Good professional standing

Once you have passed the statutory membership examination, you will be able to register as a member of the RCVS, provided that our Registration department has received and approved a letter or certificate and/or other documents attesting to your good standing.

You must provide the RCVS with up-to-date evidence of your good standing, each time you apply to sit our examination.

As evidence of good standing, we only accept original, signed letters/certificates/other documents that are dated within the exam application window (1 October to 14 January). These documents should be emailed directly to [email protected] by the organisation/person who writes them.

Who can provide your letter of good standing?

Depending on your circumstances you have different options for providing your letter of good standing. A letter of good standing is NOT a reference and so a letter from an employer is not suitable.

1. If you have a license to practise as a veterinary surgeon in one or more countries around the world you must request your letter of good standing from the organisation that grants you your license.
2. If you have graduated as a vet within the last 12 months you should request your letter of good standing from your university. If you have not yet graduated your letter MUST include a predicted date of graduation to be approved.
3. If you do not currently have a license to practise as a veterinary surgeon and have graduated more than 12 months ago you will need to swear an affidavit/oath in front of a competent judicial or administrative authority, or notary public. If you need to swear an affidavit, please email [email protected] for further information.

In our experience it can take some organisations several months to provide these letters so you should request one at the earliest opportunity. If the letter provided is not in English then you will need to have it translated by a licensed translator and submit the original alongside the certified translation to [email protected].