Overseas electricians | SparkyFacts.co.uk

Overseas Qualified Electricians


You are a qualified and experienced electrician who has just moved to England hoping to work in England?You have contacted a couple of recruitment agencies only to be turned down because none of them recognises your qualifications. What should you do? How to get approved?

Too many times people from overseas went into electrical jobs without any English qualifications with tragic consequences: many of them died from electrocution. It turned out that the qualifications they had claimed to have were not the required ones, not even in their home countries.
To prevent such accidents recruitment agencies and employers now require English qualifications regardless of what candidates claim to hold from their home countries.
So you are facing the issue of how to get your qualifications recognised? Unfortunately there is no shortcut.

Here is what you need to do:

  • You need to contact UK NARIC in order to compare qualifications. You will have to submit all your oversees qualifications in full detail in order to receive a Letter of Comparability and an UK NARIC Certificate of Comparability which you can than present to employers or other institutions.
    UK NARIC (National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom) is an agency managed on behalf of the UK Government in order to provide official source of information on international qualifications to organisations recruiting from overseas and to individuals wishing to work in the UK.

    Your certificate should be similar to this:
    UK NARIC
    To start the process please follow this link to UK NARIC official website.

  • After receiving your documents from UK NARIC you will need to contact JIB.
    JIB stands for the Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry. You will have to send them your:
    Certificate of Comparability, together with
    a letter describing your situation and intentions  - in order to be graded as a qualified electrician. JIB will tell you exactly which English qualification you will have to gain in order to be fully approved. This can differ from case to case but the qualifications will most probably be some or all of these:
    - 18th Edition of the Wiring Regulations BS 7671:2018 (City & Guilds 2382-10 Level 3)
    - City & Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Inspection, Testing and Certification of Electrical Installations (City & Guilds 2391-52)
    - NVQ level 3 in Electrotechnical Services (City & Guilds 2356)
    - AM2 or Achievement Measurement 2

After completing these steps you can apply for grading with the JIB.
Getting a JIB grade is the best way to get recognised as an electrician in the UK. With a JIB grade of an Approved Electrician in your hands you will surely be able to find work as an electrician.


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