A government research group has recommended barring doctors born outside Europe from working in Britain as salaried GPs.
Non-European doctors should also be prevented from working in hospitals except as consultants in specific fields of medicine, the Home Office’s Migration Advisory Committee (Mac) has said.
The advice came as part of a wide-ranging package setting out which sectors experts believe should be open to skilled workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
Mac chairman Professor David Metcalf said limits should also be placed on foreign teachers, with only science and maths teachers being allowed in.
The committee, set up to establish which sectors of the UK job market are short of workers, also said a bar should be imposed on social workers, most skilled construction workers, IT specialists and architects.
A Home Office spokesman said non-EEA doctors would still be able to enter the UK under other aspects of Tier 2, such as if they meet the points hurdle and other requirements such as a good grasp of English, or if a sponsor proves they are unable to fill a vacancy with a European national.
However, it was unclear what effect the proposals would have on the number of non-European doctors working in the National Health Service.
Earlier this year the Home Office announced that new immigration rules would stop doctors from outside the EU applying for postgraduate training posts from next year.
The move followed criticisms that homegrown doctors have been unable to find jobs once they graduate from UK medical schools.
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