Licensing — United Arab Emirates

One table. Three licences.

The Department of Health Abu Dhabi, the Dubai Health Authority and the Ministry of Health and Prevention judge qualifications against a single unified framework. Each still issues its own licence with its own renewal cycle, but a file that satisfies the requirements in one emirate is normally acceptable in another.

Tier 1

Tier 1 is the highest category of recognised specialty certificate. It includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand. Tier 1 holders face no examination.

Thresholds
  • Specialist, Tier 1 qualification: no experience required after the main or sub-specialty qualification.
  • Consultant, Tier 1 qualification: two years after the main specialty, one year after a sub-specialty.
  • Consultant, Tier 2 qualification: five years after the main specialty for non-nationals.
  • Consultant, Tier 3 qualification: not available.
Country conditions worth knowing

Germany is listed as the specialty certificate with Oberarzt title; for non-nationals both are required. Austria is listed as the Facharztdiplom plus specialist registration, with no seniority clause — which occasionally makes the Austrian route the cleaner one for a physician who holds both.

Renewal

Forty CME or CPD hours a year. Surgical specialties additionally submit an operative logbook every two years. Keep your case numbers as you go; reconstructing them later is painful and credentialing will ask for them long before renewal does.

Requirements change. We check the current published framework for each file rather than relying on what was true last year.

Discuss a physician search.

Tell us the specialty, the licence class and the date the post has to be covered. We will tell you in the first week whether the market supports it.

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