Practising Medicine at Home After a European Degree: Recognition in India, Nigeria and the Gulf 2026

What does licensing at home actually involve after a European medical degree?

Four moves, in roughly the same order in every country: your certificates are verified with the institution that issued them, your qualification is measured against the local standard, you sit an examination or assessment, and your name enters a register. The degree opens that file. It does not close it.

The order is the part students underestimate. Verification and evaluation both run on documents that only your faculty can issue, and faculties are far more responsive to a student who is still enrolled than to a graduate writing from another continent three years later. Medschool Experts places students into European medical and dental faculties, and the most common request that comes back after graduation is help obtaining a paper the university would have handed over on the spot during the course.

One detail sets the tone. The people behind Medschool Experts went through this themselves: Marcel Kloos studied dentistry in Sofia from 2015 to 2021 and is a Swiss-licensed dentist based in Bern.

What does the National Medical Commission require from an Indian student who studied medicine in Europe?

Five published conditions. The course must run at least fifty-four months, an internship of at least twelve months must be completed at the same foreign medical institution, the degree must be taught with English as the medium of instruction, the graduate must be registered to practise in the country where the degree was awarded on the same terms as its own citizens, and a supervised internship of at least twelve months follows in India.

Those conditions come from the Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations of 2021, reproduced in the Government of India advisory for students intending to pursue medical education abroad. The wording on registration is worth reading twice: the National Medical Commission asks for registration at par with the licence granted to citizens of that country. A European faculty that graduates you but cannot place you on the national register of the country it sits in leaves that box empty.

The twelve-month internship condition is the one that catches people. It must be at the same foreign medical institution, not a different hospital in a different country, and not a shortened rotation. If a faculty offers a six-year programme with an integrated final clinical year, the question to put to the dean's office in year one is how that year is certified: as internship, or as coursework.

The Indian internship comes after. The National Medical Commission requires a supervised internship of at least twelve months in India, applied for through the Commission, on top of whatever was completed abroad.

Which examination does India use, and who conducts it?

The screening test, run by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences. On its own examination page the Board describes the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination as the Screening Test for Foreign Medical Graduates, introduced through the Screening Test Regulations, 2002. The National Medical Commission states that every Indian citizen and Overseas Citizen of India holding a primary medical qualification from outside India has to qualify it.

Two documents gate entry to the examination. The Board admits only candidates who hold both the Eligibility Certificate, where applicable, and the provisional pass certificate or degree certificate for the primary medical qualification. For students admitted abroad after May 2018, the National Medical Commission treats a qualifying result in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test as the Eligibility Certificate, which means the certificate needed at the end of a six-year degree was generated before you left.

After a pass, the Board issues a Screening Test Pass Certificate following in-person verification of biometric or Face ID and validation of documents, and sends results to the National Medical Commission and the State Medical Councils.

A transition is under way here. The National Medical Commission Act of 2019 provides for a National Exit Test, and commentary about its rollout has circulated for several years. As of September 2026 the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences still presents the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination as the operative screening test on its own examination pages, and that is the safe assumption to plan around until the Commission notifies otherwise. Check the date on anything you read about this.

How does the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria assess a foreign-trained graduate?

With a two-part assessment examination, held twice a year, followed by induction. The Council's 2026 notice sets a computer-based test of multiple-choice questions alongside clinical examinations made up of long and short cases or an objective structured clinical examination. Dental candidates sit additional practical papers in restorative dentistry, oral surgery and paediatric dentistry.

Eligibility is defined by where you trained. The Council accepts graduates of institutions listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools, and also Nigeria-trained doctors who did not complete internship within twenty-four months of graduation. Applicants must show they are currently eligible to practise in the country where they trained, with a valid practising licence and a Certificate of Good Standing. Graduates whose training was conducted in a language other than English sit an additional English language paper.

Source: Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, assessment examination notices for foreign-trained medical and dental graduates, 2026.

Note the rhythm: a June sitting leads to a July induction, an October sitting to a November one. The Council holds the ceremony at its own auditorium in Abuja, so travel planning belongs in the calendar as soon as a sitting is booked.

What do the Gulf regulators ask for in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Qatar?

All three begin with verification at source and end with an examination, but they set the entry bar in different places. Saudi Arabia classifies you before it registers you. Dubai licenses against a published qualification table. Qatar asks for years of practice before it will schedule the qualifying examination at all.

The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties requires official qualification documents carrying the date of issuance, the date of graduation, the title of the certificate and the specialisation. Credentials obtained outside the Kingdom must be authenticated by a verification company approved by the Commission. The Commission also asks for a valid professional registration certificate issued by the relevant official authority, an employment identification letter issued within three months, and an experience letter, stating that experience must not be below one year for non-Saudis, with graduates of Saudi universities excepted.

Dubai's route runs through the Dubai Health Authority's Sheryan system. Version 1.3 of its Manual for Licensing Healthcare Professionals, issued 18 July 2025, sets out the sequence: create a Sheryan account and complete the self-assessment tool, meet the qualification requirements, obtain a positive Primary Source Verification result, pass the assessment as a computer-based test or oral examination, then receive a Professional Registration Certificate which an employing facility activates. Activation runs for one, two or three years.

The qualification bar for a general practitioner in the United Arab Emirates sits in the Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements, third version, 2022: an MBBS, MBChB or equivalent from an accredited institution, successful completion of the internship programme, and two years of clinical experience. The manual is specific about what counts, defining experience as hands-on clinical work gained by a licensed healthcare professional during salaried employment or a contractual period, and excluding volunteer jobs, observership and clinical attachment.

Qatar sets the highest entry bar of the three for a general practitioner. The Guidelines for Physicians published by its Department of Healthcare Professions require a minimum six-year undergraduate degree, an MBChB, MBBS, MBBCh, a Northern American MD or equivalent, and state that the internship programme can be counted towards the required undergraduate years where the medical college programme runs less than six years. Overseas applicants need five years of clinical experience, and pass the qualifying examination after completing not less than five years of experience.

Source: each regulator's own published requirements, as listed, retrieved September 2026.

The examinations are published in useful detail. The Saudi Medical Licensure Examination, as described in the Commission's examination guide, runs 200 multiple-choice questions split into two sections of 100 plus ten questions, with 120 minutes for each part, weighted Medicine 30 per cent, Obstetrics and Gynaecology 25 per cent, Paediatrics 25 per cent and Surgery 20 per cent. The pass score is 560 on a reporting scale of 200 to 800, approved in June 2017, and results are announced within two to six weeks of the end of a test window. Candidates may sit it during the internship year or the final year of medical school, which is worth knowing early.

Qatar publishes its numbers just as openly. The Department of Healthcare Professions states that its qualifying examinations run 150 multiple-choice questions over three hours, with a pass mark of 60 per cent for general practitioners, dentists and pharmacists, 65 per cent for specialty physicians and dentists, and 50 per cent for allied health professionals. Applicants may sit the qualifying examination five consecutive times whatever the gap between attempts. The Department also lists certificates that exempt the holder, among them USMLE Step 2, PLAB Part 1, MCCQE Part 1, the AMC MCQ, IFOM CSE and MRCGP Part 1 AKT.

Which documents do all of these regulators want from the same university office?

A short list, and it is remarkably consistent. Every one of the five bodies above wants a degree certificate carrying dates, evidence of course duration, an internship record, and confirmation that the country where you studied would license you. Three of the five insist that these be verified directly with the issuing institution rather than accepted as copies.

That verification step has a formal name in each system. The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties calls for authentication by an approved verification company. The Dubai Health Authority requires a positive Primary Source Verification result before it schedules an assessment. Qatar's Department of Healthcare Professions asks for a primary source verification report in the application file. In practice the verification agency writes to your faculty and waits for a reply, so a faculty that knows you, holds your file in order and answers letters is worth more at that moment than any certificate in your drawer.

What should you be collecting in each year of the course?

Start in the first semester and the file builds itself. The documents that matter most are the boring ones: an official letter stating course length in months, a transcript for each year, and written confirmation of the medium of instruction. Ask once a year. File everything twice, and graduation becomes an administrative formality rather than a scramble.

A few notes on the individual items. The course duration letter should state months rather than years, because the National Medical Commission's condition is written in months, fifty-four of them. The medium of instruction letter costs nothing while you are enrolled and is awkward to obtain later. The rotation log matters in Nigeria and in the Gulf, where clinical content is read closely.

Keep the passport pages too. The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria asks candidates to upload passport identification pages along with academic qualifications, degree certificates, photographs, a birth certificate and a current practising licence, and its notices specify passport pages showing visa and travel stamps. Those stamps are the proof that you were physically present for the course. Nobody keeps expired passports on purpose. Start keeping yours.

One more, and it is the item most often missing: the letter confirming that the graduate is eligible for registration as a medical practitioner in the country where the degree was awarded. India requires registration at par with citizens. Nigeria requires a current practising licence and a Certificate of Good Standing. Ask your faculty in year one what that letter looks like and who signs it.

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What does the return file cost, in one worked example?

Take a Nigerian graduate of a European six-year medical programme sitting the October 2026 assessment examination. The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria sets the application fee at 250,000 naira for Nigerian candidates, non-refundable and non-transferable, with applications closing on 9 October 2026 for the sitting on 28 and 29 October in Kano. A non-Nigerian candidate pays 400,000 naira. A dental candidate adds 50,000 naira for materials.

Those are the regulator's published figures, and they are the only part of the bill that is fixed. Travel to Kano and accommodation for two examination days sit on top, as does travel to Abuja for the induction ceremony in November. The Certificate of Good Standing comes from the regulator in the country where you trained, and its fee is set there.

The Gulf and Indian routes publish their requirements openly, though not always their fees in one place. Verification through an approved company, examination registration, and registration or classification each carry a charge set by the regulator or its verification partner and revised periodically. Rather than repeat a number that may have changed, check the fee schedule on the regulator's own site in the month you apply, and budget for the fact that Qatar permits five consecutive attempts at the qualifying examination, each with its own registration.

What do other guides leave unanswered?

Three questions, usually. What happens if the course is shorter than the rule. Whether the internship has to be at the same place. And whether internship counts as experience.

On course length, the National Medical Commission sets a minimum of fifty-four months, while Qatar's Department of Healthcare Professions asks for a minimum six-year undergraduate degree and allows the internship programme to be counted towards the required undergraduate years where the medical college programme runs less than six years. Those two rules read differently and were written by different bodies, so a programme that satisfies one does not automatically satisfy the other. That is a question about your specific programme and your specific target country, and it deserves a free individual consultation rather than a guess.

On the internship, the Indian regulation is explicit that the twelve months must be at the same foreign medical institution. It is the phrase to quote when you ask your faculty how the final year is certified.

On experience, the two Gulf systems diverge in a way that moves timelines by years. The Dubai Health Authority's manual excludes internship from countable experience, and the Unified qualification requirements set a general practitioner at internship plus two years of clinical experience. Qatar's Work Experience Policy, code QCHP/RD/RQ, treats internship by profession: a one-year dental internship after five years of study can be counted within the experience requirement, part-time experience counts in the same way as full-time, and overlapping posts are not counted as separate experience. For a graduate aiming at Doha as a general practitioner, five years of clinical experience is the gate, and the qualifying examination comes after it.

A fourth question, rarely asked: what happens if you pass an assessment and then do not use it. The Dubai Health Authority exempts applicants who passed its assessment for the same title within five years of obtaining registration, provided there is no gap in practice. A pass has a shelf life.

Where does Medschool Experts fit into this?

At the front end, mostly. Medschool Experts places students into European medical and dental faculties, and the advice that pays off most is given in year one: ask the faculty for the duration letter, the medium of instruction confirmation and a clear answer about how the final year is certified, then store all three somewhere that survives four house moves.

Marina, who wrote this, works in visa and immigration law, has lived in both Dubai and India, and is now based in Belgrade, which is to say the document side of moving between jurisdictions is the day job rather than a sideline. You can read how other students planned their route in student stories, see the faculties we work with on the universities page, or look at what is included in our services.