Approbation for foreign medical graduates from China, Georgia, the Philippines, and Ukraine

• Introduction

Foreign graduates from China, Georgia and the Phillippines have a huge difficulty getting their medical degrees recognized in Germany. We explain you here why. The issue of graduates from the Ukraine is explained in the following article.

The term Approbation is German word which means a permanent medical license to practice medicine in Germany (more details).

If you have the slightest doubt about a certain point or do not understand any information, ask at any time in the main group of our community “Facharzt JETZT” on Facebook and Telegram (groups will appear as a folder). We remind you that this article is a guidance article to help you understand things and you should not rely solely on it. You should always return to the official websites. 😊

• Requirements for the Approbation

All of the required documents to apply for Approbation in Germany are explaiend here. Like it is explained in the article, ones of the must-have requirements to be able to get a German permanent medical license (Approbation) and be able to work in Germany are:

1. Finishing an internship year (Article: What is internship year)
2. Medical license

These must be done either in the land of study or your country of origin. So, what is the problem for graduates from China, Georgia, and the Philippines?

• The dilemma for foreign graduates from China, Georgia, and the Philippines

Foreign graduates in these countries are required by the German authorities to do their internship year and get their medical license from these countries and NOT from their countries of origin. We do not know why is that. But according to some emails I read, the German authorities considered the bachelor degree in these countries NOT to be completed, if the foreign graduates did not get their medical license and do their internship year in these countries.So, what is the problem? The foreign doctors can do that, or not?

• Getting a medical license in these countries means exams and doing the internship year in the language of those countries

Let us take the example of foreign doctors who studied medicine in Georgia. These doctors study medicine in English. But to be able to get a medical license and do an internship year in Georgia, they need to learn the Georgian language, which is of course not possible; they have never learn Georgian!

• Horror experience documented

We got this message from an Indian doctor who finished his medical degree in Georgia:

Hi. I am an Indian. I did my undergraduate medicine studies from Republic of Georgia for 6 years and passed out in the year 2017. Then I went back to India and passed the FMGE exam and did 12 months unpaid compulsory Internship and then in 2019 got my Permanent license to practice as an independent doctor in India . After which I worked as a Junior Doctor for 4 years in India simultaneously studying the German Language . I applied to the state of Sachen Anhalt in 2022 August and they took a long time to process, they made me go through the Echtheitsprüfung and what not. It cost an eternity and all my life savings.

Then I reached Germany finally in the year 2023 and Passed my FSP in April 2024 . And just when I was awaiting my Beruferlaubnis, I got a shocking reply that my medical studies is considered nicht abgeschlossen and they recommend that I do the 3-5 years of Residentur mentioned by the Georgian government either in Deutschland or in Republic of Georgia and only then they will give the Beruferlaubnis.

When I called my university in Georgia, they told me this rule of Residentur appliea only to the Georgian citizens and not Foreigners. As the final state exam conducted after the Residentur is in Georgian and We foreigners study in the English medium.

I do not know how to go ahead. All my resources are exhausted and my Anerkennungsverfahren Visum is ending in two months… Is there any solution?? There are so many like me stuck here. Lost everything to Deutschland. And not knowing what to do further.

• Possible solutions

1. Enrolling in a medical faculty in Germany in fourth or fifth year. This means that you need to take all the final exams needed from medical students in Germany and then do the internship year in Germany. Article: “🇩🇪 Stages to become a medical doctor and specialist in Germany“. The problem is, we are not sure how easy is it to get a seat to study medicine.
2. Moving to Austria. Like explained in the article for Ukrainian graduates without an internship year, moving to Austria is a solution because an internship there is not a must to get Approbation. We are not 100% sure though.

• Official websites

Unfortunately, we do not know of any official websites talking about these rules. These are based on our experience in Facharzt JETZT in the last years. We hope that there are exceptions for that. Do you know? Please… please… post a comment below.

If you have any doubts or need clarification on any point, feel free to ask in the main group of Facharzt JETZT on Facebook and Telegram at any time. Please note that this article is intended as a guide to help you understand the topic, and you should not rely solely on it. Always refer to official websites for the most accurate and up-to-date information.

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