QWE for International Candidates

One of the most significant features of the SQE pathway is that qualifying work experience gained overseas counts. If you have worked in a legal role outside England and Wales, you may already have the experience you need. The task is getting it properly recorded and confirmed.

This guide explains how international candidates can use overseas experience to satisfy the QWE requirement, and what actually determines whether a particular role qualifies.

Can Overseas Experience Count as QWE?

Yes. There is no geographical restriction on where QWE is gained. Experience from any country counts, provided it meets the same criteria as UK experience:

• At least two years' full-time equivalent
• Work involving the provision of genuine legal services, not simulated or purely academic work
• The opportunity to develop at least two of the competences in the Statement of Solicitor Competence
• Gained in no more than four organisations

The experience does not need to involve English or Welsh law. Work in any legal system can qualify, whether that is corporate work in Dubai, litigation in India, immigration and tax compliance in Seoul, restructuring in Hong Kong, or court administration in the Caribbean.

Nor does it need to have been in a law firm. In-house legal teams, government and judicial bodies, universities, financial institutions, NGOs and companies with no lawyers at all have all produced experience that qualifies. What matters is the substance of the work you personally did.

Who Can Confirm Overseas QWE?

QWE must be confirmed by a solicitor regulated by the SRA, or by a Compliance Officer for Legal Practice. If you worked overseas, your former employer almost certainly has neither.

That is what an external confirming solicitor is for. An independent SRA-regulated solicitor, with no connection to your former employer, reviews your record and evidence and gives the confirmation. Under the SRA's Authorisation of Individuals Regulations, a solicitor confirming experience gained outside their own organisation must satisfy themselves that they have reviewed the work you completed during the relevant period, and must have received feedback from the person or persons who supervised your work.

The whole process is remote. Nothing requires you to be in the UK.

Nothing Goes to Your Former Employer Without Your Say-So

This is worth stating plainly, because it is the question international candidates ask most.

Nobody at your old organisation hears from us unless you want them to. We will not telephone or write to your former employer off our own bat. By default the supervisor element is arranged through you, on your timetable, and we provide the exact wording of what is needed so nothing is left to guesswork or lost in translation.

If you would rather we made the approach ourselves, we are happy to. Some candidates prefer a request coming from an independent solicitor, particularly where a former employer is unfamiliar with the English qualification route. It is simply not something we do unless you ask.

Your former supervisor is not being asked to shoulder anything. They are not confirming your QWE and they take on no responsibility to the SRA. What is needed from them is short and factual: their role and how they oversaw or reviewed your work, the period, that you carried out the work described in your record, and that they are aware of nothing affecting your character and suitability to be admitted as a solicitor. Because that wording is fixed and brief, it also travels well: it can be given in writing, which avoids the difficulties of arranging calls across time zones or relying on spoken English.

They do not need to be a solicitor, an English-qualified lawyer, or a lawyer at all. They need to be someone who genuinely oversaw or reviewed your work.

Already Qualified in Another Jurisdiction? Read This First

If you already hold a legal professional qualification that confers rights to practise, whether in England and Wales or overseas, you may not need QWE at all.

The SRA operates a separate route for qualified lawyers. Its published approach states that where it recognises your professional qualification, you do not need to do qualifying work experience, because it will recognise your existing qualification and experience instead. Qualified lawyers will typically have at least two years' professional experience, though the SRA is clear that this is not a formal requirement. Qualified lawyers may also apply for exemption from SQE1, SQE2 or individual components, based on their qualification or their professional experience.

Two points that are frequently misunderstood:

• The trigger is the professional qualification you hold, not whether you are registered with the SRA. Being a Registered Foreign Lawyer is a permission to practise within an SRA-regulated firm; it is not what determines the admission route.
• If you are a qualified lawyer, the question is not usually "does my experience count as QWE" but "should I be applying through the qualified lawyer route instead". Those are different applications with different evidence.

If you are qualified overseas, it is worth resolving that question with the SRA before investing time in a QWE record. If you are not a qualified lawyer, but have worked in legal roles overseas, QWE is your route and the rest of this guide applies.

The Two Things That Actually Decide Overseas Cases

In practice, overseas applications turn on two questions far more often than on anything to do with jurisdiction.

1. How much of the role was genuinely legal

Overseas roles are frequently mixed. A university administrator handling immigration and tax matters for foreign scholars, a compliance officer covering several jurisdictions, a company founder who does the legal work alongside running the business: all can qualify, but only the legal proportion counts.

Full-time is treated as at least 32 hours a week, and mixed or part-time work is counted pro rata. So a role where half the week is legal work is contributing roughly half a full-time equivalent, and two calendar years of it is about one year of qualifying experience. An honest estimate, supported by a simple log of how your weeks divide, is far stronger than a round number you cannot explain. Understating is not required, but neither is optimism: the confirmation has to be defensible.

2. Whether someone genuinely oversaw the work

The requirement is feedback from the person or persons who supervised your work. That person does not need a title, a legal qualification, or a position above you in a formal reporting line, but they do need to have really overseen or reviewed what you did. A colleague who merely knew you were doing the work is not enough.

This is the point that most often needs thought in overseas roles, particularly for founders, sole practitioners in small offices, and people whose supervisor has since left. It is usually solvable, and it is much easier to solve while the people involved are still contactable, which is the main argument for dealing with an old placement sooner rather than later.

Common Scenarios

Do You Have to Wait for the Full Two Years?

No. Placements can be confirmed one at a time as you complete them. If you have an earlier overseas role that is complete and well evidenced, it can be confirmed now, and you can return for the rest later. There is no time limit on when QWE was gained, so old roles can be confirmed retrospectively.

What Evidence Is Needed

• The SRA training record, which is the backbone of the confirmation. It is a training tool and is never submitted to the SRA.
• Evidence for each competence you claim. Not a general sample. In practice a single document often covers several competences at once.
• Redacted work product: drafts, correspondence, research notes and submissions, with client and party identities removed.
• Translated summaries where the original is not in English.

How Long It Takes and What It Costs

The initial assessment is fast; we aim to respond within 24 hours of you submitting the short form. Once the record and evidence have been reviewed and the corroboration is in place, we action the confirmation on mySRA within 24 hours of payment clearing.

Pricing is based on the number of competences being confirmed, not the number of placements, hours or countries:

• 2 to 3 competences: £250
• 4 to 6 competences: £400
• 7 or more competences: £500

There is no upfront payment and no consultation fee. Nothing is payable until your evidence has been reviewed and you have been told the outcome.

Getting Started

If you are an international candidate wondering whether your overseas experience qualifies, start with a personalised assessment. Fill in our short form with your background and a description of your work, and we will respond within 24 hours, with no obligation and no payment.