Occupational therapist to Ireland: the CORU route, step by step
How CORU's Occupational Therapists Registration Board reads an overseas OT degree: two assessors, the file, OET or IELTS, and what a gap leads to.
Two people will read your file before CORU’s Board decides anything. One assesses your education. The other assesses your clinical practice. Both come from the profession. Write for both of them and the rest of the route follows.
That is the most practical way we know to think about Ireland for an occupational therapy graduate trained outside Ireland. This post walks through who those readers are, what the file has to contain to reach them, and what can happen when they finish.
Recognition, then the register
CORU regulates occupational therapists through the Occupational Therapists Registration Board. If you qualified outside the EU, your qualification is recognised first, against the Standards of Proficiency for Occupational Therapists. Registration follows once recognition and the rest of the application are complete.
Source: coru.ie · Guidance Notes: Applying for Registration as an International Qualification Applicant · 2026-10-04
Occupational therapist is on Ireland’s Critical Skills Occupations List.
Source: enterprise.gov.ie · Critical Skills Occupations List · 2026-09-22
Two readers of your file
Once the file is complete, two experts from the profession assess it: an Education Assessor and a Clinical Practice Assessor. They make a recommendation to the Board, and the Board decides.
Source: coru.ie · Guidance Notes: Applying for Registration as an International Qualification Applicant · 2026-10-04
Both read against the same standards, set out in CORU’s five domains, from professional autonomy and accountability to professional knowledge and skills.
Source: coru.ie · Occupational Therapists Registration Board Standards of Proficiency for Occupational Therapists · 2026-10-04
Writing for the educator
An educator reading your file will look for the shape of your course: which subjects, at what depth, and how they were assessed. That evidence lives in three CORU documents:
- Certified copies of your qualification certificates
- Certified copies of your official transcripts
- A certified description of course content, verified by your educational institute
Source: coru.ie · Guidance Notes: Applying for Registration as an International Qualification Applicant · 2026-10-04
Your college may hold this information in several places: a syllabus booklet, university regulations, an internal marks register. CORU needs it in one certified description, so ask early and explain exactly what you need.
The course description does the heavy lifting. Ask your college for one that names each subject, its hours, its learning outcomes and how it was examined. A list of subject titles leaves the assessor guessing.
Writing for the practitioner
A practitioner will look for what you have done with people: the settings, the client groups, the interventions, and the supervision you worked under. In your application you enter placements and employment; your file then carries:
- Certified evidence of your eligibility to practise, verified by the competent authority
- Verification by your employer, where relevant
- CPD records, where they help
A placement described only as “paediatrics” tells the practitioner very little. One described by setting, client group, interventions and supervising therapist tells them a lot.
Getting to “File Complete”
Before either assessor sees anything, CORU checks the file. You create a portal profile under the International Qualification application type, have documents certified or university-stamped, send verification forms out to be signed and stamped, upload everything and submit. Then you add the eVetting form and a statutory declaration, and complete eVetting online.
CORU marks the file “File Complete” only when every third-party verification is in. One verification form waiting on someone else’s desk holds the whole file, so send them out early and follow them up politely until they arrive.
Source: coru.ie · Apply for Recognition of International Qualifications · 2026-10-04
English
CORU’s general standard is CEFR C1. For occupational therapists it lists OET in the Occupational Therapy version, IELTS Academic at 7.0 overall with no element below 6.5, or Cambridge C1 Advanced at grade C. Some applicants are exempt, for instance where a university confirms that the course and placements ran through English.
Source: coru.ie · CORU Language Requirements · 2026-10-04
If the Board finds a gap
The Board can recognise your qualification, set a compensation measure, or in limited circumstances refuse. A compensation measure is a period of adaptation or an aptitude test.
Source: coru.ie · Compensation Measures · 2026-10-04
A gap is not a verdict on your ability. Often it is a gap in the paper: hours that happened but were never written down, or a subject taught under a name the assessors did not recognise. Both are easier to fix before you file than after the Board has asked. A refusal can be appealed to CORU’s Appeal Committee.
Source: coru.ie · Recognition of International Qualifications Policy (POL-001) · 2026-10-04
Our registry rates this route Medium: document review plus a moderate assessment step, such as syllabus scrutiny or a compensation measure.
Source: coru.ie · route as recorded and rated in our regulator registry · Sept 2026
How busy CORU is
CORU: applications to recognise an international qualification
Unit: applications received
| Category | Applications received |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 812 |
| 2022 | 1,307 |
| 2023 | 2,053 |
| 2024 | 2,423 |
| 2025 | 2,689 |
Applications to CORU to recognise an international qualification have risen every year since 2021, across all professions, which is one more reason to send a file the assessors can read quickly.
International applicants recognised by CORU in 2025
Unit: applicants recognised
| Category | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Physiotherapists | 822 |
| Social workers | 481 |
| Radiographers | 294 |
| Occupational therapists | 188 |
| Medical scientists | 159 |
| Dietitians | 88 |
| Speech and language therapists | 83 |
| Optometrists | 68 |
| Radiation therapists | 24 |
| Podiatrists | 21 |
| Dispensing opticians | 14 |
| Social care workers | 14 |
Occupational therapists were the fourth-largest group CORU recognised from abroad in 2025.
What to do first
- Ask your college for a course description with hours, outcomes and assessment for each subject
- Write up each placement by setting, client group and supervisor, and get it signed
- Send verification forms to your university and employers as soon as you have them
- Choose OET Occupational Therapy, IELTS Academic or an exemption letter
Sources
Every fact above was read on the named official page, or recorded in our regulator registry, on the date shown beside it. The full list of facts for occupational therapists is on our sources page, and who decides in Ireland is on the CORU regulator page.
Fees and timelines are not on this page. Choose occupational therapist and Ireland in the Route Finder below to see yours.
Quick answers
The short version
Which documents do I need to prepare?
The regulator names: Certified Copy of Proof of Identity; Certified Copy of Evidence of Name Change (if applicable); Certified Copy of Certificate Qualification(s) Awarded; Certified Copy of Official Transcripts; Certified Description of Course Content; Certified Evidence of Eligibility to Practise.
What is the application measured against?
The regulator names: Standards of Proficiency for Occupational Therapists; Five domains: Professional Autonomy and Accountability; Communication, Collaborative Practice and Teamworking; Safety and Quality; Professional Development; Professional Knowledge and Skills.
What English language evidence is needed?
A CORU-approved English language test at the minimum score for the profession, unless the applicant meets one of CORU's exemptions (e.g. a CORU-approved or Commonly Aligned qualification taught and assessed in English, a university letter confirming qualification and placements through English or Irish, or practice through English in a country where English is the sole official language). General standard: CEFR C1.
What happens after the regulator decides?
If recognised, the applicant proceeds to registration and entry on the register; if the qualification does not meet the Standards of Proficiency, the Board may require a compensation measure, chosen between a Period of Adaptation and an Aptitude Test. A refusal of recognition may be appealed to the Appeal Committee of Council.
What we do
How Credentis Global helps with this route
You trained. We file. The regulator decides. Here is what that means for a occupational therapist in Ireland.
Recognition first, then registration
CORU recognises your qualification before it registers you. we map your syllabus, placement hours and scope of practice to the Irish standard, so the recognition file answers what CORU reads.
Every document, in the order the regulator reads it
Each item is checked against the regulator’s own list: names matched to your passport, hours in writing, copies certified by the person the list names.
One portal, and a person who answers
Upload your documents, see every stage of the file and message us in one place. The person who replies is the specialist preparing your file.
We prepare and file. The regulator decides.
Your application goes in from your own regulator account with every page prepared, and every query is drafted against the regulator’s exact question.
One specialist owns your file
The specialist who reads your documents builds the file and answers the regulator’s queries. You always know who has it, and you pay the regulator directly.
