This article will report on research that considers refugees in the UK who were teachers or doctors by profession in their country of origin, have lost this status after arrival in the UK and are seeking to regain their professions. This article draws on 39 in-depth interviews with refugee doctors and teachers to explore their strategies of re-entering their professions following migration to the UK. It explores the role of refugee agencies in shaping the process of integration into the profession. By so doing, it provides insights into how refugees themselves approach the process of integration into their professions, and finds that refugees’professional aspirations and attitudes along with personal factors including their age, parenthood, gender and time of arrival in the UK had further impact on how they had responded to encountered barriers.

DOI: 10.1093/jrs/fev008
ISSN: 0951-6328