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Documents for submission and processing time

Documents for submission and processing time

Documents required for submission for all applications for medical registration.

Last updated 7 April 2025

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(A) Procedure for medical registration

(B) Documentation required

(D) Documentation required from issuing authorities/conferring institutions

(E) Certificate of Good Standing

(F) Evidence of English proficiency

(G) Processing time

(H) Outcome of application

(A) Procedure for medical registration

All applications for medical registration must be submitted online. Please read the eligibility requirements for the various types of and categories for medical registration that you are applying for carefully.

Additional notes:

For any name variations in the documents submitted, an affidavit/ statutory declaration or deed poll made in the presence of either a lawyer, solicitor or a Notary Public to confirm the name variations/differences refer to the same person is required.
Authenticated English translations must accompany the documents that are in a foreign language
SMC may require the applicant to submit other relevant documents where necessary e.g. explanation for lapses of employment.
Applicant should provide explanation if there are gaps between period(s) of practice.

The application will not be processed if the required information / documentations are not provided or uploaded.

For new applicants, please apply here.
For doctors who are/were registered with SMC before, please login here.

To be eligible for medical registration, the applicant must:

possess a basic medical degree that complies with the requirements of the Medical Registration Act 1997 Second Schedule (also see important notes [PDF, 21 KB]); and
be practising as a bona fide medical practitioner currently; and
have a job offer or an offer of training position in a healthcare institution approved by SMC; and be in good standing and does not have any report(s), complaints or disciplinary actions taken against him for professional misconduct or for poor performance, or criminal acts under police or regulatory investigations pending against him; and
pass the national licensing examination as required in the country where the basic medical degree was conferred (if applicable)

The Medical Council will also consider other factors (but not limited to) such as:

Whether and how long the doctor has been in active clinical practice prior to application;
The duration of inactive clinical practice, if any
Past working experiences overseas and locally.

Prima facie satisfaction of the criteria for medical registration may not lead to approval for registration as each application for medical registration will be considered based on the merits of the doctor or the application and the documents submitted.

(B) Documentation required

To ascertain that the applicant's status is bona fide is a very important function in the SMC application and approval process. Furthermore, it must be established that no disciplinary actions, adverse reports, fitness to practise issues or investigations are present or pending.

The following documents and any other information or statement required by the Medical Council must be uploaded online or submitted in support of your medical registration application.

For provisional registration

The Letter of offer of employment from the prospective employing institution.
^{^}Certified true copy of NRIC or Passport.
A recent clear passport-sized photograph (taken within the last 3 months in colour and against a white background).
^#Certified true copy of undergraduate medical qualifications.
Important: For certificates or qualifications in a language other than English, a certified true copy of the English translation must be provided.
Certificates of registration with other medical licensing authorities (if applicable).
Results of the national licensing examination (if applicable).
Evidence of proficiency in English language (if applicable).

Explanatory notes:
^{^}NRIC or Passport must be certified true copy by a notary public or HR of prospective employing institution.
^#Undergraduate and postgraduate medical scrolls must be certified either by a notary public or authorised personnel of conferring institution or HR of employing institution.

Primary source verification of medical credentials from Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC)

SMC will also accept primary source verification of the following medical credentials from the Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC), administered by the Educational Commission of Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG, a member of Intealth):

a) Basic and/or postgraduate qualifications;

b) Postgraduate medical education credentials (e.g. credentials issued by institutions confirming the applicants’ participation in a clinical training programme, residency or postgraduate training, specialty board certifications and/or graduate degrees in clinical specialties); and

c) Licence and/or medical registration certificates

Applicants may refer to the EPIC’s website (https://www.ecfmgepic.org/index.html) for more information on EPIC and registration for EPIC if they wish to use EPIC to conduct primary source verification of their medical credentials.

For conditional registration

The Letter of offer of employment from the prospective employing institution to include information on the doctor’s scope of practice; range of cases and patients, and percentage of time spent on general health screening work (if any).
^{^}Certified true copy of NRIC or Passport.
A recent clear passport-sized photograph (taken within the last 3 months in colour and against a white background).
^#Certified true copy of undergraduate and/or postgraduate medical qualifications.
Important: For certificates or qualifications in a language other than English, a certified true copy of the English translation must be provided.
Documentary evidence of housemanship/internship training with details on the period spent in each discipline.
Statement of Employment (SOE) for the preceding three years from the employer indicating the following:
- Name and address of the employer
- Designation
- Practice place: Department, Hospital/clinic
- Period of Employment: DD/MM/YYYY to Present (or DD/MM/YYYY)
- Whether employed on full-time (at least 40 clinical hours per week) or part-time (at least 20 clinical hours per week) basis
Certificates of registration with other medical licensing authorities.
Results of the national licensing examination (if applicable).
Evidence of proficiency in English language (if applicable).

Important:
Conditionally registered doctors who were previously registered with SMC and applying to resume their practise must fulfil the prevailing Continuing Medical Education (CME) requirements before applying for a new practising certificate (PC). Doctors are advised to fulfil such requirements early as the average processing time for CME applications is between 3 to 4 weeks. Please refer to the information on the point requirements for doctors.

Primary source verification of medical credentials from Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC)

a) Basic and/or postgraduate qualifications;

c) Licence and/or medical registration certificates

For full registration

With effect from 14 March 2025, conditionally registered doctors are not required to submit their curriculum vitae and supporting testimonial from the Head of Department and Chairman Medical Board or Medical Director.

The SMC will only request for the testimonials if necessary.

Please refer to the Circular [PDF, 90 KB] for more information.

For temporary registration (training)

Letter of offer of training from an SMC-approved training institution.
Details of training programme (i.e. Form A).
Evidence of sponsorship from the government, regional health authority or an appropriate institution in the applicant’s home country (i.e. Form B).
^Certified true copy of NRIC or Passport.
A recent passport-sized photograph (taken within the last 3 months in colour and against a white background).
^#Certified true copy of undergraduate and/or postgraduate medical qualifications (For certificates or qualifications in a language other than English, a certified true copy of the English translation must be provided).
Documentary evidence of housemanship / internship training with details on the period spent in each discipline.
Statement of Employment (SOE) for the preceding three years from the employer indicating the following:
- Name and address of the employer
- Designation
- Practice place: Department, Hospital/clinic
- Period of Employment: DD/MM/YYYY to Present (or DD/MM/YYYY)
- Whether employed on full-time (at least 40 clinical hours per week) or part-time (at least 20 clinical hours per week) basis
Certificates of registration with other medical licensing authorities.
Results of the national licensing examination (if applicable)
Evidence of proficiency in English language, where applicable (not required for Temporary registration as Clinical Observers).

Primary source verification of medical credentials from Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC)

a) Basic and/or postgraduate qualifications;

c) Licence and/or medical registration certificates

For temporary registration (research)

Only where medical registration is required (see Temporary Registration for Research) would the details below be required.

A letter of the offer of employment from an SMC-approved healthcare institution.
Details of research project should include:
- a written confirmation from the Primary Principal Investigator (PPI)* which states the duration of the research project(s) that the doctor will be involved in.
- Documentary proof that the research project has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (new requirement).
- Include a copy of the details of the research project, categorised as follows:
  
  a. Purpose of the research;
  b. Research protocol;
  c. Duration of the research project;
  d. Scope of the doctor’s work in the research project;
  e. Details of clinical components with frequency, location(s) and procedures (e.g. whether the doctor is required to perform clinical work on healthy subjects or ‘selected’ subjects only);
  f. Clear indication of what the doctor is expected/required to do;
  g. Method of supervisory and assessment for the research doctor
  h. List of locations where the clinical research work will be carried out**.
  i. The time-line to completion.
  
  * The Research Fellow/Research Scientist must work under the supervision of a PPI.
  ** The doctor can only be involved in research projects within the institution.

^{^}Certified true copy of NRIC or Passport.
A recent passport-sized photograph (taken within the last 3 months in colour and against a white background).
^#Certified true copy of undergraduate and/or postgraduate medical qualifications (For certificates or qualifications in a language other than English, a certified true copy of the English translation must be provided).
Documentary evidence of housemanship / internship training with details on the period spent in each discipline.
Statement of Employment (SOE) for the preceding three years from the employer indicating the following:
- Name and address of the employer
- Designation
- Practice place: Department, Hospital/clinic
- Period of Employment: DD/MM/YYYY to Present (or DD/MM/YYYY)
- Whether employed on full-time (at least 40 clinical hours per week) or part-time (at least 20 clinical hours per week) basis
Certificates of registration with other medical licensing authorities.
Results of the national licensing examination (if applicable)

Primary source verification of medical credentials from Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC)

a) Basic and/or postgraduate qualifications;

c) Licence and/or medical registration certificates

For temporary registration (Visiting Experts)

Updated and summarised Curriculum Vitae of the Visiting Expert (please do not include all published titles and papers) to include the following information:

a. Basic medical qualification (including date of graduation/conferment and title of qualification);
b. Internship/residency information;
c. Details of overseas medical registration currently registered with (include state and country of authority); and
d. Details of clinical academic and research work experience for the 3 years preceding the application

Letter of Confirmation of the visiting expert’s expertise and endorsement either by the Head of Department and Chairman, Medical Board (CMB) of the hosting institution OR the relevant academic professional body* [e.g. The Academy of Medicine, Singapore (AMS)]. The letter should state the purpose of the application and period of registration required for the Visiting Expert.
If the purpose of registration is for the visiting expert to perform procedures on selected patients (excluding cases under formal training programmes or workshops), documentary proof from the CMB or AMS is required to certify that there is no local expert anywhere in Singapore available to perform the procedure(s) that the visiting expert is engaged for, must be submitted.
^{^}Certified true copy of NRIC or Passport.
A recent passport-sized photograph (taken within the last 3 months in colour and against a white background).
A copy of the Declaration form (if the application is not submitted by the doctor himself/herself)
^#Certified true copy of undergraduate and/or postgraduate medical qualifications (For certificates or qualifications in a language other than English, a certified true copy of the English translation must be provided).
^#Certified true copy of the specialist certificate issued by the foreign jurisdiction

*For expert verification by AMS, please submit a cheque of SGD$214 addressed to the “Academy of Medicine, Singapore” and send it directly to the following address:

Attn: Professional Affairs
Academy of Medicine, Singapore
Level 12, NKF Centre
81 Kim Keat Road
Singapore 328836

At the back of the cheque, to indicate the following:

Fee for Verification of Visiting Expert (Name of Visiting Expert)
Hosting Institution / Company Name

AMS request the following documents to be sent to SMC via email in order to proceed with the verification for VEs:

Letter from the hosting institute stating the purpose of the application and period of registration required.
Verification of expertise from CMB
Curriculum Vitae
Copy of marriage certificate/affidavit/statutory declaration (required if VE’s name differs in documents)

Certified true copy of

Passport
Basic medical qualification
Postgraduate medical qualification
Specialist certifications
Original Good Standing Certificate

Explanatory notes:

^{^}NRIC or Passport must be certified true copy by a notary public or HR of prospective employing institution.
^#Undergraduate and postgraduate medical scrolls must be certified either by a notary public or authorised personnel of conferring institution or HR of employing institution.

Primary source verification of medical credentials from Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC)

a) Basic and/or postgraduate qualifications;

c) Licence and/or medical registration certificates

(C) Documentation required from local employing/training healthcare institution

Annex A (applicable only for temporary registration as Clinical Fellows / Observers) - which must be signed by the applicant, the appointed clinical supervisor and the Head of Department of the training institution.
Annex B - signed by the CEO, or Chairman of the Medical Board, or Medical Director or equivalent, to indicate that the institution or practice is aware of, and conforms to, SMC's Supervisory Framework for this applicant (applicable only for institutions employing conditional/temporary registered doctors for the first time);
Annex C – Letter of Undertaking for Prospective Supervisor, signed by the appointed supervisor to indicate that he will comply with SMC's Supervisory Framework for the applicant.

(D) Documentation required from issuing authorities/conferring institutions

Letter of Verification

The SMC requires the applicant or employing institution to arrange for the following letters to be sent to the Council directly from source:

Letter of verification (LV) for applicant's basic medical qualifications;
Letter of verification for applicant's postgraduate medical qualifications.

Submission of LVs through the applicants and Human Resource (HR) is not acceptable.

The LV may be submitted to SMC through the following modes:

By email: The LV must be sent from the conferring institution's official email domain to SMC at SMC_Verifications@spb.gov.sg (preferred mode) OR
By mail to SMC

Queries on LV may be sent to SMC_Verifications@spb.gov.sg .

LVs must be on the letterhead of issuing authorities/conferring institutions & contain the following information:

Name of graduate;
Date of entry into programme;
Date of graduation/conferment;
Title of qualification conferred;
Campus (if there is more than one campus by the University)
Specify if the teaching medium is in English (for basic medical qualifications only)

The LV must be addressed to the specific officer or the Secretariat of SMC before it can be accepted by SMC.

Applications with no original LVs received by SMC at the point of application submission, will be deemed as incomplete and the application will not be processed

Please note that SMC shall not be responsible for any payments incurred by the applicant and / or interested parties arising from the request of the letters of verification.

Dean’s Testimonial (applicable only for provisional registrants)
SMC requires the applicant or employing institution to arrange for an original Dean’s testimonial to be sent to the Council directly from source. Submission of the Dean’s testimonial through the applicants and Human Resource (HR) is not acceptable.

(E) Certificate of Good Standing

SMC requires the applicant to arrange for a Certificate of Good Standing (CGS) from the medical councils/ licensing authority where the applicant has been practising for the preceding 3 years prior to the application, to be sent directly from the issuing authorities to SMC.

CGS received must not exceed 3 months from its issue date when the doctor comes for his/ her registration after the application for medical registration is approved.

Please note that SMC shall not be responsible for any payments incurred by the applicant and/ or interested parties arising from the request of the CGS.

The Certificate issued by the authorised licensing body where the applicant is registered should contain the following information:

Date of issue of the CGS; and
Full name of the registered medical practitioner, including any aliases, if any; and
Registration number or any identification number issued by the Licensing Body; and
Registration type (e.g. full registration, general registration, etc.); and
Date the applicant is registered as a medical practitioner of that country; and
That no proceedings have been taken or are pending against the said registered medical practitioner; and
Any other relevant information about the fitness to practice of the said registered medical practitioner; and
Name, designation and signature of person authorised by the Licensing Body for the issuance of the CGS.

Additional notes:

SMC will not register doctors if the following letters/ certificates are not available to SMC by the time the doctor comes for his/ her registration in person:

The original letters of verification (LV) for all medical qualifications; and
The original CGS from the licensing authority where the applicant has been practising for the preceding 3 years prior to his application.
Dean's testimonial (only applicable for provisional registration)

(F) Evidence of English proficiency

International medical graduates are required to show evidence of proficiency in the English Language if their basic medical degree is obtained from a medical school where the medium of instruction is not in English.

Test results obtained from the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or Occupational English Test (OET), must be obtained in a single sitting. The test results must be at least at the minimum scores required in the table below. The test results will only be accepted by SMC if it is within 2 years from the date of the test.

Minimum scores required for the various English language proficiency test

Language proficiency test	Minimum requirements
IELTS (UK) (International English Language Testing Systems)	At least 7 in each of the four components (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking) for the academic module.
TOEFL (US) (Test of English Language as a Foreign Language)	Only TOEFL Internet based test (iBT) will be accepted. TOEFL iBT score of at least 25 in each of the four components (listening, reading, writing and speaking). The overall score must be at least 100.
OET (Australia) (Occupational English Test)	At least Grade B in each of the four components (listening, reading, writing and speaking).

Doctors who apply for temporary registration as Clinical Observers for training attachment do not need to submit English test results. However, the doctor will NOT be allowed to:

be involved in primary management of patients; nor
prescribe treatment.

Clinical Observers are only allowed to assist in procedures under direct supervision and will be subject to Level 1 supervision by their supervisor at all times.

(G) Processing time

The average time required for processing a straightforward application for medical registration is about 4 weeks, provided all documentations required by SMC are submitted with the prescribed fee. Processing time may be longer (i.e. 8 weeks) for complex cases (e.g. requiring validation from overseas medical college or medical jurisdiction, pending Certificate of Good Standing to be sent to SMC from overseas medical authority) and during peak periods.

Longer processing time is expected if there is a need for verification of qualifications or registration with overseas institutions or regulatory bodies, or when SMC is experiencing peak periods for applications.

SMC will only start processing the application if all documents submitted are in order.

Incomplete applications will be withdrawn.

(H) Outcome of application

Applicants will be informed via email on the outcome of the application for medical registration and be further advised on how to complete the registration with SMC.