RCVS specialist information and application guide

Welcome to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ guide to becoming and remaining an RCVS Specialist. This guide explains what you need to do before applying, how to submit your application, and what happens afterwards.

New specialist applications have closed for 2025. Reapplications close on 31 March 2026.

If you’re due to reapply in 2026, we’ll get in touch with further details.

RCVS Specialist status

Achieving RCVS Specialist status is a significant milestone in your professional career.

Recognition is based on several core principles, including:

Holding an appropriate postgraduate qualification, such as an RCVS Diploma, EBVS® or AVMA® specialist diploma, or other approved qualification
Actively contributing to your specialty through continuing professional development (CPD), publishing, teaching, examining, reviewing, and engagement at national or international level
Remaining available for referral or consultation by veterinary colleagues where appropriate
Being an active practitioner within your area of specialisation

Our aim is to:

Encourage excellence and specialisation within the veterinary profession
Help the public and the profession identify veterinary surgeons with advanced knowledge, skills and continued professional engagement
Support appropriate referral to specialists
Recognise specialist competence in areas backed by suitable postgraduate training

Under the RCVS Code of Conduct (since March 2016), you must be listed as an RCVS Specialist if you wish to practise and use the title “specialist” in the UK.

Chapters

Becoming an RCVS Specialist

RCVS Specialist status is reserved for veterinary surgeons who’ve achieved a Level 8/SQCF Level 12 (Doctoral level) postgraduate qualification and who remain active contributors to their discipline.

Eligibility criteria: specialist status

To apply for RCVS specialist status, you must meet requirements relayed to your membership, qualifications, CPD, professional key skills and experience.

Fees: specialist status

The following fees apply for your specialist status application.

Emeritus Specialist Status

Find out how to request Emeritus specialist status if you have held specialist status for at least 15 consecutive years and have retired or are no longer practising clinically in your specialty.

Recognised specialties and titles

RCVS Specialist titles fall into three broad groups: Production Animal Medicine, Companion and Competitive Animals, and Disciplines.

Applying for specialist status as a European Diplomate

Find out how to apply for Specialist Status as a European Diplomate.

How to complete your RCVS specialist application

All applicants – European Diplomates, non-European new applicants and non-European reapplicants – apply through My Account. The steps you follow are the same, but the sections you complete and the evidence you upload will differ depending on your route.