in a move hailed as vital and long overdue by the BMA.

The association has strongly welcomed changes to the immigration rules reinstating the right of doctors seeking sanctuary in the UK to practise medicine, which are part of the Home Office’s statement of changes in the immigration rules published last month.

Under the changes, doctors and other healthcare professionals who have waited 12 months or more for an initial decision on their asylum applications, will now be able to work in the health service.

Prior to the change, which came into force on 26 March, asylum seekers with permission to work in the UK were limited to roles found within the Immigration Salary List, a framework that did not include most healthcare professions.

Responding to the scrapping of the ban on working in the NHS, BMA international committee chair Kitty Mohan said that, by reversing the ban, the Government had shown sense and demonstrated humanity.

She said: ‘Reinstating this right finally enables asylum seeker doctors to use their skills and experience to care for patients, while allowing the NHS to benefit from their commitment and expertise.

‘This announcement is particularly welcome against the backdrop of increasingly punitive measures that have made life harder for people seeking asylum and refuge.

‘We hope it signals a move towards a more compassionate and humane approach to supporting a particularly vulnerable group.’

Historically, doctors who came to the UK seeking asylum were able to apply to work in the NHS as part of the SOL (Shortage Occupation List).

Under the then Conservative government led by Rishi Sunak, the SOL was replaced with the Immigration Salary List in April 2024, a move which effectively prevented doctors and other healthcare staff from accessing roles in the health service.

The BMA was among a number of organisations, including REACHE (Refugee and Asylum Seekers Centre for Healthcare Professionals Education), which have actively campaigned for the restoration of asylum seekers' right to work, with the association pointing to the NHS's desperate need for healthcare staff.

In a letter to Parliamentary under-secretary of state for migration and citizenship Seema Malhotra, BMA council chair Tom Dolphin further highlighted how the restrictions on access to work had the potential to affect the integration and wellbeing of vulnerable people seeking safety and hoping to rebuild their lives in the UK.

Other challenges to the ban on the right of asylum seeker doctors to work in the NHS include a judicial review brought before the High Court in England by two doctors supported REACHE.

A hearing on the appeal was adjourned in December last year after home secretary Shabana Mahmood agreed to an urgent review of the rules by her department.