Am I Eligible to Join the British Navy or Military?

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There are different rules for entrance into the British Armed Forces depending if you join at officer or enlisted level.

Enlisted: The soldiers/ratings/aircrew do the hands-on work of the navy or military. There are no formal qualifications required unless you are applying for a technical role. However, you will need to pass the basic entrance tests that cover basic reasoning, literary and mathematical abilities. If you want to do one of the scientific/engineering based trades you will need to score better than just the basic pass.

Officer: Officers are the managers of the military. Most officer programs require a minimum of 5 GCSE’s, or equivalent.

Before you visit your local recruiter, make sure you meet the minimum qualifications for serving in the Armed Forces. You must be at least 16 years old to start military training and anyone under 18 years old needs parental consent. However, it may be possible to apply to sign up when you are 15 years and 9 months old.

You must pass a physical medical exam for all the services which demonstrates that you have a basic level of physical fitness. You will receive further physical training after you join. There is also a medical assessment and your application would be rejected if you have medical conditions that would make you unsuitable for enlistment. These vary between the Services but the conditions that prevent enlisting in all the Armed Forces are:

• Epilepsy
• Diabetes
• Asthma (current or if you have suffered in the past four years)
• Colitis, Crohns Disease, or any other long standing bowel disorder
• If you’ve had your spleen removed
• If you’ve ever had a detached retina or corneal transplant
• Rheumatoid Arthritis or any other bone or joint disorders
• If you are addicted to drugs or alcohol. There are random drugs screening tests in the British Armed Forces
• Free of an existing injury that would prevent successful completion of the physical medical exam

Criminal Record
Having a criminal record does not necessarily prevent you from joining the UK Military. When joining you must provide details of any civil convictions you have which are considered to be ‘unspent’ under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Whilst you are entitled to withhold details about ‘spent’ convictions for most roles, you will need to declare them if you are applying for the Army Medical Services, an administrator with the Adjutant General’s Corps or other designated sensitive employments. For example, having a criminal record could disbar you from working with children, vulnerable adults or sensitive information.

The Armed Forces ask you to be honest about your past as any undisclosed convictions may make you liable to prosecution and past convictions may not bar you from joining.

Nationality
As a general rule you need to be a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen, or have dual nationality with Britain and another country to join the Armed Forces. However, certain career paths are only available to British citizens; see the summary table for more details as there are slightly different enlistment requirements for each service.

For further information visit HMForces.co.uk.