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Doctor; application for a license to practice medicine for training in Germany

Graduates of medical studies can apply for a license to practice medicine if they have completed their medical training in Germany and wish to work as a doctor in Bavaria.

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Procedure details

If you want to work as a doctor in Germany after studying human medicine, you need a special professional license - a license to practice medicine.

After successfully completing your studies in human medicine, you can apply for a license to practice medicine. With this license to practice medicine, you are allowed to work independently and autonomously as a doctor in Germany.

You will receive a license to practice for an unlimited period of time. It is valid for the entire Federal Republic of Germany.

Your license to practice medicine can be revoked if you are no longer reliable to practice the profession. This may include violating professional regulations or committing a criminal offense. Your license to practice medicine can also be revoked if you have health problems relevant to the practice of medicine.

You will receive your license to practice medicine under the following conditions:

  • You have completed the prescribed training in human medicine and passed the state examination.
  • You have completed your professional training in Germany.
  • You have not been guilty of any conduct that makes you unworthy or unreliable to practise the profession.
  • You are medically fit to practise the profession.
  • You have the necessary knowledge of the German language to practice your profession.

  • Birth certificate/parentage certificate or extract from the parents' family register
    (certified copy)
  • if the name used differs from that on the birth certificate: proof of a change of name (e.g. marriage certificate)
    (certified copy)
  • valid proof of identity (e.g. passport)
    (certified copy)
  • complete and personally signed curriculum vitae

    (tabular and chronological list of the training courses completed and the relevant gainful activities pursued, stating the periods (month/year) and enclosing the relevant supporting documents)

  • Medical certificate (original)

    This must be issued and signed by a general practitioner or internal medicine practitioner established in Germany or another signatory state to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or in Switzerland and stamped with a practice or clinic stamp. If the practice or clinic stamp is not in German, a German translation of the stamp is required.

  • Proof of impunity
    • Submission of criminal record extracts from all countries outside Germany in which the applicant has resided for more than six months in the last five years.
    • The criminal record extracts must not be older than three months when the application is received.
    • Certified copies of these extracts must be submitted.
    • In addition, a certificate of good conduct of document type "O" if the applicant has already stayed in Germany for more than six months in the past or has had or still has a residence in Germany.
    • In Germany, this must be applied for at the registration office of the place of residence, stating the purpose of use "Approbation as a doctor". The certificate of good conduct is sent directly to the competent authority by the Federal Office of Justice.
  • Proof of your completed training (certified copy, will be sent directly to the professional licensing office by the State Examination Office for training in Bavaria).

You must submit the application for a license to practice medicine with the required documents to the competent authority.

If the 3rd section of the medical examination was taken in Bavaria, the competent licensing authority is the government of Upper Bavaria if the medical studies were completed at a university in Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, Swabia or the Upper Palatinate.

If the medical studies were completed at a university in Upper, Middle or Lower Franconia, the government of Lower Franconia is responsible.

(Note: If the course was completed in Germany at a university outside Bavaria, the authority of the respective federal state is responsible for issuing the license to practice medicine).

A fee of EUR 200 must be paid for the license.

The application for approval is not subject to a time limit.

The granting of a license to practice medicine or a professional permit requires, among other things, that you have the necessary knowledge of the German language to practice your profession. The 87th Conference of Health Ministers in 2014 agreed in a key points paper on the requirements for knowledge of the German language and how this knowledge can be demonstrated. The following applies:

1. the required German language skills are deemed to be proven for applicants for whom the licensing authority determines without doubt that German is spoken and written fluently (e.g. as a native language) or that the completion of medical, dental, pharmaceutical or psychotherapeutic training (proof of training) was obtained in German.

2. proof of the required German language skills is generally deemed to have been provided if the applicant has completed at least ten years of general schooling at a German-speaking school or has completed at least three years of vocational training in German.

3. if proof is not deemed to have been provided in accordance with 1. or 2. above, the language skills required for practicing the profession shall be deemed to have been proven by submission of a certificate of successful completion of the specialist language test at the Bavarian Medical Association.

4 Specialist language tests taken at the Medical Association or the competent authority of another country, as well as specialist language tests from other examination institutions, are recognized as proof, provided that it is guaranteed that the examination there is equivalent to the specialist language test at the Bavarian Medical Association. Whether this requirement is met in individual cases must be clarified in advance with the relevant professional licensing office.

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A license or permit is not required for merely temporary and occasional medical activities (services). For the provision of services, it is sufficient to register with the competent authority and submit certain documents (see "Related topics").

Administrative court action

Status: 09.10.2025
Editorially responsible for prodecure description: Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Gesundheit, Pflege und Prävention
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