Post-Brexit policy on EAEVE accreditation extended for further year

At its meeting on Thursday 19 January 2023, RCVS Council members voted to once again extend the College’s temporary policy whereby graduates of veterinary schools accredited or approved by the European Association for Establishments of Veterinary Education (EAEVE) could join the Register of Veterinary Surgeons without having to first take the Statutory Membership Examination.

The temporary policy had been established in June 2019 ahead of the UK formally leaving the European Union to help with the expected reduction in veterinary surgeons who graduated in the EU coming to live and work in the UK following the end of the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications (MRPQ) Directive. The MRPQ had previously allowed EU citizens with EU veterinary degrees to freely work as a veterinary surgeon in the UK and vice versa.

The decision by Council has extended the temporary policy for a further year and will be reviewed again at Council’s January 2024 meeting. In the meantime, the RCVS is continuing to explore more permanent arrangements in which the UK’s veterinary education standards would be better safeguarded, this includes the direct accreditation of individual European veterinary schools by the RCVS.

Veterinary surgeons continue to be on the Home Office’s Shortage Occupation List, meaning that European veterinary surgeons will be prioritised for Skilled Worker visas which will also cost less.