How to apply for a Hospitation in Germany

How to apply for a Hospitation in Germany is important for you to know on your road to starting a medical residency in Germany. In this article, we explain the conventional method of finding a Hospitation in Germany and that is by sending emails. We nonetheless suggest that you try to find one through “connections” and we explain that at the end of this article.

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. 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. 😊

• Introduction about how to apply for a Hospitation in Germany

To get general information about what a Hospitation is, the general conditions for getting one, in addition to other questions, you can first read this article:

🇩🇪 What is Hospitation? (🇺🇸 medical training/observership/clinical attachment)

• The steps of how to apply for a Hospitation in Germany:

(1) Find websites of German hospitals – how to apply for a Hospitation in Germany

We explained in detail how and where in a separate article:

Find German hospitals and their websites

– Hospitals known to give Hospitation in Germany

Not all hospitals offer Hospitation. Some hospitals are known to offer that and we collected a small list in the following article:

• German hospitals known to offer Hospitation for foreign doctors

For medical students, university hospitals are welcoming. Here is a list of them:

University hospitals in Germany ( die Unikliniken)

(2) Find the email of the head of the department (der Chefarzt) – How to apply for a Hospitation

Each department has its own page on the hospital’s website. On it, you will find the email of the head of the department (🇩🇪 der Chefarzt/die Chefärztin) and the secretary’s email. Sometimes only the email of the secretary is mentioned, In this case, you can of course send the application email to her. In rare cases, there is a contact form. You can then use it, but in this case, you cannot send attachments. You can write then in the email that you wanted to send attachments but could not (they know that of course that it is not possible).

(3) Write a motivational letter (das Motivationsschreiben) to apply for a Hospitation

This is not a must, but it is highly recommended and would certainly help your application, write only one page in Microsoft Word.

– What should you mention in the motivational letter for Hospitation in Germany?

Who are you? In which university did you study? Where? Graduation year?
Why do you want to come to Germany?
Why do you want to do a residency (🇩🇪 eine Facharztausbildung) in this specialty?
Why are you applying to this hospital in particular and want to work with this head of department?

You need to write your reasons! This is very important to show that you are interested in Hospitation in Germany. I understand that some might be sending tens/hundreds of emails. So maybe try to write general sentences like:
– Why this hospital:
“🇩🇪 Ich habe mich über Ihr Krankenhaus informiert und dieses hat einen sehr guten Ruf.”

– Why you want to work with this head of department:
“🇩🇪 Ich habe mir Ihren Lebenslauf angeschaut und der hat mich beeindruckt.”

If you are interested in knowing how to apply for a Hospitation in Germany, then try to make the motivational letter much more personal. For example, you can mention a paper that the head of the department published and how you find its results very significant for patient care… be creative.
Why should they choose you? You know, you are not the only one applying.😅

– Free templates of motivational letters

They are Microsoft Word files. You can download them and simply add your details:

Bewerbung-um-eine-Hospitation Download

Bewerbung-um-eine-Hospitation-Psychiatrie Download

(4) Send an application email in “German”

If you want to write an email in English, then your chances are very low. An exception is that you are a medical student, cannot speak a German word, and applying to a university hospital; they take that into consideration.

When you write emails, try to make them “concise and precise”.

– Things you should attach in the email to apply for a hospitation in Germany:

(1) CV

Please in German. Do not worry. It is an easy task because we can help you with that, You can download a free template here: “🇩🇪 For doctors: Free tabular CV sample in German (🇩🇪 der Lebenslauf)“. Just add your information. This CV template format is compatible with the requirements of the medical license authorities in Germany and Switzerland.

(2) Your German language certificate is very important to apply for a Hospitation in Germany.

Again, students might be accepted without language knowledge. For medical graduates, you can say that speaking German is almost always a must!

An alternative for a language certificate could be a certificate that you are currently enrolled in a language school.

Few told me that they lied and wrote that they have the B2 certificate, although they did not have it! This might work. But if there is a potential place for you, it is not rare to be later asked to send the hospital a scanned copy of your language certificate. Also, if you are in Germany, you are asked to bring the language certificate, along with other certificates, into the interview. If they discover that you lied in the email, consider your application to be immediately canceled!

⚡💀 Lying in applications, emails, and letters in Germany is very dangerous! Do not do that!

– Template for the text of an email reply

Sehr geehrter Herr Prof./Dr. med. FAMILIENNAME,

ich heiße VORNAME NACHNAME und komme aus Land_Name. Hiermit bewerbe ich mich um eine Hospitation bei Ihnen. Ich habe an der NAME Universität in LAND Medizin studiert. Ich lerne Deutsch und habe das B2-Zertifikat vom NAME (z.B. Goethe-Institut in Amman) erworben.

Ich möchte gerne eine Hospitation vom XX/XX/XXX bis XX/XX/XXXX unter Ihrer Leitung absolvieren. Es würde mich sehr freuen, wenn ich einen Platz bei Ihnen erhalten könnte.

Im Anhang können Sie ein Motivationsschreiben, meinen Lebenslauf und mein B2-Zertifikat finden.

Auf Ihre Antwort würde ich mich sehr freuen.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

VORNAME NACHNAME

(5) Wait for a positive reply

Congratulations on acceptance! 💐😊 Wait for the invitation letter and then print it and take it with you to apply for a Visa to Germany. But before that, you need to clarify a few points with the department which accepted you.

(6) Clarification of the details of the training

In your first application email, almost all people discourage asking for accommodation, not to mention pocket money. If the hospital replied positively, you can ask for accommodation. From what I read in the large Facebook groups for Germany, it is now “imaginary” to ask for pocket money. On the other hand, if you got a positive response, they might tell you if you will be paid or not or if they will offer you accommodation.

– Example for an email reply

The following is an answer template for a doctor who received a positive reply for a clinical attachment that is not paid. He is thanking the head of the department for the positive reply asking for accommodation, or at least, help in finding accommodation:

Sehr geehrter Herr Prof. Familienname,

danke schön für Ihre positive Antwort und ich bin Ihnen sehr dankbar. Ich verstehe, dass ich keine Vergütung bekommen werde und bin damit auch vollkommen einverstanden. Aber es wäre sehr nett von Ihnen, wenn Sie mir eine Unterkunft im Krankenhaus anbieten könnten. Wenn diese nicht möglich wäre, kann vielleicht jemand in Ihrem Krankenhaus mir helfen, eine Unterkunft zu finden?

Mit den besten Grüßen,

VORNAME FAMILIENNAME

• General questions and notes on how to apply for a Hospitation:

(1) How many emails should I send?

Some doctors send more than one thousand emails and do not get a single reply. Others send 100 and get a reply. In general, you need to send hundreds of emails. The competition is now high in Germany. A lot of doctors are applying for clinical attachments, especially from Arab countries.

The motto of some doctors is:

“Send as many emails you can, to the highest possible number of departments, and when you get positive replies, you can then choose the best offer and send apology emails to the other hospitals that accepted you”

There are two problems with this motto:

First problem: Your applications would start slowly to contain mistakes. When sending multiple emails, some doctors forget to change the name of the head of the department after “Sehr geehrte/r (Dear)”. Therefore, be sure to check that, This is a catastrophic mistake! In addition, do not send an email to the head of the Department of Surgery and say that you want to do a clinical attachment in his department because you love internal medicine (i.e., do not send your email to the wrong departments).
Second problem: This needs time. If you are outside Germany and have a lot of time before coming here, then do it.

(2) How quickly should the hospital reply?

Usually two weeks, and Sometimes a month. The replies that arrive quickly are mostly negative replies (🇩🇪 Leider… We are sorry).

(3) Should I send the application by mail?

If you are in Germany and want to get a Hospitation in a certain hospital, then sending it by post might cause your application to have more attention. But this costs a lot if you are going to send many applications.

(4) Should I call before/after sending an application?

If you have time, do that, especially if you can speak good German. Ask the secretary if they have a place for you and if you may apply and how, Moreover, if you sent an application and did not receive an answer, you might send an email asking or, better, call the hospital.

This is how you can cheaply call phone numbers in Germany: “🇩🇪 Call German numbers with a low cost“.

(5) Should I go by myself to the hospital and make the application?

To be sure that your application does not get forgotten and to make a good impression, you might consider going to the secretary and handing her the application documents and just like the tips for an interview, write down the answers to the sentences that you are expected to speak and answers to the questions that you might be asked, Let someone who can speak excellent German correct them, Rehearse them at the end.

(6) Health certificate

Few hospitals do not ask for that. Some hospitals tell you that you need to make an appointment with a doctor in the hospital so that he can examine you (Betriebsarzt). Many hospitals will ask you for a health certificate (🇩🇪 eine Gesundheitsbescheinigung).

Usually, in such a certificate should be mentioned that you are free from contagious diseases and that you are vaccinated (most importantly against measles and hepatitis B). An example of a form in German is here:

https://www.dominikus-krankenhaus-berlin.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/VER011806_02_AerztlicheGesundheitsbescheinigungab2019.pdf

More Information about the vaccination against measles

This is a must to be able to work with patients in Germany. No exceptions! More details here in this article.

– How to get the health certificate:

If you are outside Germany: you can ask a family physician to fill out a form for you.

If you are in Germany: Simply go to a family doctor (Hausarzt). Ask him to fill out the form for you.

(7) Finding a Hospitation in Germany through connections to help you on your road to how to apply for a Hospitation

If you could find a doctor that helps you to know how to apply for a Hospitation, this could save you hundreds of emails, More importantly, even if you got an acceptance email for a Hospitation, you would still have the constant uncertainty if they accepted you and would not change their minds, and if you are going to get the documents for visa on time, if you might without anxiety ask for accommodation, etc. We explain this further here:

🇩🇪 Doctors wanting to work in Germany: How to make connections? Why? 🕵️

How to find a job in Germany from abroad?

There are many websites that collect job ads. Exampls are Kimeta, Indeed, PraktischArzt, Website of the Journal of the German Medical Association (Deutsches Ärzteblatt). Kimeta and Indeed allow you to create email alerts so that you get notified when a new job position meeting your search criteria is published.

We explained finding a job in detail in the following article: “🇩🇪 Doctors in Germany: Find job offers & apply intelligently“

Can a foreigner practice medicine in Germany?

Absolutely yes! Read this article for more information: “Steps for medical residency in Germany“

Want to learn more? Questions?
Join JETZT (🇺🇸 now) all of our groups & ask what you like
(On mobile phone: The links are at the end of this page/ On PC: On the right side)

Further readings:
• “How should you prepare the application for a Hospitation or an Assistenzarzt Stelle?”, Your2ndHeart blog by Tejas Ghetia, link.
• “Hospitation for foreign doctors in Germany“, Helena Mamić – Soprano website (Foreign doctor in Germany from Croatia), link.

Salaries of doctors in Germany

• Tell me where you work & your specialty & I will tell you your income

The working place and the specialty decide the salaries of doctors in Germany. In this article, we explain the salaries of doctors in Germany when they work in hospitals.

We explained other possible working places and the amount of money they could generate for the different specialties in the following article:

🇩🇪 How much money do doctors earn in Germany? 🫰💸💶

• Salary agreements (der Gehaltstarif)

Most German hospitals* use unified salary tables to pay their doctors. These salary tables are called salary agreements (🇩🇪 der Gehaltstarif) and are published by the largest union of doctors in Germany (🇩🇪 Marburger Bund – MB).

*There are few exceptions

• Some private and Christian hospitals have their own salary agreements. But their salaries are either the same or like 5-10% more or less compared to the salaries of the Marburger Bund (MB).

• Doctors working in university hospitals usually get around 5-8% more salary (the exact numbers are here), but for that, doctors in university hospitals need to:
– Work 42 hours instead of 40 hours a week (this means, 8 hours extra per month). So basically, if you worked in non-university hospitals these extra hours, you will almost get the same salary.
– The working conditions are usually hard in university hospitals and one is expected to work extra hours and these hours will not be paid or given to you as free time in the future (🇩🇪 der Freizeitausgleich)

• Understanding gross and net salary

Firstly, before understanding the salaries of doctors in Germany, there are two terms to understand:

Gross salary (🇩🇪 Brutto) and net salary (🇩🇪 Netto)

In Germany, if your salary in the job contract is 5000 euros. This does not mean that you are going to get 5000 euros transferred to your bank account at the end of the month. Instead, you are going to get a percent of it, after taxes and insurances were automatically deducted from that. This is called the net salary. In other words, the net salary is the money you get transferred to your bank account at the end of the month.

The net salary that remains from the gross salary depends on your marital status:

	Single	Married
Net salary is around: (as percent of the gross salary)	59%	65%

^{Please note that the more your salary is, the less the is the percent of the net salary that remains. For example, a single resident will get 59% of his gross salary, but the head of the department will get 56%. The percentage of the remaining money will always decrease until a maximum of about 45% as taxes.}

More details about net and gross salary are in the following article:

🇩🇪 Gross salary (🇩🇪 das Brutto) vs net salary (🇩🇪 das Netto)

• In hospitals: Factors that influence the salaries of doctors in Germany

Two factors determine the salary in the salary agreements:

(1) Hierarchy level (if resident, specialist, senior physician, etc.)

(2) Years of experience

For example, if you are a medical resident in the second year, you get a higher salary than a medical resident in the first year. A specialist will in his turn get more money than the residents.

• In hospitals: Approximate salaries of doctors in Germany

The numbers in Table (1) are in euros.

Hierarchy level (🇩🇪 Entgeltgruppe)	Gross salary (euro)	Net salary single (euro)	Net salary married & spouse not working (euro)	Net salary married & spouse working (euro)
Resident (🇩🇪 Assistenzarzt)	5084	3091	3509	3091
Specialist (🇩🇪 Facharzt)	6711	3923	4506	3923
Senior physician (🇩🇪 Oberarzt)	8406	4721	5558	4721
Consultant (🇩🇪 Leitender Oberarzt)	More than a senior physician
Chief physician/Head of department (🇩🇪 Chefarzt)	9888-End is open but generally around 12-30 thousand	At least 5450	6478	5450

^{Table (1): Salaries of doctors in municipal German hospitals in euros (after Marburg Bund) (valid: 01.07.2023-31.03.2024). Again, this salary does NOT include the shifts. They are extra paid. You get a salary for working 40 hours a week.}

The above-mentioned salaries of doctors in Germany are for:
– Working hours: 40 hours/week
– Vacations included: Around 30 +/- 2 days vacations per year (>6 weeks)
– Public holidays: Around 10-14 (depending on where you work in which German state)
N. B. What you work extra (the shifts), you will be paid per hour (this will be explained in Table number 2)

• Real-life numbers from a salary table of the Marburger Bund (MB)

*^{Salaries are valid from 01.04.-30.06.2024. After this, they will be raised again.}*
*^{Source: Website of the Marburger Bund (MB), Link}*

• Sources of extra income:

In hospitals, many factors increase the salaries of doctors in Germany. Other factors outside the hospital could also generate an extra income for doctors in Germany. We will explore them in detail.

– Extra shifts

• Money paid per hour for extra shifts

*_{^{Numbers valid until 31.12.2022. Source: Website of the Marburger Bund (MB), Link}}*

*_{^{Numbers valid from 01.04.-30.06.2024. Source: Website of the Marburger Bund (MB), Link}}*

• Factors that add more money to the hourly rates

Factor	Extra money
Working at night from 9 pm to 6 am	ca. 8 euros per hour
Working on Sundays	ca. 8 euros per hour
Working on Saturdays after 11 pm	ca. 3 euros per hour
Working on holidays (ca. 10-14 days per year)	130% more (e. g. 69 euro instead of 30 euro per hour)
Changing shifts to and from a group of night shifts after one another	ca. 150 euros extra for all of these shifts as a bonus
Taking a shift suddenly instead of colleagues who are ill or cannot do the shift for whatever reason	Some hospitals pay double the hourly rates (plus a lot of thanks and hugs 🫂💘🤣)

Example: A 6th-year resident will get per hour in a night shift of 9 hours from Friday 9 pm until Saturday 9 am:
33.63 euros per hour (see table 1, last column, second row) + ca. 8 euros extra for the night work = Total money of 41.63 euros per hour = 41.63*9 hours = 374,67 euros Brutto.
N. B. Usually, the night shifts are from 7 or 8 pm until 7 or 8 am on the next. So, you will be working around 12 hours.

So, if you work an extra 50 hours per month, you get 1000-1800 euros as a net salary extra to your main salary. Many doctors in Germany nowadays want a work-life balance. So, if you like to work more, many will even thank you for taking their shifts (sometimes even pay you to do it for them!).

– Paid vacations (der bezahlte Urlaub)

Doctors have in Germany around 30 paid vacations per year (>6 weeks). Paid means that for every day you are on holiday, you get around 80-400 euros (depending on your position, number of years of experience, and how many night shifts you did in the last three months).

– Paid sick leaves (die Krankschreibung)

When doctors are sick and do not work, they are paid for these days. So, you are not only not working but also being extra paid for not being able to work😅 Doctors have the right to have around 30 days per year as a sick leave. Extra days could be granted when the children are sick (so that the parents could take care of them).

– Child allowance (das Kindergeld)

You get per child 250 euros extra as net salary.

– Parental leave (die Elternzeit)

If a woman gets a child, she has the right for up to two years not to work and she would get 60% of her salary. If you are a male doctor and your wife is originally not working (housewife), then you can get a paid leave for up to 1 year (also, you would get 60% of your salary). Of course, you do not need to pay for health insurance or pension funds during this period. If both the man and woman are working, then both of them can apply for parental leave (but not at the same time).

– Maternity protection (die Mutterschutz)

If a female doctor gets pregnant, then from the moment of pregnancy she is not allowed to work in some specialties (like pediatrics; the danger of infection). Therefore, she would be asked to remain at home and of course, get 60% of her salary. Moreover, if a pregnancy was endangered (difficult pregnancy, high risk of abortion), a woman is not allowed to work and would get 60% of her salary.

– Assessment (die Begutachtung)

In certain specialties, particularly psychiatry, you could do assessments for the courts or the pension funds. For example, you assess if someone has advanced dementia and needs to be placed in an old people’s home or if someone is psychologically fit enough to own a gun. In Neurology, for example, you could assess the disability level after a work injury.

– Examination for the police in the emergency departments

If someone is driving under the influence (e. g. Alcohol or drugs), the police can bring him to the emergency department to withdraw blood and do a physical examination. It lasts about 12-20 minutes. You will get around 30-120 euros per patient (depending on time, and what you exactly did in the examination). Normally, the internal medicine residents are responsible for such a task. Doctors from other specialties could do it too (of course, if the internal medicine resident did not already do that before the patient even entered the emergency department 😂… joking!).

– Unemployment benefit (das Arbeitslosengeld)

If someone worked for more than one year and lost his job or his job contract ended, then he will get das Arbeitslosengeld in the form of 60% of his monthly salary. The money for health insurance and retirement funds will be paid too. Moreover, you will get money for transportation during interviews for new job positions. No one will be running after you to find a job. So, take your time. You can get this money for up to a year.

– Working as a locum doctor (der Leiharzt/Honorararzt)

A locum doctor is a doctor (usually a specialist or an experienced resident doctor) who works on a short-term basis in a hospital to cover an acute shortage of doctors in that hospital. For example, if two female doctors got pregnant and two resigned, then there are not enough doctors to do the shifts. In this case, a locum doctor or many would be hired. They are paid between 80 and 140 euros an hour. They could be hired only for one night or for months until the shortage of doctors in the department is solved.

By the way, the term “locum” is derived from the Latin phrase “locum tenens,” which means “to hold a place.”

– Working as an emergency doctor (🇩🇪 der Notarzt/die Notärztin)

If you did a special course and after having a certain number of years of experience in Germany (1-2 years), you can do a little exam (Zusatzbezeichnung für die Notfallmedizin). Then you will be able to work as an Emergency doctor in the emergency services. The money paid is around 30-50 euros per hour. In some cities, you will be paid an extra 25-40 euros for each deployment (🇩🇪 der Einsatz). In Dortmund, for example, the emergency did around 10-20 deployments per 24 hours.

– Tax declaration (eine Steuererklärung)

You can get around 1 and 8 thousand euros back. This needs a lot of explanation. We explained this in a separate article:

🇩🇪 Tax declaration (🇩🇪 eine Steuererklärung)

• Germany vs USA

If we compare the salaries of doctors in Germany and the USA, then they might be in Germany a bit higher in the residency period by about 1000-1500 euros (net salary) (because German residents get paid for the shifts they do). But starting from the specialist level and above, the salaries in the USA are certainly at least, 2,5 more than in Germany. There are of course some exceptions in Germany for some specialties (e. g. Radiology). We explained more differences between the two countries in the following detailed article:

🇩🇪 Medical residency in Germany vs USA: Differences between completing a medical specialization & working as a doctor 😮

• General Notes:

– Negotiating the salary

The salaries of residents are almost always fixed. You cannot negotiate that. But starting from the specialist level, one could negotiate his salary, but not in all hospitals and not in all specialties. If you are for example a a specialist in dermatology and you agree to work in a hospital in a very small German city, then you have a greater chance of getting more salary than the regular salaries of the salaries agreements mentioned above. But do not be too optimistic. They are not as high as in the USA.

– Does the nationality play a role in the salary? No!

The nationality does not play a role in the salary. A German and a non-German doctor getting the same gross salary, having the same marital status and similar insurance company, would get both the same net salary. However, after the residency period, German doctors tend to get promoted quickly and get more salaries than those mentioned in the salary agreements. But this is not because they are German. If you could learn good German, have a similar medical level to your German colleagues, and understand the culture well and hence increase the satisfaction of patients & co-workers, then you get the same salary and even more.

– Quicker being promoted & hence getting higher salaries

It is in most hospitals easy to get promoted to a senior physician ( ein Oberarzt/eine Oberärztin). Some residents in the last year of residency do reach this salary level. They are then called in Germany “ein Funktiosnoberarzt/eine Funktionsoberärztin”. The word might be translated to something like: in the function of a senior physician. This is because they do the job of senior physicians 😍🥳, but still do not have the German Board ( eine Facharztanerkennung).

– Yearly increases in the salaries

In hospitals, the salaries of doctors in Germany increase about 1-2,5 percent approximately every 2 years.

– Salary with Berufserlaubnis vs Approbation (temporary vs permanent medical license)

In at least 90% of hospitals (except in the state of Baden-Württemberg), doctors with Approbation and Berufserlaubnis get the same basic salary (without the extra shifts). However, because in almost all hospitals, doctors with Berufserlaubnis are not allowed to do shift work, they cannot then generate extra money from the shifts.

To understand all the differences between the Berufserlaubnis & Approbation, you can read the following article:

🇩🇪 Approbation vs Berufserlaubnis: Can I work as a doctor with Berufserlaubnis? Yes, but…

– Income in clinics is for most doctors a lot more

Working in your clinic (🇩🇪 eine Praxis) generates more money. In the following article in our website, you can see official numbers about the average income of doctors owning their clinics:

💸 Which doctors in clinics earn the most on average in Germany? Here is the answer with certainty & in numbers

Want to learn more? Questions?
Join JETZT (🇺🇸 now) all of our groups & ask what you like
(On mobile phone: The links are at the end of this page/ On PC: At the left side)

Further readings:
^{• “Salary structure for Doctors in Germany 2019 – 2020 – 2021”, Your2ndHeart blog by Tejas Ghetia, link.}

The Skilled Immigration Law (Das Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz)

• Introduction to the skilled immigration law

There is a growing demand in many advanced nations to enhance their appeal to skilled workers to address workforce shortages. This necessity drives countries to revise their existing laws to facilitate the entry of skilled workers globally, and Germany is no different. The upcoming skilled immigration law offers numerous advantages for skilled immigrants and is set to be implemented in stages (November 2023, March 2024, and June 2024). This article will specifically delve into the aspects that hold particular significance for doctors.

Related similar articles:
🇩🇪 Steps to start medical residency in Germany

🇩🇪 Applying for a German visa: How? Reasons for coming to Germany?

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. 😊

• The possible visas:

If you read the detailed article about the “10 steps to start medical residency in Germany“, then you know that for non-EU citizens to come to Germany, they need to apply for a visa (step number 7).

The Skilled Immigration Law (Das Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz) made major upgrades to the available types of visas that skilled workers, including international medical doctors, can apply to.

• 16D visa

Before the new law (the Skilled Immigration Law), doctors coming to Germany could get a so-called 16D Visa. Here is a summary of the changes made to this type of visa:

	Before the Skilled Immigration Law (Das Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz)	After the Skilled Immigration Law (Das Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz)
Requirements	Before applying for this visa, you must have initiated the recognition process and obtained partial recognition (Defizitbescheid/Bescheid) from a German state (How to do that? The 10 Steps).	If you secure a job offer promise (Stellenzusage) through the ‘recognition partnership,’ you can obtain this visa for Germany without enduring prolonged waiting times for the Defizitbescheid. This residency permit typically has a one-year validity and is extendable for up to three years. In the absence of a Stellenzusage, obtaining the Defizitbescheid is necessary for acquiring this visa. – Article: How to get a job offer promise (Stellenzusage)
Working hours before getting recognition of university degree	10 working hours per week in any job or 20 working hours per week in a position relevant to your field of expertise.	The visa allows for 20 working hours per week in any job.
Visa duration	The visa is valid for 18 months and can be extended for up to 24 months. Upon obtaining the Approbation, an additional year is granted to search for employment.	Initially valid for 24 months, it can be extended for up to 36 months. During this visa period, it is advisable to successfully complete the required exams, obtain the Approbation, and proceed to residency training. This progression positions you as a potential candidate for the Blue Card, given that doctors’ salaries significantly surpass the threshold for the so-called ‘bottleneck professions’ (Engpassberufe). With the Blue Card, after 21 months working as a doctor, you become eligible for a settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis).

Related articles:

• What is a Defizitbescheid plus other terms related to medical residency in Germany (e. g. Approbation, Berufserlaubnis, Stelle, etc.):
🇩🇪 Important & common terms related to working as a doctor in Germany

• To get the Defizitbescheid, you need to apply for the Approbation. Here are the steps:
🇩🇪 Steps to start medical residency in Germany

• This is how to find a job and get a job offer promise (Stellenzusage):
🇩🇪 Doctors in Germany: Find job offers & apply intelligently

• 18b visa (Residence permit for skilled workers holding a university degree)

The old law 😫	The new law 😊
You could only get this work visa by getting a job in a field that matches your qualifications. Essentially, for doctors, this means a job at hospital or clinic.	You can get this visa by getting any kind of job even if it’s not related to your qualification. This is particularly beneficial to those who have certain skills or degrees other than MBBS and can use this opportunity to maintain a good source of income while you prepare to get your Approbation.

One notable advantage of this visa is the alleviation of the requirement to provide a blocked account during the visa application process.

Potential job opportunities for International Medical Graduates (IMGs) include roles such as Physician Assistants (Medizinische Fachangestellte), Research Assistant, OP-Assistant, Phlebotomists, and more.

Upon holding this work visa for a period of 3 years (previously 4 years), you become eligible to apply for a settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis).

It is important to acknowledge that positions available to foreign individuals without recognized qualifications/degrees fall under non-regulated jobs. This distinction arises from the necessity of possessing a German license to work in regulated professions.

🇩🇪 Visa manual (🇩🇪 das Visumhandbuch): An official document with all the rules for applying for visa for Germany

• Student Visa

This would prove especially beneficial for individuals intending to enter Germany through the Master’s or PhD programs. The previous annual limit of 120 full days or 240 half days for work will now be extended to 140 full days or 280 half days. Additionally, the updated regulation permits students to work up to 20 hours per week.

🇩🇪 For physicians: Doing a Master’s or PhD degree in Germany

🇩🇪 Scholarships in Germany through the DAAD and KAAD

🇩🇪 As a foreign doctor in Germany: How to become a professor?

• Language Visa 16F

Regarding the LANGUAGE VISA 16F, unfortunately, no information is available.

• Opportunity Card (from June 2024):

There are two distinct categories of individuals eligible for this visa:

1. Those who have already had their qualifications recognized

such as doctors with Approbation. For this category, obtaining the visa does not involve additional requirements.

2. Those whose qualifications are yet to be recognized

such as doctors in their home country. This group must demonstrate their qualifications, language proficiency, and other criteria, including age, language skills, professional experience, and ties to Germany. Depending on how much points you’ve accrued (minimum is said to be 6 points), you can get this visa which is valid for 1 year.

Similar to the job seeker visa, this visa allows individuals to be physically present in Germany to search for jobs, provided they can financially support themselves. Secondary employment for up to 20 hours per week is permitted while seeking employment on this visa. If a qualified job as a doctor is secured but a suitable work visa has not been obtained, the opportunity card can be extended for an additional two years.

• Changes made to residence laws:

After coming to Germany, you will move through the following levels:

Visa (das Visum) –> EU Blue Card (EU-Blauekarte) –> Settlement permit (Die Niederlassungserlaubnis) –> German nationality (Deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit) 🥳

I will talk about each one in detail.

• EU Blue Card (Die Blaue Karte)

Medicine is classified as one of the ‘bottleneck professions,’ denoting occupations with substantial demand. Attaining a position as an Assistenzarzt (resident doctor) automatically renders you eligible for the Blue Card. So, to be able to apply for the Blue Card, you need to have a full-time contract.

💡 The Blue Card is the 🇪🇺 EU version of the green card in the 🇺🇸USA.
Facharzt JETZT!

Following 21 months of Blue Card possession, you can then apply for a settlement permit (permanent residency in Germany and in the European Union). See next point.

• Settlement permit (permanent residency in Germany and in the European Union) (Die Niederlassungserlaubnis)

Like mentioned above, you get this permit after 21 months of Blue Card possession. The advantage of this permit is that:

You are allowed to remain in Germany, even if you lost your job as a medical doctor or want to change your job to another job
You are no longer required to work full-time. So, you can work like in a 50% job.
When changing hospitals, you are no longer required to apply for a work permit (Arbeitserlaubnis). Please note, this is something else than Berufserlaubnis. So, you can start working any time you wish in a new hospital and should not wait weeks until the foreigners’ authority (Ausländerbehörde) give you a new Arbeitserlaubnis.
Related articles: Steps to do after being accepted in a job

• Naturalization laws (Getting the German nationality)

As of January 19th, Germany’s parliament has approved new laws allowing individuals to be eligible for citizenship after five years in Germany, or three years in the case of “special integration accomplishments” (as a doctor, you fall in this category because of your language skill and service to the community), as opposed to the previous durations of eight or six years, respectively.

💡Medical doctors can now get the German nationality in 3 years 🥳
Facharzt JETZT!

The new law also accommodates those interested in dual citizenship, permitting individuals to retain their original nationality alongside a German one.

• Author of the article

Thanks to the Author of this article, the future colleage Uche Okafor. Uche is also known among his friends as “Sir Nero”. Uche is currently (2024) a fifth-year medical student aspiring to continue his medical residency in Germany. He is happy to win like-minded doctors as new connections. You can find Sir Nero on:
• Telegram: https://t.me/Sirnero001
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SirNero001

To make more connections with doctors working in Germany, or deligant medical students like Uche aspiring to work there, then join now our community of Facharzt JETZT for free.

• References

The references used to write the article about the The Skilled Immigration Law (Das Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz) were:

• https://www.make-it-in-germany.com/de/visum-aufenthalt/fachkraefteeinwanderungsgesetz
• https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_aufenthg/englisch_aufenthg.html#p0389
• https://www.dw.com/en/changes-to-germanys-skilled-immigration-rules-take-effect/a-67458940

Want to learn more? Questions?
Join JETZT (🇺🇸 now) all of our groups & ask what you like
(On mobile phone: The links are at the end of this page/ On PC: On the right side)

The 10 steps to start a medical residency in Germany (2024)

Medical residency in Germany and getting a German Approbation

• Introduction

Welcome to the most detailed article on the internet on how to start a medical residency in Germany and get a German permanent medical license. In German, the word for the permanent medical license is called 🇩🇪 Approbation. A temporary medical license is called in German 🇩🇪 Berufserlaubnis (BE). To be able to start working as a medical doctor and start a medical residency in Germany, you need to have one of these licenses (Article: Differences between the two in detail).

If you have the slightest doubt about a certain point or do not understand any information, ask at any time in the main Facharzt JETZT group on Facebook and on Telegram. 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. 😊

• General notes

▪ The exams required from International Medical Graduates (IMG) do not depend on their nationality (e.g., if EU or not EU), but depend on in which country they studied medicine (more explained in step number 9).

▪ The steps should not always be followed in the same chronological order to start a medical residency in Germany.

Examples

For example, you can start learning, German (step 2), before finishing medical school (step 1), or you can apply for the visa (step 7). If you are going to study German in Germany and then later on send the application for the permanent medical license(step 6). Moreover, in some German states, to apply for a medical license (step 6), you need to apply for a job(step 10) and get a job offer first.

▪ This article was written with a help from Mr. Teddy Kabel, admin of the largest English group for foreign doctors in Germany. Vielen Dank 🙂

• The ten steps to start a medical residency in Germany:

1. Finish medical school

Logically, to start medical residency in Germany, you need to have received your medical degree. In most countries of the world, medical school lasts six years. In a few countries, like Germany itself or China, medical school lasts five years. The duration of medical school does not play a role in Germany.

For those who failed a year or more in medical school…

If I failed a year or more in medical school and had to repeat them, do I still have a chance to get a German medical license and work in Germany?

Certainly yes! You just need to have a recognized bachelor’s degree from a recognized university, regardless of how long you studied medicine. So, failing a year or more is not a problem. 🥳

– Are your university and faculty recognized in Germany?

Use “Anabin” website to see if your university and your medical degree are recognized in Germany. If your university and faculty have the status “H+/+”, then they are recognized in Germany. 🥳😊 This YouTube video shows you how to find this out using Anabin.

That being said, the Anabin website sometimes does not contain the names of universities recognized in Germany. So, if you did not find the name of your university, this is probably not the end of the world.

– Stop & think: Is a medical residency in Germany the best option in “your” case?

Before deciding to come to Germany and start medical residency, please read a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of medical specialization in Germany and other countries. If you want to start on a specific pathway, then you should only concentrate on it. Therefore, we wrote many articles to help you with your decision: “Thinking about coming to Germany?”

An important point in helping you in your decision is knowing if your bachelor’s degree will be considered equivalent to a German one (🇩🇪 gleich/Gleichwertigkeit). This is critical because it will save you from doing the medical knowledge exam (step 9). We explained this in the following article:

🇩🇪 Avoiding a medical knowledge exam (🇩🇪 die Kenntnisprüfung) for doctors who studied in non-EU/EEA countries 🇪🇺

By the way, if you find the above route complicated and particularly if you do not like to work with patients, there is an academic route:

🇩🇪 For physicians: Doing a Master’s or PhD degree in Germany

If you still cannot decide. Read as much as possible about this route of specialization. Look in our main Facebook group and main Telegram group, and see what doctors are discussing and what problems they are facing. You are welcome to post as many questions as you like.

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2. Learn the German language & improve your CV to start medical residency in Germany

– Learning German

During your internship year, or already before that, start learning the German language until at least the B2 level. We recommend learning at least until the C1 level. The language is essential later on during interviews, working with patients, and even for the board exams. Besides having German Approbation, language proficiency is the most critical criterion for the selection process.

Should the language certificate be from a particular testing authority/institute? Yes…

Yes, for sure, certificates are accepted from Goethe-Institut and Telc. Both are good, but Goethe-Institut is more famous among the Germans. When you are in Germany, some might ask you: “How did you learn German in your home country, Goethe?”.

Some say, that certificates from ÖSD might be accepted, too. This is an Austrian exam provider.

Should I get an official certificate for each language level I finish, from A1 to B2?

Certainly No! To apply for the Approbation, only a B2 certificate is enough. To apply for the Visa, a B1 certificate is required at least.

Should I get the C2 level certificate? No…

I work in Germany since >9 years, have met hundreds of doctors, worked in 14 hospitals and had through Facharzt JETZ contact with hundreds of doctors. Despite my experience and connections through Facharzt, I have never ever met a single doctor with a C2 German certificate 😅 While having it in your CV is advantageous, the language proficiency assessed in the exam tends to be more general and literal than what is typically used in the medical field. Therefore, there’s no need to stress about obtaining a C2 certificate. Aim for a C1 certification and ensure that you can speak fluently with the least noticeable accent possible. 😍 See too our article about improving your CV.

By the way, even psychiatrists are not expected to have a C2 certificate. At the end, it is not about certificates, it is about your understanding patients and speaking clearly and fluently.

The following are articles related to doctors learning German:

🇩🇪 For doctors: How long does it take to learn the German language?

🇩🇪 Why is learning German easy and why it is hard

🇩🇪 Sources to learn German for foreign doctors going to Germany

– Improving CV

Even before you arrive in Germany, enhance your chances of securing your dream medical specialty in a renowned German hospital by not only focusing on learning German but also engaging in activities that bolster your CV. Discover valuable insights and guidance in another article on our website:

🇩🇪 Improve CV as a foreign doctor: Before and after coming to Germany

To quickly start a medical residency in Germany, do not forget to build connections. This is important because connections will save you a lot of time, money, and stress. With Facharzt JETZT it is now possible and for free to make connections with doctors working in Germany:

🇩🇪 Doctors wanting to work in Germany: How to make connections? Why? 🕵️

🇩🇪 How to make connections through our community “Facharzt JETZT”? Get a training or even a job! 🥳🥳😊💓

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3. Finish the internship year to start a medical residency in Germany (das Praktische Jahr)

You MUST finish an internship year to start a medical residency in Germany; either in the country where you studied medicine or in your home country.

The internship year should contain certain rotations and should have certain characteristics. We explained all of that in the following article:

🇩🇪 For medical doctors: The internship year (🇩🇪 das Praktische Jahr – PJ) is a must to be able to work in Germany. 100% sure! No exceptions!

Did you finish your internship year, or can you finish it in the future?

Yes 🥳	No 😥
Congrats 🙂 You are finished with step number 3. Please go to the next step (number 4)	To do it in a third country or in Germany is a complicated thing and should be avoided, not to mention that doing it in a third country would be most probably not recognized. The full details are in the following article: “For medical doctors: Is the internship year (🇩🇪 das Praktische Jahr – PJ) a must to be able to work in Germany? 100% yes! No exceptions!“

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4. Get your permanent medical license

You can get it after finishing the internship year, either in your home country or in the country where you studied medicine. This is a very important document. Without it, you cannot start a medical residency in Germany.

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5. Prepare your documents for applying for the German permanent medical license (die Approbation)

To ensure getting a medical residency in Germany, you can start during the internship year to slowly collect all the needed documents for applying for the German permanent medical license (🇩🇪 die Approbation). Be careful, do not prepare your documents too early because some documents are allowed to be maximally one to six months old at the time of application for the Approbation (For example, the police clearance certificate – 🇩🇪 die Straffreiheitsbescheinigung). A complete list of the needed documents is in the following link:

🇩🇪 Required documents to apply for Approbation in Germany

– Find which documents you need exactly

The documents differ slightly between the 16 medical license authorities in the 16 German states. You can find the exact needed documents on the websites of the 16 medical license authorities. On the website of each medical license authority, the required documents and application files are listed depending on where you studied medicine; either in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) or outside of it. Here we collected the links for you: Direct links.

The authorities do not give a lot of explanations about the documents and there are many pitfalls. Therefore, please read first exactly our article about the required documents.

– The translation of the documents

Wrongly translated documents could destroy your chances of working in Germany, or make it a nightmare. Therefore, we wrote a whole article to explain the translation of documents for you:

🇩🇪 Translation of documents: Where and what to pay attention to

– The authentication

We recommend the legalization of your documents in the countries where you got them from (country of origin or the country where you studied medicine). However, in a few countries of the world, the German embassies do not legalize documents. We explained all of this here:

🇩🇪 What is authentication (die Beglaubigung) & where to do it

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6. Send via mail your application for the German permanent medical license (die Approbation)

After you finish the internship year, you can send your application by mail to one of Germany’s 16 medical license authorities. Unlike the USA, Canada, or England, there is no centralized authority for that.

– To start medical residency in Germany: Proof of intention

To be able to apply for a German Approbation, you need in 14 out of 16 medical license authorities a “proof of intention”. We explained this and how to get it in the following article:

🇩🇪 Applying for the Approbation: The proof of intention

The two German states which do not require proof of intention are Bavaria (🇩🇪 Bayern) and Thuringia (🇩🇪 Thüringen). In Berlin, it is enough to provide email copies of answers from hospitals that refused your application for a Hospitation (medical training) (Articles: What is a Hospitation & How to apply).

– For non-EU/EEA doctors: Decide whether you want to apply for the Gleichwertigkeit

All foreign doctors need to do the Fachsprachenprüfung (FSP) (medical language exam) (step 8).

The Kenntnisprüfung (medical knowledge exam) (step 9), is NOT required from graduates of universities in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA). Graduates from universities in the rest of the world should decide at the time of the approbation application if they want to register for the Kenntnisprüfung exam or if they want to undergo the process of the Gleichwertigkeit. We explained this in step number 8.

More questions and answers about step six of the 10 steps to start a medical residency in Germany:

The ECFMG: Applying for a medical license in the USA

In the USA, the ECFMG is responsible for testing all medical doctors who want to apply for a medical license in the USA. The USMLE exams. if you ever heard of them, are conducted by the ECFMG.
Source: Wikipedia.

What are the 16 German medical license authorities (🇩🇪 die Approbationsbehörden)?

Here is a list 🙂

In which one of the 16 medical license authorities should you apply for the Approbation?

The decision should take into consideration many factors like how hard the exams in the sate are, how easy is it to get a job with Berufserlaubnis (BE), but the most important factor is if you can get the Gleichwertigkeit in that state. So, please ask firstly medical graduates from your university where you should apply for the Approbation (you can also ask in our main group on Facebook and Telegram). The following article can help you a lot in your decision:

🇩🇪 Where to apply for approbation: Advantages & disadvantages of each German state

Can the application be online?

No! Never! You need to send authenticated copies of your documents by post (Article: “What is authentication?”)

Can I apply simultaneously to many authorities?

Never! Do not do that!, It is not allowed, and sooner or later they will discover it.

Can I apply for Approbation in one German state and work in another?

Once you get your Approbation, you can from day one work overall in Germany. On the other hand, with a temporary medical license (Berufserlaubnis), you can work only in one German state. More details are in the comparison article between the Approbation and the Berufserlaubnis (link).

Can you change your mind and move your application for the Approbation from one German state to another?

Yes, but this takes at least 2 to 3 months. We explained here how you can move your application for the approbation from one German state to another:

🇩🇪 Moving your application for the permanent medical license (🇩🇪 der Approbationsantrag) from one medical license authority (🇩🇪 die Approbationsbehörde) to another

Do the months/years of residency I spend working with Berufserlaubnis (temporary medical license) count for the residency period?

In the great majority of states, no. 😥 More details are in the comparison article between the Approbation and the Berufserlaubni: Link.

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7. Apply for a visa (if you need one) & travel to start medical residency in Germany

To travel to Germany, citizens of many countries in the world need to apply for a German visa. You should give the German embassy a reason for coming to Germany. We explained the reasons and other issues related to this topic in separate articles:

🇩🇪 Applying for a German visa: How? Reasons for coming to Germany?

• There are in 2024 new changes coming to the visa laws, making it easier to come & work in Germany and get the German nationality. This is thoroughly explained in the following article:
🇩🇪 The Skilled Immigration Law (Das Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz)

To get a German visa, one of the things you need is “proof of financial resources”. We explained the two methods for that in this article:

🇩🇪 Proof of financial resources for the visa application

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8. Do the medical language exam (die Fachsprachenprüfung – FSP)

This exam is required from all doctors who did not finish high school in Germany; even if they have a German passport. You can do it ONLY after you send your application to apply for the German permanent medical license (🇩🇪 die Approbation) (step number 6) and get a reply that you can do this exam. Again, as explained in step number 5, applying for a permanent medical license is only possible after finishing medical school.

• Detailed articles:

🇩🇪 What is the medical language exam (FSP)?

🇩🇪 Ultimate Fachsprachenprüfung (FSP) preparation tips

After passing the medical language exam, the steps required from you depend on the country in which you studied medicine. We explain this in the following algorithm and table:

Medical residency in Germany: Required exams

Did you study medicine in a country of the European Union (EU) or of the European Economic Area (EEA)?

Yes (EU/EEA) 🇪🇺 🇮🇸 🇱🇮 🇳🇴 🇨🇭	No (Rest of the world) 🌍
Congratulations 🥳🥳💐💐 After passing the medical language exam, you are going to get the approbation. 🥳🥳 You do not need to read further in steps 8 or 9. Go straight to the last step (number 10).	Most graduates from outside the EU/EEA need to take the medical knowledge exam (🇩🇪 die Kenntnisprüfung). Who should now take it is explained in the next questions in yellow.

– All about the Gleichwertigkeit/gleich & should you apply for it

What is the 🇩🇪 Gleichwertigkeit/gleich?

The German word “gleich” is an adjective that means “equal or smiliar”. Gleichwertigkeit is the noun form of it.

In the context of non-EU/EEA doctors applying for the Approbation, it means that they apply for an evaluation (🇩🇪 Gleichwertigkeitsprüfung) of the subjects they studied in medical school (syllabus), of their work experience after the internship year, and the courses they attended. This evaluation process costs around 1000-1800 euros and takes between four months and 18 months (depending on state). After this waiting period, they get an answer if what was submitted is “gleich” or not. If they are gleich, then they do not need to take the medical knowledge exam and are treated like EU/EEA graduates. 🥳 If they are judged to be not “gleich”, then they need to do the medical knowledge exam (Kenntnisprüfung). 😥

How do I know if the graduates of my “batch” from our university get the Gleichweritgikeit?

Only if you can find ones who applied in Germany, and they told you about the answer they got. You can ask in our main group on Facebook and Telegram. More details in this article:

🇩🇪 Avoiding a medical knowledge exam (🇩🇪 die Kenntnisprüfung) for doctors who studied in non-EU/EEA countries 🇪🇺

Should I apply for the Gleichwertigkeit?

It depends on the likelihood of your getting it.

	Highly likely	Little or no hope
What should you decide?	We recommend trying to apply for the Gleichwertigkeit.	Request from the beginning in your approbation application (step 6) that you want to do the medical knowledge exam.
Disadvantages of the decision	• Costs for applying for the Gleichwertigkeit (around 1000-1800 euros) • The reply needs months. If you got at the end “not gleich”, then you should wait for an appointment for the knowledge exam like someone who sent his application for the approbation on the same day, but asked to directly do the knowledge exam.	That you might be missing getting a “gleich” if you applied for it.
Advantages of the decision	No knowledge exam if “gleich”	If you apply from the beginning to do the knowledge exam and did not apply for a gleich, then: 1) You can quickly register for an appointment to do the knowledge exam (appointment needs months) 2) You can start early preparing for the knowledge exam, which is a clinical exam mainly and you are not wasting time learning for it (seep step 9).

If I applied for the Gleichwertigkeit, can I work until I receive an answer?

Yes. You can work with a 🇩🇪 Berufseralubnis (BE) (temporary medical license). Read this article for the details:

🇩🇪 Approbation vs Berufserlaubnis: Can I work as a doctor with Berufserlaubnis? Yes, but…

Can you apply for the Approbation in one German state, do the Fachsprachenprüfung (FSP) there, and then do the medical knowledge exam (Kenntnisprüfung) (KP) in another German state?

Yes! This is how to move your application: Article.

Doing the FSP in one state then the KP in another state is common in the German state of Northrhine-Westphalia (NRW). This is because the medical knowledge exam there (which takes place in Münster) is the hardest in Germany. In NRW, the medical language exam (FSP) takes place in two cities; either in Düsseldorf or in Münster. In Münster, the FSP is also the hardest in Germany. In Düsseldorf, it is normal. Therefore, after succeeding in the FSP, the doctors move their applications to do the KP in another German state.

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9. When requested from you, do the medical knowledge exam (die Kenntnisprüfung – KP)

As we explained in detail in step number 8, not all foreign doctors are required to do this exam. This is an oral medical exam. There is not a single MCQ question in it. 🥳 This means that the exam is a friendly discussion and the doctors need at least a general outline of diseases, medications, and therapies. We wrote a detailed article about it here: “What is the medical knowledge exam (die Kenntnisprüfung – KP)?“

Doctors who need to do a medical knowledge exam are allowed by many medical license authorities to work for 6 to 24 months with a temporary medical license ( eine Berufserlaubnis). We explained the differences between a permanent and a temporary medical license in this article:

“🇩🇪 Approbation vs Berufserlaubnis: Can I work as a doctor with Berufserlaubnis? Yes, but…”

We hope that you could avoid doing a medical knowledge exam (🇩🇪 die Kenntnisprüfung) and that you now have a permanent German medical license (🇩🇪 die Approbation).

When requested from you, do the medical knowledge exam (die Kenntnisprüfung - die KP) — ^{Approbation day}

Do not forget to post your photo with the Approbation document in the main group of Facharzt JETZT on Facebook and Telegram.😊🥳 This will motivate others, especially if you write small tips from your experience. That would be very nice of you. 😊💐

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10. Apply for a job (die Bewerbung um eine Stelle)

Medical residency in Germany: Step 10 - Apply for a job

To save time, already after passing the required exams from you, and while waiting for the Approbation/Berufserlaubnis document, start applying for a job. Simply write in your job application that you passed the exam(s) and include a copy of the confirmation of that (you get this on the day of the exam). You can begin working immediately after getting the approbation certificate by mail.

• We explained in the following articles how you can apply for a job (including free samples for your application email and your motivational letter):

https://facharztjetzt.de/job-application

• In the following articles, we explained the job interviews and how you can fully succeed in them:

🇩🇪 From A to Z: Job interview for doctors in Germany (das Vorstellungsgespräch)

🇩🇪 For doctors: Tips for job interviews for doctors in Germany

🇩🇪 Most common interview questions for doctors in Germany

After being accepted in the job, there are small few easy steps to take. Some of them are voluntary and some are mandatory. Please do not forget them because they could cause you to earn more or less money.

🇩🇪 Steps to do after being accepted in a job

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• YouTube video: Same steps summarized

At the end of this article, we want to assure you that if you followed carefully these 10 steps to start medical residency in Germany, we will guarantee you that you will get your German Approbation. 🥳

Herzlichen Glückwusnch (Congratulations) 😊
You will get the job! 🥳💐😊

Want to learn more? Questions?
Join JETZT (🇺🇸 now) all of our groups & ask what you like
(On mobile phone: The links are at the end of this page/ On PC: On the right side)

Further readings:
• “Approbation in Germany”, Helena Mamić – Soprano website (Foreign doctor in Germany from Croatia), link.
• “Getting Started with Medical Residency in Germany”, German medical residency website, link.
• “Application Process for Medical Residency in Germany”, German medical residency website, link.
• “Preparation of documents for Berufserlaubnis / Approbation”, your second heart blog, link.

Required documents to apply for Approbation in Germany (2024)

• Introduction

This article is the most detailed article on the internet listing the required documents to apply for Approbation in Germany. The Approbation is a German word that means a permanent medical license.

Preparing the documents is step number 5 of the 10 steps to apply for Approbation in Germany and being your dream medical residency:

🇩🇪 The 10 steps to start a medical residency in Germany (2023)

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 on 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. 😊

• In which states can I use these documents to apply for Approbation in Germany?

The required documents should work in all authorities so that you can apply for Approbation in Germany. 😊🥳😎 Some medical license authorities may ask for fewer documents. The following documents are complete to apply for the medical license exam in the most populated German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) (link to the required documents in their website).

The laws change slightly over time and mistakes could always happen. Therefore, please read in the website of the Approbation authority the currently required documents (a list of all authorities is here). If you found that something changed, please let us know. 🙂 No website in the world is as accurate as the websites of the German authorities themselves. Therefore, to apply for Approbation in Germany, please always refer to the official German websites. We do not take any responsibility for any mistakes in our website. That being said, be assured that we did our best to assure that everything is 100% correct and is of the quality “Made in Germany”.

• We divided the required documents to apply for Approbation in Germany into two categories:

Documents from “outside” Germany*

Documents from “inside” Germany

^{_{*Please note, the following 3 documents from outside Germany could be also acquired/taken in Germany: a German language certificate, health certificate, and proof of intention. Please note that you need a health certificate again from Germany after passing the medical language exam.}}

We suggest preparing all of these documents to apply for Approbation in Germany because any delays in the application process can cost you on average 2–4 months of waiting, sometimes more.

(1) Documents that are required from “outside” Germany to apply for Approbation in Germany:

🇺🇸	Translation	Authentication	Maximum age of the document
Curriculum (should be personalized)	Yes	Yes	No problem
Syllabus (should be personalized)	No	Yes	No problem
University marks	Yes	Yes	No problem
University certificate	Yes	Yes	No problem
Certificate of the completion of the internship year	Yes	Yes	No problem
Permanent medical license	Yes	Yes	No problem
Letter/certificate of good standing (🇩🇪 eine Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) (from the medical association)	Yes	Yes	3 months
German language certificate (at least B2)	No (already in German)	Yes (if the embassy accepts)	Sometimes maximally 3 years
Police clearance certificate (🇩🇪 eine Straffreiheitsbescheinigung)	Yes	Yes	3 months
Health certificate (🇩🇪 eine Gesundheitsbescheinigung)	Yes	Yes	1-3 months
Employment references/work certificates (when available)	Yes	Yes	No problem
CV in German	–	No	New
Proof of intention
Birth certificate	Yes	Yes	Rather new
Document about changing name (In case you ever changed your name, e. g. after marriage, then you need the marriage certificate too)	Yes	Yes	Rather new
High school certificate (required only from few authorities) (In NRW not required)	Yes	Yes	No problem
Copy of your passport	No	Yes	Rather new

• Details about the documents that are required from “outside” Germany

To apply for Approbation in Germany, you need more details about some of these documents mentioned in the table above. We will write it here:

– German language certificate (at least B2)

• We listed the language certificate as a document that you get from outside Germany because foreign doctors usually learn German before coming to Germany. You can of course get it from Germany. But the thing is, in many countries, you would not get a German visa without at least a B1 German certificate.

Can this exam be done online?

Never!

In which language center can I take this exam? Inside or outside Germany?

• Not all certificates from all examining centers for the language exams are recognized. Each authority would list which centers are recognized. Certificates from Goethe institutes are always recognized. Good private test providers are for example ÖSD. Another famous one is Telc. In this link, you can find Telc’s centers around the world. If you are doing the exam in another language institute/center, you need to see if the medical license authority recognizes their certificate.

Can I apply for the Approbation without a B2 language certificate?

• In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) (probably in some other medical license authorities too), one could apply for Approbation in Germany WITHOUT a German language certificate. But without at least a B2 certificate, you cannot register for the medical language exam (🇩🇪 die Fachsprachenprüfung).

– A “personalized” curriculum & a “personalized” syllabus

• The curriculum is short (around 5 pages). It contains only the subjects studied in the bachelor’s degree. The syllabus is a detailed explanation of them and contains around 100-400 pages. This does not need to be authenticated by the German embassy and is rarely requested to apply for Approbation in Germany. But in rare cases, they might ask for it. So please bring it with you too. For more details about the differences between a syllabus and a curriculum, you can read this article:”🇩🇪 Curricumulm vs Syllabus: What are the differences?“

• What does “personalized” mean? Your name, date of birth, and date of graduation MUST be written in the curriculum and in the syllabus. This is why they are called a “personalized” curriculum and a “personalized” syllabus. This is very essential. If this information is not written, at least your name and date of birth, they will refuse this document. So to be on the safe side, all these three pieces of information MUST be written.

• Does the syllabus need to be translated? If it is in English, many license authorities accept it like this. In some, like in Baden-Württemberg, all submitted documents should be in German. 😢

– Certificate for the completion of the internship year

Completing the internship year is a must. No exceptions. If you want more details, you can read them here:

🇩🇪 For medical doctors: The internship year (🇩🇪 das Praktische Jahr – PJ) is a must to be able to work in Germany. 100% sure! No exceptions!

– Permanent medical license from your home country or from the country where you studied medicine

You get this usually after doing the internship year and sometimes an exam.

Explanation again, but in German: “Bescheinigung der obersten Gesundheitsbehörde aus Ihrem Heimatland/Studienland, dass Sie zur uneingeschränkten Ausübung des Berufes berechtigt sind”.

– Health certificate

That you do not have any contagious diseases. Often, you need to get this certificate again from a German doctor. We explained the details in the section for documents from Germany.

– Police clearance certificate / criminal record (die Straffreiheitsbescheinigung )

What is this?

This is a certificate that you never committed a crime in your life.

From which countries should I get it and how old can the certificate be?

In the medical license authority in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), they write the following:

“From all the countries where you have lived within the last 5 years (the certificate must not have been issued earlier than three months before the application)”

In the medical license authority of Schleswig-Holstein, they want it only from the countries in which you worked and studied in.

– Work certificates (Employment references) (die Arbeitszeugnisse)

If you worked after the internship year, you could and should send such references along with your application. These work certificates could help in the recognition process of your medical studies, and hence avoiding a medical knowledge exam (to compensate for subjects that you did not study).

If interested in more information, you can read this article:

“🇩🇪 Why are work certificates (employment references) (Arbeitszeugnisse) important?“

– Letter of good standing from the medical association (eine Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung)

From all the countries where you worked as a medical doctor in your life. At least in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) they require that.

– CV in German

• The CV should contain your whole studies (from primary school until now) and all of your work experience until the day of your application. Everything must be mentioned (🇩🇪 ohne Lücken= 🇺🇸 without gaps) in chronological order and in tables according to categories. This is why it is called a tabular CV (🇩🇪 Tabellarischer Lebenslauf). We have a free template for you 😊

• The CV must have a recent date (e. g., write the date when you are sending the documents)

• Lying in a CV or having wrong dates and information could endanger your application. Please read everything carefully, especially the dates.

Fictional example…

Ranjit (a beautiful Indian name for males meaning “the winner of all wars”) is an Indian doctor who applied for the Gleichwertigkeitsprüfung (Test of equality) to avoid a medical knowledge exam, but the expert (🇩🇪 der Gutachter) wrote in his report that Ranjit did not do learn enough emergency medicine and palliative medicine in the medical school in India. To compensate for these shortages in the curriculum, Ranjit could reply that after graduation he did six months of emergency medicine and worked in a cancer center for a year. If this experience was NOT mentioned in his CV at the beginning, then Ranjit might not win this “war” because they would not accept that he adds anything new to his application.

• You must sign the CV. Please… please… do not forget to sign it after you print it. Please!!! The application of a colleague got delayed because of this small mistake. Always in Germany, you should sign your CV, regarding for what goal. Even when applying later on for a medical license in Switzerland (steps for Switzerland), you should sign it.

– Birth certificate

To apply for Approbation in Germany, a birth certificate is not required in all medical license authorities. However, you will CERTAINLY need it if you later on applied for the German nationality. So, please prepare this document.

– An authenticated copy of the passport

I think a copy of the passport could be done in Germany in a city authority (🇩🇪 das Rathaus) or by a notary (🇩🇪 der Notar). But for safety, do it in your home country. The German Embassy will place a stamp and a group of signatures on the copy to indicate that it is an exact copy of the passport. It costs like 20 Euros.

(2) Documents that are required from “inside” Germany to apply for Approbation in Germany:

– German police clearance certificate (eine Straffreiheitsbescheinigung)

Before a foreigner apply for Approbation in Germany, they want to make sure that he did not commit any crime during his stay in Germany. In German, this document is called:

“Führungszeugnis der Belegart „O“ gem. § 30 Abs. 5 BZRG”

If you have been living in Germany for more than 6 months, then you need this document from Germany. Some authorities (like in Saarland) require it regardless of how long you lived in Germany.

You can apply for it either in:

(1) Local residents’ registration office (🇩🇪 das Einwohnermeldeamt) (same place where you do the 🇩🇪 Anmeldung)
(2) Online through the Website of the Federal Office of Justice. But you need for that a blue card or residence permit (🇩🇪 elektronischer Aufenthaltstitel) with activated online functions. It is a bit complicated. Simply do it in the “local residents’ registration office” (🇩🇪 das Einwohnermeldeamt) (You can improve your German for free 🥳)

⚡🚑 Be careful: There are many types of police clearance certificates in Germany.
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To be sure that you are ordering the correct one, show the employee ordering the certificate for you either:

The mail from the medical license authority in which they request it

Print the list of required documents from the website of the medical authority (in it, they mention the type of the certificate)

– Health certificate from Germany (die Gesundheitsbescheinigung)

Some authorities do not recognize health certificates from outside Germany. You need to get this certificate again from a licensed doctor (🇩🇪 approbierter Arzt) in Germany. Usually, this is a paper that you download from the website of the approbation authority. Any family doctor (🇩🇪 der Hausarzt) can sign it.

Age of this document: Usually maximally 3 months. Nonetheless, some medical license authorities (like in Schleswig-Holstein & Saarland) require it to be maximally one month old.

• How much does it cost? Click for more details.

It is either for free or would cost you around 25-50 Euros (plus costs for the investigations). Some doctors do simply a normal physical examination. Others do extra blood examinations (including for Hepatitis and HIV) and order a chest x-ray. Some make small talk with you, wish you luck as a new colleague soon and simply sign the document. 💘🫶 Probably you need to pay, in this case, keep the invoice because you can get around 40% of it back through a tax declaration.

Call many family doctors clinics (🇩🇪 Hausarztpraxis) in your city before you go to one of them to ask for a health certificate. Or you can ask in our main Facebook group about a cheap doctor. You can get it for free or pay 100–200 Euros!
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– Proof of intention

The proof of intention is evidence that a foreign doctor provides in order to be allowed to apply for Approbation in a German state. This is one of the documents needed to apply for Approbation in 15 out of 16 German states. The only German state that is not known to require this bureaucratic hurdle is Bavaria (🇩🇪 Bayern). 🥳🥳🥳

We explained the proof of intention in a detailed article: “🇩🇪 Apply for Approbation in Germany: The proof of intention”.

– Documents from the websites of the medical authorities

They are always needed. You find them on the website of the approbation authority where you apply for Apporbation in Germany. They have to be printed out and filled out. Of course, sign them at the end. This is very important not to forget to sign them (just like the CV).

Examples of these documents from North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)

This is the most populated German state (>17.9 million). We took it therefore as an example. There are four documents to be downloaded from their website, printed out, filled and signed:

🇩🇪 Dokument	🇺🇸 Document
Schriftlicher, persönlich unterschriebener Antrag in deutscher Sprache auf Erteilung der Approbation und ggf. einer Berufserlaubnis (Datum und Unterschrift; Anlage 1 – DS)	Written, personally signed application in German for the granting of a permanent medical license to practice medicine and, if applicable, a temporary license (date and signature; Annex 1 – DS)
Schriftliche, formlose Erklärung mit folgendem Wortlaut: „Hiermit erkläre ich, dass ich nicht vorbestraft bin und dass weder ein gerichtliches Strafverfahren noch ein staatsanwaltschaftliches Ermittlungsverfahren gegen mich anhängig ist.” (Datum und Unterschrift; Anlage 2 – DS)	Written, informal declaration with the following wording: “I hereby declare that I have no criminal record and that neither criminal proceedings nor investigations by the public prosecutor are pending against me.” (Date and signature; Annex 2 – DS)
Schriftliche, formlose, persönlich unterschriebene Erklärung, dass Sie in der Vergangenheit in Deutschland noch keinen Antrag auf Erteilung der Approbation gestellt haben (Datum und Unterschrift; Anlage 2 – DS)	Written, informal, personally signed declaration that you have not previously applied for a license to practice medicine in Germany (date and signature; Annex 2 – DS)
Schriftliche, formlose, persönlich unterschriebene Erklärung, dass Sie in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland noch kein Medizin-, Zahnmedizin-, Pharmaziestudium begonnen haben und nicht endgültig durch die ärztliche Vor-/Prüfung gefallen sind (Datum und Unterschrift; Anlage 2 – DS)	Written, informal, personally signed declaration that you have not yet started studying medicine, dentistry or pharmacy in the Federal Republic of Germany and have not finally failed the preliminary medical examination/examination (date and signature; Annex 2 – DS)

“Annex 1 – DS and Annex 2″ DS are the PDF files in their website. Source: Website of th district government of Münster

• Critical notes when you apply for Approbation in Germany:

(1) Name and date of birth in each document

• They should be written in all of your documents (Passport, university certificate, birth certificate, etc.)

• Be sure that your name is spelled and written the same in all of your documents. Please, such a mistake could cause you not becoming a medical license! Avoid such a mistake!

(2) Translation

To apply for Approbation in Germany you need to translate most or all of your documents to German. Some medical license authorities might accept some documents in English. Certainly is translating the documents NEVER a mistake. In case the authority did not need the translation, they will simply read the original document in English; because you need to always send both the original document and the translation stapled together).

Where to do the translation is another important point. This plus other important points are mentioned in the following article:

“🇩🇪 Translation of documents for foreign doctors: What to pay attention to (🇩🇪 was zu beachten)“

(3) Authentication

To apply for Approbation in Germany, our recommendation is that you authenticate all of your documents. Please read the following article about authentication. This is because authentication (like the translation) is extremely important to be able to apply for Approbation in Germany:

“🇩🇪 Authenticate your documents in the countries where you got them from. Here is why and how.“

Example about the authentication

For a doctor who graduated from a (🇯🇴 Jordanian) University: Documents from the university need to be authenticated by: the Faculty of Medicine, the Unit of Admission and Registration, the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, and the German embassy.

Do you have any feedback? 😊 Please write a comment.

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Ukrainische Ärzte in Deutschland - Українські лікарі в Німеччині - Ukrainian Doctors in Germany - الأطباء خريجو أوكرانيا في ألمانيا

🇺🇦 Ukrainian medical graduates without an internship year: Possible solutions

• Introduction

No one knows exactly what the correct pathway is for medical graduates from Ukraine without an internship year. However, it seems that these graduates do not have any chance without the possible solutions mentioned below. We try to summarize in this article what we found and what might be the current situation.

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. 😊

Before being able to fully work as a medical doctor in Germany = get a permanent German medical license (🇩🇪 die Approbation), all medical doctors who want to work in Germany, regardless of where they studied medicine and regardless of what nationality they have:

MUST do an internship year (🇩🇪 das Praktische Jahr)

For more details, please read first the following article:

🇩🇪 For medical doctors: The internship year (🇩🇪 das Praktische Jahr – PJ) is a must to be able to work in Germany. 100% sure! No exceptions!

So if you read the above article, you now know that you should try your best to do your internship year either in:

Your home country
(if you are non-Ukrainian)
You can then come to Germany and apply for a German permanent medical license (🇩🇪 die Approbation). See the 10 steps for the application in this article.

You do not need to read this article any longer 🥳

In the Ukraine, but:
There is nothing called an internship year in Ukraine 😨. Please continue reading this article.

If you studied in Ukraine, then you are probably familiar with the stages from beginning medical school until becoming a specialist. For those who do not know them, we explained the steps in the following article:

🇺🇦 The stages of studying medicine and becoming a specialist doctor in the Ukraine

So, if you finished medical school in Ukraine and cannot do an internship year in your home country, then you have two options:

• Not possible: Doing an internship year in Germany

Some suggested in the past that Ukrainian graduates can apply to do an internship year in Germany. But it is not clear for how many months if it would be paid, and most importantly if you need to do an internship year exam at the end of it. It seems that this option is no longer logical. If you still want to try your luck and apply, you can use this form:

🇺🇦 For medical graduates from Ukraine: Application form for an internship year (🇩🇪 Praktisches Jahr)

• The solutions:

• If you do not want to come to Germany without an internship year:

(1) If you are non-Ukrainian: You have two options

Option 1	Option 2
Do an internship year and get a permanent medical license in your home country. Then come here to Germany and normally apply for a German permanent medical license (🇩🇪 die Approbation). The steps are here: Link.	See the next point, because this is similar to what Ukrainian nationals can do

(2) If you are Ukrainian: You have only one option

Get a specialist level in Ukraine. But as we understood from many comments in our Facebook group for graduates from Ukraine, this needs to be done in the Ukrainian language and needs at least 1.5 years.

When you apply in Germany:

– You will probably need only a German medical language exam (🇩🇪 die Fachsprachenprüfung) and then you will get the permanent medical license (🇩🇪 die Approbation) 🥳🥳🥳 In case your qualifications were not fully recognized, then you need a medical knowledge exam (🇩🇪 die Kenntnisprüfung).
– You will be most probably recognized as a specialist.

• If you still want to come to Germany without an internship year

– Solution 1: Apply to study medicine again in a German medical faculty

Ask for recognition of your medical studies. You will probably need to repeat 1 to 2 years of medical school. Of course, after that, you need to do an internship year in Germany.

Example: Real reply from a German authority regarding studying medicine again

vielen Dank für Ihre E-Mail. Ich berate Sie gerne. Bitte beachten Sie, dass wir für die Vollständigkeit und Richtigkeit der Informationen keine Gewähr übernehmen.

__________________

Allgemeine Informationen

Sie haben der Ukraine Medizin studiert. Aber Sie haben das Studium nicht vollständig abgeschlossen. Sie haben keine Internatur/Ordinatur machen können und Sie haben die letzte Prüfung am Ende der Internatur nicht gemacht. Jetzt möchten Sie in Deutschland gerne Ärztin werden. Leider ist eine Anerkennung nur für vollständige Studienabschlüsse möglich. Sie können deshalb keine Anerkennung in Deutschland bekommen.

_________

Anrechnung Studienleistungen

Es gibt eine Alternative für Sie: Sie können Ihr Medizinstudium in Deutschland fertig studieren. Dafür müssen Sie Ihre ukrainischen Studienleistungen anrechnen lassen. Das bedeutet: Eine deutsche Behörde prüft Ihr ukrainisches Studium und vergleicht es mit dem deutschen Medizinstudium. Wenn Ihre Kurse auch in Deutschland zum Studium gehören, können Sie angerechnet werden. Das bedeutet, Sie müssen diese Kurse nicht wiederholen. Sie müssen dann nur noch Kurse studieren, die neu für Sie sind. Die Behörde “Landesprüfungsamt für Medizin, Psychotherapie und Pharmazie” entscheidet, welche Kurse angerechnet werden. Wenn Sie Glück haben, bekommen Sie sehr viele Kurse angerechnet. Dann müssen Sie vielleicht nur noch 1 oder 2 Semester in Deutschland studieren. Es ist aber auch möglich, dass nur wenige Kurse angerechnet werden. Dann müssen Sie vielleicht noch ein paar Jahre in Deutschland studieren. Das entscheidet das Landesprüfungsamt. Wenn Sie in Deutschland das Medizinstudium beenden, sind Sie automatisch Ärztin und dürfen in Deutschland arbeiten. Sie müssen dann keine Anerkennung mehr beantragen. Wenn Sie in Deutschland weiter studieren möchten, müssen Sie einen Antrag auf Anerkennung der Studienleistungen stellen. Im Anhang finden Sie das Antragsformular, eine Liste mit notwendigen Dokumenten und weitere Informationen. Bitte schicken Sie keine Originale von Ihre Dokumenten und Übersetzungen. Bitte schicken Sie nur (amtlich beglaubigte) Kopien. Amtlich beglaubigte Kopien bekommen Sie im Rathaus oder Bürgerbüro.

– Solution 2: Apply for a medical license in Austria

They do not require an internship year, but there is a “not easy” exam in 12 medical subjects. If you fail 3 of these 12 subjects, you must repeat the exam, but first in one year. If you succeed, then you get an Austrian permanent medical license. After working in Austria for three years in full-time, you can “probably” get a German permanent medical license (🇩🇪 die Approbation) 🥳🥳🥳. But the working conditions in Austria are probably good, so why change the country again?

• Is there hope for other solutions?

Many members write in our main Facebook group (>40 thousand members) and other Facebook groups that:

The 16 medical license authorities in Germany ( die Approbationsbehörden) will most likely make exceptions for graduates from Ukraine 😊

Unfortunately, there are 16 authorities and each one has its own rules. Even in the same authority, some employees might reject certain things, even though other employees in the same authority accepted them.

Example: How some employees might decide contrary things

An employee requests you do a translation for your university certificate in Germany. Another employee accepts the exact documents translated outside of Germany presented to him by your colleague, who studied with you in the same university and in the same batch 🥲

• What can I do until I find a solution?

(1) Internship year in your country

If you can do an internship year in your home country without exams, why not to do it?

(2) Learn German

Investing time in learning German to reach at least C1 level. This is essential for exams, job interviews, and later on to excel in your work as a doctor.

This article contains tips on how to improve your CV:

🇩🇪 Improving CV before and after coming to Germany

(3) Keep up-to-date

Follow up on the latest news for the medical license in groups for doctors. Unfortunately, Germany is full of exceptions, and when a legal gap or a lenient authority is discovered regarding the issue of equivalency for Ukrainian graduates, you can submit your papers there quickly. Because when the news spread about it, applications might be stopped, or what commonly happens, the waiting period increases due to the huge number of applicants.

• Are there groups to communicate and exchange experiences for graduates from Ukraine?

You can follow all matters related to working as a doctor in Germany for graduates from Ukraine in this group for Ukrainian medical graduates:

**Ukrainische Ärzte in Deutschland – Українські лікарі в Німеччині Germany**

You can also join the following group and publish your questions:

Ärzte in Deutschland – الأطباء العرب في ألمانيا – Doctors in Germany

• Is there a specific authority to contact?

There are 16 medical license authorities in Germany. Try to contact the one in your German state, and we hope that they will answer you quickly. Unfortunately, their answers might sometimes need weeks.

• Further readings

• Same article in Arabic: 🇺🇦 سنة الامتياز لخريجي أوكرانيا في ألمانيا: بدونها لا مزاولة طب! أكيد جداً. البدائل؟

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10 months from zero to B2 in German (I studied outside Germany)

• Introduction

I studied the German language here in Jordan. It took me less than ten months. I began from zero as I had never studied German before. I studied in average not less than 20 days a month for not less than 5 hours a day. I took the B2 test of Goethe-Institut in Jordan and scored 77.5. To pass it, you need at least a mark of 60, including passing the oral exam part.

• Studying German in a private institute

💡 If you choose to study in a private institute, the German levels are eight: A1.1, A1.2, A2.1., A2.2., B1.1, B1.2., B2.1, and B2.2. If you are taking intensive lessons, then each level lasts one month. You will finish it all in eight months.
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I studied five out of the eight required levels in a private institute here in Jordan (Language Generation Center). The institute is among the top best in Amman. However, Goethe-Institut is the best and cheapest place to learn German because it is non-profit as the German government supports it. It aims to spread the German language and culture rather than gain money. For almost the same amount of money (+/- 5 JD), you are given in Goethe-Institut at least 15 extra hours of teaching.

🇩🇪 What is Goethe institute?

• Goethe-Institut

However, at Geothe-Institut, you live in a German atmosphere as only German is allowed in the classes (starting from A1.1), and the teachers are mostly German or from a German-speaking country (Austria and Switzerland). All the teachers have C1 certificates and spend at least one year in training before they are allowed to teach. Moreover, throughout the year, there are German university students doing training as voluntary work in Goethe-Institut. You can meet and talk with them inside Goethe-Institut. Moreover, like a friend of mine, you can become friends and start hanging out together. My friend visited them in their house and even slept in their house too. In addition, at Goethe-Institut, you can meet German people who are learning Arabic and want language exchange partners. Goethe-Institut would help to connect the German learners with the Arabic learners. Moreover, Goethe-Institut has a large library from which you can borrow books, videos, and audio material [Annual subscription is 2 JD (<3 USD)]. Finally, the examiners of the B2 test are mostly teachers from Goethe-Institut. Therefore, as happened with a colleague of mine, he said that a teacher “who loved him” was responsible for administering the oral exam to him. According to my friend, she helped him a bit. Putting this experience aside, I think it is best to be taught by teachers who administer a certain exam. Such teachers would be experienced in what is required in exams and would tell the students about the common mistakes that students commit. On the other hand, there are disadvantages of Goethe-Institut. Firstly, you have to wait for a month or two before being able to register for the A1.1 course (mostly in the summer). Secondly, the lecture times are not very flexible, and some courses are in the morning time. Thirdly, you have a lot of home works and if you do not pass a level by getting a mark of at least 70, then you need to repeat it [In my opinion, this is an advantage because you are forced to study hard and home works are necessary for learning especially writing]. Lastly, some argue that a lot of time is wasted in Goethe-Institut on culture- and custom-related issues, and these are not important for passing the language exam. All in all, if you have a flexible schedule, then I highly recommend Goethe-Institut.

In addition to the five courses, I took a preparatory course for the B2 exam with a private teacher here in Amman. She is called Noora (I forgot the family name). She is excellent as she taught us tips and tricks for taking the B2 exam. Moreover, she helped me a lot to develop my writing.

• The books I studied

– A1-B1: Studio D series. They are great.

– B2: Aspekta B2. This is great too, especially the summarizing pages at the end of the book.

• Preparation (In addition to the books)

I studied a lot of online material on YouTube, especially from:

– Extra Deutsch and Muzzy Deutsch. Watch them with subtitles on this channel. The expressions and words in them are basically more than enough for the B2 level.

Extra Deutsch

From the number of YouTube views, this is the most famous show for teaching the German language. The show is in the style of the famous American comedy series “Friends”. Therefore, it is very funny and you watch the videos not only to learn but more importantly, to laugh! The only disadvantage is that the pronunciation by one of the main characters, Sam (An American who is a beginner in German) is very horrible. You cannot learn good pronunciation from him at all.

– German from the Streets: This is advanced as the people sometimes speak in colloquial language.

• German-learning YouTube channels that I recommend

🇩🇪 http://www.youtube.com/user/DeutschOnlineLernen

🇩🇪 http://www.youtube.com/user/DeutschFuerEuch

🇩🇪 http://www.youtube.com/user/germanpod101

🇩🇪 http://www.youtube.com/user/ArchStandon

🇩🇪 http://www.youtube.com/user/ziescheelearning

• Learn German by watching movies

I watched German movies with subtitles: This was not very helpful, as the language is very hard. However, when you are bored and want to watch something, then it is certainly better if it is in German. Nonetheless, compared with Hollywood movies, most movies do not contain high technology and video effects. Some are boring and silly too. This is expected, as I read that about 100 new German movies are only produced each year. There are tens of full-length German movies on YouTube. Here is a link.

I recommend the following movies

– Das Leben des Anderen: It is one of the best movies I watched in my life. If you are to watch only one German movie, then I recommend this.

– Good Bye Lennin: This is a comedy movie and is funny. More importantly, it gives an idea about the situation in Germany after the fall of the wall of Berlin.

• Learn German by listening to songs

I heard a lot of songs. I searched YouTube for the German word for songs (Lieder). This is a link to the YouTube search for Lieder. I chose the songs to hear based on the number of views and positive ratings. Moreover, I watched the top charts of German songs to discover the best songs because the number of views is not enough to find all the best songs (link). Overall, I did not enjoy more than 5% of the songs. Probably because I am not a big fan of music. I compiled a YouTube Playlist of the songs I most like:

For Christians out there, the following is a playlist of the German hymns that I most liked. I am not a religious person. However, it is not easy to get bored of hearing “Jingle Bells” or “Silent Night”! Even in German 🙂

Tip

You can search Google for the name of the song and “lyrics English translation”. For example, to read the German lyrics and their English translation of the song “In meinem Leben”, search google for “In meinem leben lyrics English translation” (link to this Google search).

Because this is an interesting method, we wrote a detailed article about it:

🇩🇪 Enjoy learning German: Through songs

• Online dictionaries

Online dictionaries that I used: Dict.cc, Leo, Duden, Linguee, and Google Translate. Dict.cc and Leo are German-English and vice versa. They are useful because they give the gender and plural forms of words, in addition to the conjugation of verbs. Duden is German-German and it is like the Oxford Dictionary of German. Concerning Google Translate, some say that it is not accurate and discourage using it. However, unlike dictionaries, Google Translate, along with Linguee, are the only two services that allow you to understand the meaning of sentences. Sometimes, even if you translated each and every word in a sentence, you will not understand what it says. Google Translate and Linguee can help. Linguee is different from Google in that it searches for texts translated by humans and shows you how they were translated.

• Reading and watching German news and articles

• At the advanced level, I started reading a lot of German news and articles. I spent at least one month just reading articles. It was the most interesting and useful part of my German language learning. This is mainly because I started reading about topics I like and not being restricted to boring topics in books. The full details are in this post:

• I watched a lot of German TV channels. I benefited from this a lot. I did not understand anything most of the time. Even now. However, you only need to listen and with time you start to understand more and more. There is another advantage to watching TV. If you have ZDF and Euronews channels, then you can surf their websites and read similar or exact articles about what is aired. The website of ZDF channel (www.heute.de) contains articles that are highly similar in their words and content to what is aired. The website of Euronews (de.euronews.com), however, has transcripts of what is aired. I was surprised to discover that. The reports on TV are totally written as articles on the website.

• Practice writing in German

To improve your writing: Always practice writing in the German language. At the beginning of my learning, writing an email of three sentences took me more than half an hour. Writing an email was a very painful task. Moreover, I began blogging in German and started a diary in Germany. To have good feedback about your writing, there are two online websites that will correct your writing for free. They are not 100% accurate but they help you discover a lot of mistakes:

🇩🇪 http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibpruefung-online

This is a part of Duden’s website and is free. However, you are limited to 800 characters per text. You can divide your texts into multiple blocks. Microsoft Word gives you the chance to know the number of characters in a selected text.

🇩🇪 korrekturen.de/rechtschreibpruefung.shtml

🇩🇪 rechtschreibpru efung24.de

• Practice language with other people

• I met in real life Germans who are learning Arabic, and we were language exchange partners. I spent more than 100 hours with Germans teaching them and they teach me. I met three of them at the University of Jordan (UJ). I had a library subscription there. The UJ has a famous Arabic learning center and about 5-8 Germans come there every semester to learn Arabic. Moreover, I came to know an Austrian friend through a free Ad that I put in this website for expatriates (www.expatriates.com) (an expatriate is someone who lives in a country not his for work, learning, tourism, etc.). There is a special page for every city in the world. The page of every city has different categories for Ads. One of them is for language exchange. The Ads expire after 60 days. Therefore, you need to repost your Ad again.

• I tried to find language exchange partners online. However, I find many people who are not serious and it is very common to see people, especially young, who are learning multiple languages simultaneously (some six or even seven!!!). I sent a lot of messages and got few responses. All in all, if you want to get to know German-speaking people, then you can make friends on Facebook. This will save you time as you do not have to teach a language to them. These people are just interested to have friends from “all over the world”. See the next paragraph for more details.

Language exchange sites. Be careful as some of them limit the number of messages you can send, or do not even allow you to send any messages at all:

🇩🇪 http://www.mylanguageexchange.com

🇩🇪 http://www.conversationexchange.com

🇩🇪 http://www.sharedtalk.com

🇩🇪 http://polyglotclub.com

🇩🇪 http://www.language-exchanges.org

🇩🇪 www.inte rpals.net

• I had more than 50 German friends on Facebook. I talked with two of them for a total of 10 hours on Skype in German. I got to know them through Facebook groups and pages for friendship. There are pages and groups where you can find German-speaking people who announce that they welcome friendship requests. Such pages and groups usually have “Börse” in their names. Search in Google for “Börse Freunde”. However, you need to be careful as few of these Facebook accounts are fake. I do not know what people benefit from that. An example group:

🇩🇪 Freunde & Abonnenten Börse

• Useful sites:

• DW Learn German, http://www.dw.de/learn-german/german-courses/s-2547

• Learn German by about.com, http://german.about.com

• German is easy! | The blog for all who want to learn German, http://yourdailygerman.wordpress.com

• Useful Facebook pages and groups

• There are tens of Facebook groups and pages. I rarely used them. The most professional one in my opinion is this one: “DW – Learn German“

• Facebook search for “Learning German”

• This is a group of me for medical doctors wanting to specialize or study master’s and PhD in Germany: “Doctors in Germany“.

• Useful Books to read

Before learning a new language, consider reading some articles and books about how a person learns a new language. In addition, consider reading articles about learning the German language. I read multiple articles and two books. You can find the articles using a Google search. The two books that I highly recommend are:

• “Polyglot: How I learn languages“: This book was written by a Hungarian woman who spoke 15 languages. She was described as the most lingual woman who ever lived. Her books are very interesting.

• “The Word Brain: A Short Guide to Fast Language Learning“: This book was written by a famous person in medicine-related publications. He speaks more than six languages. His book is short and can be finished quickly. The author distributes his book free and has a website for this book.

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German hospitals known to offer Hospitation for foreign doctors

• Introduction

In this article, we collect the names and websites of hospitals known to offer Hospitation for foreign doctors. A Hospitation is a German word and means a period of training in a hospital for medical graduates or medical students. It could be for one day or up to months. All details about what a Hospitation is and how to apply for one are in the following articles:

🇩🇪 What is Hospitation? (🇺🇸 medical training/observership/clinical attachment)

🇩🇪 How to apply for a Hospitation in Germany

That being said, we write again that having connections can save you a lot of time, effort, stress, and money. If you know a doctor in Germany or were able to know one through our community of Facharzt JETZT, then this will help you quickly get a Hospitation. Read this article for more details:

🇩🇪 How to make connections through our community “Facharzt JETZT”? Get a training or even a job!

• General notes

There are more than 1900 hospitals in Germany. Not all hospitals give Hospitationen for foreign doctors.

Generally speaking, for medical students, university hospitals are welcoming. Here is a list of them:

🇩🇪 University hospitals in Germany (🇩🇪 die Unikliniken)

• Hospitals “very likely” to give Hospitation for foreign doctors

The following hospitals are known particularly to be welcoming for foreign hospitals. So, if you are a deep need of a Hospitation, send your application to them:

Name of the hospital	State	Notes
St. Anna Hospital Herne	North Rhine-Westphalia	They have simultaneously ca. 30 foreign doctors in Hospitation, mostly in orthopedics. They usually offer food and accommodation plus German courses.
Celenus Klinik für Neurologie Hilchenbach	North Rhine-Westphalia	Only Neurology. Rehabilitation hospital but very large.
St. Elisabeth Hospital Iserlohn	North Rhine-Westphalia
Evangelisches Krankenhaus Hagen-Haspe	North Rhine-Westphalia

^{Many of these hospitals have a high percentage of foreign doctors working in them. So, to learn German in such hospitals, try to stick more with the nurses. Build social networks. See more tips to learn German here.}

• Hospitals “likely” to give Hospitation for foreign doctors

Name of the hospital	State
Kliniken Ostallgäu-Kaufbeuren	Bayern
St. Vincenz-Krankenhaus \| Paderborn	North Rhine-Westphalia
Marienkrankenhaus Soest gGmbH Soest	North Rhine-Westphalia
St. Marien-Hospital Hamm GmbH	North Rhine-Westphalia
Dreifaltigkeits-Hospital GmbH Lippstadt	North Rhine-Westphalia
Johanna Etienne Krankenhaus \| Neuss	North Rhine-Westphalia
VAMED Klinik Bad Berleburg	North Rhine-Westphalia
Helios Klinikum Krefeld	North Rhine-Westphalia
GFO Kliniken Niederrhein St. Vinzenz Hospital Dinslaken	North Rhine-Westphalia
Evangelisches Krankenhaus \| Köln Kalk	North Rhine-Westphalia
St.-Johannes-Hospital Dortmund	North Rhine-Westphalia
Helios Klinik Duisburg-Homberg	North Rhine-Westphalia
Sana Kliniken Duisburg	North Rhine-Westphalia
Klinikum Dortmund	North Rhine-Westphalia
St.-Josefs-Hospital Dortmund	North Rhine-Westphalia
Brüderkrankenhaus Paderborn	North Rhine-Westphalia
Clemenshospital Münster	North Rhine-Westphalia
Klinikum Bielefeld – Mitte	North Rhine-Westphalia
Klinikum Lippe Lemgo	North Rhine-Westphalia
St. Marien-Krankenhaus in Ratingen	North Rhine-Westphalia
St. Martinus Krankenhaus Langenfeld	North Rhine-Westphalia
Marienhospital Bottrop	North Rhine-Westphalia

The list of hospitals giving Hospitation for foreign doctors needs continuous updates and is still small. Can you help your colleagues with the names of hospitals? Please write a comment below.

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. 😊

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Where to apply for approbation: Advantages & disadvantages of each German state

• Introduction about where to apply for approbation

Step number six of the 10 steps for beginning a medical residency in Germany is to apply for a German permanent medical license (die Approbation).

In this article, we try to collect and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of applying for the German permanent medical license (Approbation) in each German state. You can find links to the websites of the 16 medical license authorities in each of the 16 German states here. In this article, we put direct links to the application forms for the Approbation and the required documents.

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 on 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. 😊

Where should I apply for the Approbation? 😭😢
Hard question facing many foreign doctors wanting to come to Germany

The question: “Where should I apply for Approbation?” is a common question in all Facebook groups. We tried to make a summary of the differences between the German states. This is not an easy task because each state is different and writing about the topic depends only on what doctors post in the different groups on social networks about their experience.

Can you help us add information to the comparison tables in this article? Please write a short comment, JETZT (now) 😊

• Abbreviations used in the table “Where to apply for Approbation”

Abbreviation	Meaning
State	Name of the German state in English (🇩🇪 name in German)
General evaluation	0: Very bad –> 10: Perfect. So, the higher the score, the better is it to apply for the Approbation there.
Proof	Is a proof of intention needed to apply for approbation? ^{(In Bavaria, e. g. this is not needed)}
B2	Is a B2 certificate needed to apply? ^{(In some states, like NRW, you can send your documents after the internship year without a language certificate and still can know that you will get Gleichwertigkeit or not)}
BE	Berufserlaubnis (Temporary medical license)
FSP	Fachsprachenprüfung (The Medical Language Exam)
KP	Kenntnisprüfung (The Medical Knowledge Exam)
How hard is the exam or to get job with BE	😍: easy 😊: normal 😢: hard 😭: very hard
Processing time of documents (months)	How many months they need before they reply that you can do the FSP exam or that some documents are missing (Defizitbescheid 🇩🇪)
Time to FSP (months)	How many months do you need to wait until you can do your FSP exam

• Where to apply for approbation: Comparison tables

We need your help. Can you help us add more information to the table?

^{N.B. Because this table is large, you can see it best on a PC. But if you use a mobile phone, turn on the horizontal mode.}

	State	Evaluation	Proof	B2	Processing time	Time to FSP	FSP	KP	Job with BE
1	Baden-Württemberg (BW) (🇩🇪 same)	1	✅			many months	😍	😍	😢, somehow, half salary often
2	Bavaria (🇩🇪 Bayern)	9	❌	✅	~1	1-2	😊	😊	😊
3	Berlin (🇩🇪 same)	2					😊	😊	😭
4	Brandenburg (🇩🇪 same)	3					😊	😊	😊
5	Bremen (🇩🇪 same)	1					😊	😊	😢
6	Hamburg (🇩🇪 same)	1					😊	😍	😭
7	Hesse (🇩🇪 Hessen)	1					😊	😊	😊
8	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (🇩🇪 same)	3					😊	😊	😊
9	Lower Saxony (🇩🇪 Niedersachsen)	9					😊	😊	😊
10	North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) (🇩🇪 Nordrhein-Westfalen)	7	✅	❌	3-4	Düsseldorf: 4-5 Münster: 2-3	Düsseldorf: 😊 Münster: 😭	😭	😊
11	Rhineland-Palatinate (🇩🇪 Rheinland-Pfalz)	5	✅				Some say: 😭	😊	😭
12	Saarland (🇩🇪 same)	3					😊	😊	😭
13	Saxony (🇩🇪 Sachsen)	3					😊	😊	😊
14	Saxony-Anhalt (🇩🇪 Sachsen-Anhalt)	3					😊	😊	😊
15	Schleswig-Holstein (🇩🇪 same)	5					😊	😊	😊
16	Thuringia (🇩🇪 Thüringen)	5					😊	😊	😊

^{This table was written with help from: Dr. Nero (Thanks 😊💐)}

• Proof of intention to apply for Approbation

To apply for the Approbation, one needs a proof of intention:

🇩🇪 Applying for the Approbation: The proof of intention

We list here which proof of intention accepts each state.

	State	Nothing needed	Hospitation	Anmeldung	Standortvermerk	Zusage	Others
1	Baden-Württemberg (BW) (🇩🇪 same)					✅	“Strong” family connection
2	Bavaria (🇩🇪 Bayern)	✅💞	no need	no need	no need	no need
3	Berlin (🇩🇪 same)		✅ (or 5 refusals)	✅	✅	✅
4	Brandenburg (🇩🇪 same)					✅
5	Bremen (🇩🇪 same)					✅
6	Hamburg (🇩🇪 same)					✅
7	Hesse (🇩🇪 Hessen)					✅
8	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (🇩🇪 same)	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅
9	Lower Saxony (🇩🇪 Niedersachsen)					✅
10	North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) (🇩🇪 Nordrhein-Westfalen)		❌	✅	✅	✅
11	Rhineland-Palatinate (🇩🇪 Rheinland-Pfalz)				✅	✅
12	Saarland (🇩🇪 same)					✅
13	Saxony (🇩🇪 Sachsen)					✅
14	Saxony-Anhalt (🇩🇪 Sachsen-Anhalt)					✅
15	Schleswig-Holstein (🇩🇪 same)					✅
16	Thuringia (🇩🇪 Thüringen)	✅💞	no need	no need	no need	no need

• Where to apply for Approbation: Advantages & disadvantages of each state

	State	Advantages 😊	Disadvantages 😢
1	Baden-Württemberg (BW) (🇩🇪 same)	• Beautiful nature, warm weather • 3rd populated state (>11 million)	• Some say, a salary with BE lower than a normal salary • Living costs are relatively high
2	Bavaria (🇩🇪 Bayern)	• Good weather, nature very beautiful, hiking paradise • 2nd populated state (>13 million). Hence large number of hospitals.	• High living costs • Hard to find accommodation in large cities
3	Berlin (🇩🇪 same)		• Very hard to get accommodation and job
4	Brandenburg (🇩🇪 same)	• Good alternative for those who want to live in or near Berlin
5	Bremen (🇩🇪 same)		• Small state (around 0.5 million)
6	Hamburg (🇩🇪 same)		• Hard to get accommodation and job
7	Hesse (🇩🇪 Hessen)	• Center of Germany
8	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (🇩🇪 same)	• Some coastal cities • Weather not hot like in the south
9	Lower Saxony (🇩🇪 Niedersachsen)	• Large state & many hospitals	• Fourth populated state (>8 million) > Many hospitals, normal
10	North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) (🇩🇪 Nordrhein-Westfalen)	• Most populated state (>18 million) > largest number of hospitals • Waiting times are short	• Some wrote, if the doctor did “very bad” in the KP, then he will no longer be allowed to work with BE, but may re-take the KP • The KP & FSP in Münster are the hardest in Germany. In Düsseldorf there is a second test centrum for the FSP only & the exam there is normal.
11	Rhineland-Palatinate (🇩🇪 Rheinland-Pfalz)		• Many say it is hard to get a job there with BE
12	Saarland (🇩🇪 same)		• Small state (1 million) and few hospitals
13	Saxony (🇩🇪 Sachsen)		• Some areas are isolated in the most northern parts of Germany, but this could be an advantage if you want to live near Scandinavian countries
14	Saxony-Anhalt (🇩🇪 Sachsen-Anhalt)		• Small state and few hospitals
15	Schleswig-Holstein (🇩🇪 same)		• Some areas are isolated in the most northern parts of Germany, but this could be an advantage if you want to live near Scandinavian countries
16	Thuringia (🇩🇪 Thüringen)

^{This table was written with help from: Dr. Nero (Thanks 😊💐)}

• Further readings about where to apply for approbation

• A beautiful table from Wikipedia containing a comparison between all 16 German states: Link.

Want to learn more? Questions?
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🇩🇪 Blocked or closed bank account (das Sperrkonto)

• What is a blocked bank account (🇩🇪 das Sperrkonto)?

This is a bank account in a German bank, from which foreign doctors/students are only allowed to withdraw a maximum amount of money per month after they come to Germany. Since 01.01.2023 this amount is 934 Euro per month (11,208 Euro for a year). This sum of money increases each year/few years.

• What is the goal of having this account?

You can demonstrate that you have sufficient financial means during the visa application process by using a blocked account. In other words, the German embassies want to be sure that you would have enough money for your daily life after coming to Germany. An alternative to a blocked bank account is that a German citizen do a “Declaration of Commitment” for you (🇩🇪 eine Verpflichtungserklärung)

• Amount of money to be transferred

• How much money do you need to transfer to this bank account before coming to Germany?

Before coming to Germany, one needs to transfer fixed sum of money for each month he is planning to stay in Germany. For example, if your visa is going to last one year, then you need to pay:

	Students	Non-students
Money per month (euro)	934 euro	1,028 euro
Money per year (euro)	11,208 euro	12,336

N. B. The amount of money that needs to be transferred per month increases each year.

• Which banks offer a Sperrkonto?

Not all banks, but plenty of them.

• How can you activate the bank account after you come to Germany?

It would not be automatically activated. Therefore, you must go personally to a normal bank, open an account, and then you can add this IBAN to your closed bank account, and the money with then be translated each month.

Thanks to the admin of “Doctors Going to Germany” Mr. Teddy Kabel for help with this article

Sources:
• Website of the Federal Foreign Office (🇩🇪 das Auswärtige Amt), Link
• Sparkasse (one of the biggest banks in Germany), Link

Want to learn more? Questions?
Join JETZT (🇺🇸 now) all of our groups & ask what you like
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FAQ

Under construction 😊

We wrote for you in this article frequently asked questions by doctors in Germany going to Germany.

• About Facharzt JETZT?

What is Facharzt JETZT?

A free community for doctors in Germany, Switzerland & Austria (or going there). The online learning can also be free and fun, and We change that together.

What is the meaning of Facharzt JETZT?

This is a German term for “Specialist NOW”.

What can I learn from Facharzt JETZT?

We have >120 Facebook and Telegram* groups for EVERY residency. In addition, we have several general groups. Nobody is boss because we are all colleagues & we do not want a boring hierarchy like in the hospital.

How can we help you?

We offer various information about everything related to doctors in Germany.
Starting with education to work opportunities.
We have written articles about almost every (foreign) doctor question and information people ask about.
We have established multi ways to ask for further information through our groups on social media (here is a list of our social media groups)

Here is an article of our most important articles.

Can you help me find a job opportunity as adoctors in Germany?

Yes we can, but you have to understand how it works, we have provided you with a lot of information to start with. After learning and understanding the basics, you can communicate with us to provide you with suitable opportunities for you as a doctor in Germany.

Here is an articl to help you.

• Thinking about coming to Germany?

• What is the difference between working as a doctor and specializing in Germany and USA?

– More information is in this article in English or in Arabic.

• How much money do doctors in Germany?

– More information is in this article in English or in Arabic.

• You decided to come to Germany?

• How to apply for a German medical license?

• Visa

• What are the types of visa?

• What are the required documents for visa?

• Everything regarding job interviews and job application

• Finances

• Tips so that everything runs smoothly

🇩🇪 Partner Facebook groups of Facharzt JETZT!

• Second-largest English Facebook group for doctors going to Germany

The main group of Facharzt JETZT is the second-largest group in English on Facebook for doctors going to Germany or already working there:

🇩🇪 Doctors in Germany الأطباء العرب والأجانب في ألمانيا Ärztinnen & Ärzte Deutschland

• Our partner Facebook groups

To reach the largest possible number of members, you are welcome to post your question/content in the main group and all of our partner groups:

🇩🇪 Medical PG in Germany – Working as a Doctor in Germany

🇩🇪 Foreign Doctors in Germany – Ausländische Ärzte in Deutschland – الأطباء

🇩🇪 Doctor University

🇩🇪 Our group on Telegram: Doctors in Germany الأطباء العرب والأجانب في ألمانيا Ärztinnen & Ärzte Deutschland

N. B. So that most members understand your question, please write in our partner groups in English or German. In our main Facebook group, you can write in Arabic too.

🇩🇪 57 Facebook Groups for Doctors Going to Germany

• Facebook Groups for Doctors Going to Germany

In this article, we collected links to more than 57 English and German Facebook groups for doctors going to Germany or already working there.

In another article in the Arabic version of our website, we collected links to the Arabic groups:

🇩🇪 جروبات الفيسبوك العربية للتخصص الطبي في ألمانيا

• Second-largest English Facebook group for Doctors Going to Germany

Our group is the second-largest group in English on Facebook for Doctors Going to Germany or already working there:

🇩🇪 Doctors for Germany الأطباء العرب والأجانب في ألمانيا Ärztinnen & Ärzte Deutschland

• Our partner Facebook groups

To reach the largest possible number of members, you are welcome to post your question/content in the main group and all of our relevant partner groups:

🇩🇪 Medical PG in Germany – Working as a Doctor in Germany

🇩🇪 Foreign Doctors in Germany – Ausländische Ärzte in Deutschland – الأطباء

Group for anything related to Ukraine:

🇩🇪 Ukrainische Ärzte in Deutschland أوكرانيا Українські лікарі в Німеччині

Group for dentists:

🇩🇪 Zahnärzte in Deutschland أطباء الأسنان العرب في ألمانيا Dentists in Germany

N. B. So that most members understand your question, please write in English or German

🇩🇪 Approbation in Niedersachsen, Gutachten, Prüfung .. usw

🇩🇪 Approbation Kenntnisprüfung Gleichwertigkeit Zahnmedizin Vorbereitung

🇩🇪 Approbation für ausländische Ärzte in Baden-Württemberg

🇩🇪 Approbation – FSP, KP, Fachsprachprüfung, Kenntnisprüfung

🇩🇪 Approbation, FSP, KP für internationale Ärzte in Bayern

🇩🇪 Approbation, FSP, KP für internationale Ärzte in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

🇩🇪 Approbation für Ärzte in Bayern

🇩🇪 Approbation/FSP in Brandenburg für ausländische Ärzte

🇩🇪 Approbation für Anfänger

🇩🇪 Approbation Vorbereitung

🇩🇪 Approbation für ausländische Ärzte in nordrhein-westfalen

🇩🇪 Approbation für ausländische Ärzte in Bayern

🇩🇪 Ärztliche Approbation in Deutschland

🇩🇪 Kenntnisprüfung, Approbation in Hessen, alle Bundesländer

🇩🇪 Approbation (Kenntnisprüfung) und Fachsprachprüfung für ausländische Ärzte

🇩🇪 Approbation für ausländische Ärzte in Baden-Württemberg

🇩🇪 Approbation für Ausländische Ärzte in Mainz

🇩🇪 Approbation (Kenntnisprüfung) und Fachsprachprüfung für ausländische Ärzte

🇩🇪 Approbation für ausländische Ärzte in Deutschland

🇩🇪 Fachsprachprüfung SACHSEN ( DRESDEN )

🇩🇪 Fachsprachprüfung Niedersachsen

🇩🇪 Fachsprachprüfung Dokumentation

🇩🇪 Fachsprachprüfung Münster

🇩🇪 Fachsprachprüfung

🇩🇪 Fachsprachprüfung in Deutschland

🇩🇪 Fachsprachprüfung für Ägypter

🇩🇪 Berlin FSP & Kenntnisprüfung

🇩🇪 Diagnose Deutsch – Vorbereitung auf die Fachsprachprüfung FSP

🇩🇪 Fachsprachprüfung Sachsen-Anhalt

🇩🇪 Medizinische Fachsprachprüfung (FSP) // Approbation auf Deutsch

🇩🇪 Deutsch für Ärzte

🇩🇪 ექიმები გერმანიაში / Ärztinnen und Ärzte in Deutschland

🇩🇪 We have a Facebook and Telegram group for “each” medical specialty in Germany (really 😅): List

🇩🇪 Facharztprüfung Innere Medizin

🇩🇪 أطباء الأختصاص في ألمانيا Facharztprüfung in Deutschland

• According to nationality

🇩🇪 marokkanische Ärzte In Deutschland الاطباء المغاربة بألمانيا

🇩🇪 Greek Doctors in Munich and suburbs ( Bayern, Germany )

🇩🇪 Syrische und arabische Ärzte in Schleswig-Holstein

🇩🇪 Pakistani Doctors in Germany

🇩🇪 Osteuropäische Ärzte in Deutschland

🇩🇪 Syrische und arabische Ärzte in Schleswig-Holstein

🇩🇪 الأطباء السوريون في هامبورغ Die syrischen Ärzte in Hamburg

🇩🇪 Armenische Ärzte und Medizinstudenten in Deutschland

🇩🇪 Rumänische Ärzte in Deutschland

🇩🇪 Médecins tunisiens en Allemagne __ tunesische Ärzte in Deutschland

• Other Facebook groups

🇩🇪 Doctors & Germany

🇩🇪 Doctors In Germany – Guides / Help / Resources, and MORE!

🇩🇪 Ausländische Ärzte In Deutschland

🇩🇪 Approbierte Ärzte – Deutschland

🇩🇪 Ausländische Ärzte in Deutschland

🇩🇪 Ärztestellen Deutschland, Stellenangebote für Assistenzärzte und Fachärzte

🇩🇪 Ausländische Ärzte für Deutschland

🇩🇪 AiW-Deutschland (Arzt in Weiterbildung)

🇩🇪 International nurses and doctors for Germany

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🇩🇪 Tips on how to learn German for doctors & medical specialties

• Introduction

Learning German could be an easy task, and we are going to show you in this article how to make it easy and above all more efficient.

If you followed the tips of our article, we think that you will be able to quickly improve your German. 🥳

💡 Before you start learning/studying, whether the German language or for any exam in the world, ask yourself how you should learn and what
Facharzt JETZT!

• General tips on how to learn German

• Learn how to learn

Before you learn any language in the world, we advise you to read about the topic of how to learn a new language, especially the German language. This will save you a lot of time and you can use effective methods in learning German. For example, you can search YouTube for videos titled: “How I learned German quickly,” “Tips to learn German quickly,” or “How to learn a new language quickly.”

These are ones of the most seen videos on YouTube with millions of views:

… post will be updated

Complete article is in Arabic:

نصائح لتعلم اللغة الألمانية: للأطباء والتخصصات الطبية

Rumour: Germany has no jobs for doctors any longer

Rumour: German has no jobs for doctors any longer

• Introduction jobs for doctors

Are there jobs for doctors, I graduated from medical school in June 2013 and am a neuroscientist. In the first month, I discovered the possibilities of a medical speciality in Germany. There weren’t many Jordanian or foreign doctors in Germany at the time.

In many various formats. questions like this one have always been common in 2013. as they have been in all previous years: “The doctors cannot find jobs there”. “They say that Germany wants to shut down”, “Germany has no shortage”, etc.

Naturally, many of my colleagues chose not to travel to Germany after reading these rumors.

• The shortage still exists, and it’s also enormous

The serious shortage of doctors in the majority of hospitals in Germany is confirmed by those who are now employed there. Let’s use statistics and numbers instead, though.

The German Central Medical Association reported that 59,833 foreign physicians practised in Germany in 2022. By comparison, there were 31,236 doctors in 2013, an increase of 191.6%.

The fact that the majority of doctors in 6 to 7 years will gain German citizenship, making them deemed German nationals and excluded from these figures. means that these numbers of foreign doctors are naturally lower than the actual numbers. Additionally, at least 10% of German medical school graduates are foreigners who become citizens of Germany within a year or two.

An article about how to find a job and apply intelligently: Doctors in Germany: Find job offers & apply intelligently

• Reason for pessimism about finding jobs for doctors

Dr. Mohammed Ziad Al-Saudi, one of my colleagues has frequently remarked that “Only persons who have problems with their tests or residency broadcast such information and moan about the impossibility of starting work in Germany”. People who have passed the examinations naturally don’t enter the groups to talk about their achievements, but instead, they begin learning about medical specialities, working rotations, earning money, purchasing luxury cars, and getting married. Online support groups are available to assist those who need them.

• The shortage of doctors continues for the following reasons:

• German labour laws

have recently restricted the maximum weekly hours that residents are permitted to work (about 50–55 hours) and the number of rotations per month (more than 4–5 rotations, with two weekends being rotation-free). Of course, that is a fairly small amount of effort in comparison to many other nations. Therefore, hospitals will require more residents.

German doctors used to work up to 36 hours straight about 20 years ago. In fact, certain nations around the world currently have these hours in place. Even in America, with roughly the same pay, the number of resident hours is more than in Germany.

An actual illustration: While you would work the same amount of hours in Germany and earn over 5,600 euros, your pay as a doctor would be closer to 900 euros in Jordan for the same jobs. Click here.
My colleague was a neurosurgeon in Jordan. The number of hours he worked per month in Jordan was more than 285 hours (I do not remember exactly). We calculated his salary if he worked the same number of hours in Germany. and the answer was more than 5,600 Euros (more than 6 times the salary). In addition, of course, he will also receive €250 net per month for each child.

Germany’s huge population has increased in recent years due to the large number of refugees who have entered the country. There is still a massive influx of refugees into Germany.

• The number of medical colleges and graduates in Germany has increased very little

The cost to the government of teaching medicine in Germany is very high. and so far the government seems to be opting for the cheapest solution of receiving ‘ready’ doctors from abroad rather than teaching doctors in Germany to fill jobs for doctors.

• Work-life balance

The new generation of doctors in Germany. and even after a few years the foreign doctors themselves. want to work a few hours. not do a rotation, and study a little. Therefore, there is a large proportion of doctors who work part-time because the majority do not want to work more rotations than the number of hours officially required of them. Female doctors in Germany can also take two years off work to have a baby. Of course, the salary is paid at 60%.

• Then you have no reason to be pessimistic about finding jobs for doctors

Graduates from countries such as India, China, or, unfortunately, some Arab countries such as Syria and Egypt, are often or all (in the case of some countries) forced to take a medical knowledge test and therefore their route is at least one year longer.
Almost all graduates from countries such as Jordan receive the equivalent of their diploma. As a result, the Jordanian graduate has to retain this knowledge and his route is easier than that of graduates from other nations.

🇩🇪 24/7 Guardians: Unveiling the working times of doctors in German hospitals

• Introduction

In this article, we are going to explain the working times of doctors in German hospitals.

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. 😊

• Working times of doctors in German hospitals

The working times vary a little from one specialty to another and from one hospital to another. But the differences are easy to explain.

• Regular working hours

They are 40 hours per week in the more than 1900 hospitals in Germany. These 40 hours are divided into 8 hours per day from Monday to Friday. On Saturdays and Sundays, there are only one or two doctors each day doing the shifts.

In University hospitals the regular working hours are “officially” 42 hours per week, but unofficially, they could reach 80 hours (including the night shifts). Most of these extra hours are usually not paid or taken as free time.

• Starting and ending times of the regular working hours

Generally, surgical specialties start to work early. We can say around 06:30 to 07:30 AM. Most other specialties would start working between 07:30 and 08:00 AM. By law, there should be a 30- to 45-minute unpaid rest time (🇩🇪 die Pause) in the middle. The regular working hours are 8 hours, so, surgical specialties would be able to go home around 03:00 to 04:00 PM. Most other specialties around 04:30 PM.

💡 It is common that residents in surgical specialties stay working for longer hours. Around 1 to 3 hours extra per day. In University hospitals, some stay until 8 or 9 PM. So, do not be so sad if you did not get a residency position in the University Hospital of Heidelberg!!!

• Night shifts

Small- and medium-sized hospitals have a system in which each resident needs to do around 3–4 times per month night shift during the week. Many start working regularly on that day (in some hospitals, you start working around 1–3 hours later). You do your normal ward work and then after about 4 PM, you start your night shift, until the next day.

In large hospitals, they have night shift systems. So, you might work for 4 or 5 nights in a row, starting from 8 pm and ending at 8 am the next day. Then you will have 3 to 4 days without work. This working system generates less money than the above system because residents end up working around 160 hours a month. Doing extra night shifts generates more money. We explained how the paying is in this article:

🇩🇪 How much money do doctors earn in German hospitals? 🫰💸💶

• Shifts on the weekend

Working laws allow doctors now to maximally work two weekends per month. In small- and medium-sized hospitals, many work 24 hours. This is a very well-paid shift, and you are then often required only to do one such shift per month. Other doctors say that they cannot work 24 hours and prefer to do two times 12 hours at two weekends. Others did 2 or 3 shifts for 24 hours per month on the weekend (like me!)

• Three shifts model

In large hospitals and large departments, there are sometimes three shifts in the intensive care unit, Stroke Unit or Emergency department. This means that some doctors might start working at 8 AM, others 8 hours later at 4 PM and others around 10 PM.

Sometimes, there is a “middle shift”, like in the Stroke Units. One doctor starts at 8 AM, another around 12 AM, and the last one at 4 PM. The doctors who started at 8 AM goes home at 04:30 PM and the one who started at 12 AM goes home at 08:30 PM. The one who started at 4 PM remains until the next day (his shift is then around 16 hours).

• On-call duty (🇩🇪 die Rufbereitschaft)

This is usually for specialties like Urology, ENT, Ophthalmology, and Dermatology in small- and medium-sized hospitals. The doctor who has the shift does not remain in the hospital and can go to his home, but he is expected in emergency cases to come back to the hospital.

• Which working models are the best?

It depends on your goal:

Earn a lot of money extra to your monthly salary BUT have less free time	Earn little extra money BUT Have more free time for your hobbies, family, research, etc
Then the normal system with 24-hour shifts and shifts on the weekends. In this system, many residents work on average around 40 hours extra. This generates a net extra income of around 100–1400 euros per month.	Then the three-shift system and the night-shift system cause you to work around 160 hours per month (equal to the regular working hours). So, you have more free time BUT less extra money to your salary. The extra pay is for the night shifts (around 200 to 300 euros per month as net salary)

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🇩🇪 Banks for closed bank accounts and steps to register in them

• Introduction

In this article, we will talk about two banks that are most commonly used by doctors for opening a closed bank account as part of the visa requirements to come to Germany.

• Which banks could be used?

The two banks are: Fintiba Bank and Expatrio Bank.

• What is the difference between the two banks?

Briefly, the only difference between the two banks is the ease of registration procedures. Fintiba Bank requests proof of the source of the funds, from where the funds came from are personal savings or the price of a property the person or his/her relatives sold in order to secure the amount etc.

Expatrio Bank according to many experiences is easier and smooth to deal with, it does not request any of these documents.

• How to register with one of the two banks and open a closed bank account?

You can register through the websites of the banks. They will tell you what the required documents are. There are many videos on YouTube explaining that.

• How much does opening the account cost?

It costs around 280 Euro.

• What should I do after the registration?

After these steps, the bank provides you with an IBAN number (account number). You can then transfer the money required by the embassy to this account. Please be careful when writing the IBAN number.

After you transfer the full amount of money, you receive after several days a confirmation that the amount was received and deposited in the closed bank account.

You can check the money in your account through the bank’s application or through its website.

• How can you activate the bank account arriving in Germany?

To be able to activate the bank account, you need a residence registration and a normal bank account. Here is an explanation of what residence registration is, how to do it:

🇩🇪 Residence registration (🇩🇪 die Anmeldung)

• Opening a normal bank account

You can then open a bank account in a normal bank in Germany. For example, Deutsche Bank, Sparkassse, etc.

After opening this bank account, you get of course an IBAN number too. You then use this number in the bank app to let them each month transfer the monthly allowed money to it.

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🇩🇪 Medical societies in Germany

There are more than 40 medical specialties in Germany. A list of them and the duration of their residency periods is explained here:

🇩🇪 Durations of the residency programs in Germany (🇩🇪 die Dauer der Facharztausbildung)

For almost every medical specialty in Germany there is a society. Examples:

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurologie (DGN)	German Neurology Society
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kardiologie (DGK)	German Society of Cardiology (DGK)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Angiologie – Gesellschaft für Gefäßmedizin (DGA)	German Society for Angiology – Society for Vascular Medicine (DGA)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allgemeinmedizin und Familienmedizin e. V. (DEGAM)	German Society for General Medicine and Family Medicine e. V. (DEGAM)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Innere Medizin (DGIM)	German Society for Internal Medicine (DGIM)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nephrologie (DGfN)	German Society for Nephrology (DGfN)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gerontologie und Geriatrie e. V. (DGGG)	German Society for Gerontology and Geriatrics e. V. (DGGG)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geriatrie (DGG)	German Society for Geriatrics (DGG)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Klinische Chemie und Laboratoriumsmedizin (DGKL)	German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (DGKL)

Moreover, there are societies related to ceratin diseases/topics. Examples:

Deutsche Hochdruckliga e. V.	German Hypertension League e. V
Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Bekämpfung von Fettstoffwechselstörungen und ihren Folgeerkrankungen DGFF (Lipid-Liga) e. V.	German Society for Combating Disorders of Lipid Metabolism and Their Complications DGFF (Lipid-League) e. V
Deutsche Schlaganfall Gesellschaft	German Stroke Society

If you google the name of any society, you will find its website.

Functions of the societies

(1) Holding medical events related to that specialty. For example, a yearly large congress as well as many small events.

(2) Publishing guidelines related to topics in this specialty. For example, the German Cardiology society publishes guidelines related to acute coronary syndrome, atrial fibrillation, CPR, etc. These guidelines are usually interdisciplinary and involve many societies from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. For example, the following societies took part in the 2021 guideline about the acute therapy of ischemic stroke:

^{_{Source: Website of the German Neurology Society}}

(3) Publishing one or many journals

(4) Holding events to encourage young doctors to choose the specialty. Examples are short courses in hospitals and tours in them (sometimes in many hospitals over a few days)

(5) In their websites they publish job offers, courses (paid or for free) and news related to the specialty

• Cost of the membership

It costs money. However, for residents it is cheaper than for specialists. For students, it is for free (but they do not have access to all the services/benefits).

Members get reductions in the fees for conferences of the society and could get journals for free.

Even if it costs money, you can make this sum of money less by doing a tax declaration (🇩🇪 eine Steuererklärung). We explained it here: “🇩🇪 Tax declaration (🇩🇪 eine Steuererklärung)”

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🇩🇪 Find German hospitals and their websites

• Introduction

Whether you are applying for medical training (🇩🇪 die Hospitation) or a job, you need to find German hospitals and their websites in a particular area in Germany. In this article, we explain how.

How to apply for medical training or a job is explained in the following articles:

https://facharztjetzt.de/hospitation-2/

🇩🇪 Doctors in Germany: Find job offers & apply intelligently

• Websites that contain German hospitals and their websites

Through the following links you can find German hospitals based on region, postal code, specialty, etc.:

– Das Deutsche Krankenhaus Verzeichnis: We explained how to use this website in this article (including a YouTube video)

– Krankenhaus.de

– Kliniken.de

– Weisse Liste

– Doctopia: This website has an interactive map showing all hospitals in the region you choose in Germany. You can simply zoom in and zoom out to see the names of the hospitals.

• Wikipedia Lists

– List in Wikipedia of all university hospitals (🇩🇪 die Uniklinik/Plural: Die Unikliniken) in Germany (38 in total) and a little explanation about them: Link

– List in Wikipedia of the German teaching hospitals (🇩🇪 das Lehrkrankenhaus/Plural: die Lehrkrankenhäuser): Link

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🇩🇪 Immunization against measles (die Masern)

_{Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) Vaccination
^{Source: Whispyhistory, MMR vaccine, CC BY-SA 4.0}}

• Everyone should have it

Since a few years, there is in Germany a requirement that all workers in the health sector should be immunized against measles (🇩🇪 die Masern – plural). Of course, it is not enough that you “swear” that you have an immunization against measles (🇩🇪 die Masern).🤣

There are no exceptions. Even if you are a Facebook friend of the German chancellor Olaf Scholz, you may not work without it! Therefore, this document is one of the documents doctors need before starting a job (all docuemnts here) or a medical training (🇩🇪 die Hospitation).

• Types of proof of the immunization against measles (die Masern)

Immunization certificate/passport/card (🇩🇪 der Impfass)
_{^{Source: Superikonoskop, Impfpass mit COVID 19 Impfungen, CC BY-SA 4.0}}

You simply need an immunization certificate/passport/card (🇩🇪 der Impfass). In it, it is mentioned if you got a vaccine against it. This is enough to prove that you have an immunization against measles (die Masern). Nonetheless, some countries of the world do not have such a thing. Moreover, in many cases, foreign doctors coming to Germany do not bring the immunization certificate with them. Even if they did, the question is if it would be recognized; even after translation (🇩🇪 die Übersetzung) and authentication (🇩🇪 die Beglaubigung).

• Easy and cheap alternative to prove the immunization against measles

Do not be afraid. There is an easy alternative. In a small blood examination can a family doctor in Germany (🇩🇪 der Hausarzt) prove that you have antibodies against meales. You need to do this blood test once in life because the immunity is lifelong. In some cases, the medical office (🇩🇪 der Betriebsarzt) in the hospital where you will have your first working position in Germany can do this test for you for free. Going to the 🇩🇪 Betriebsarzt is a thing one does in each hospital he starts working in.

If you do not have a health insurance that covers doctors visits, you can simply call the labs in your city and ask if you can directly come to them and do the test. The test will be cheaper in this case.

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