Medical Post-graduation (Specialist recognition) recognition in Germany

Specialist recognition for foreign medical postgraduates – competent authorities

(In this post word ‘specialist’ – is used for the postgraduates of different medical fields, who have already completed their specialization training.

Weiterbildung/Further education – means an education process to become a postgraduate from medical graduate)

The regional medical associations  (Landesärztekammern) are responsible for the recognition of foreign specialist qualifications. In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and in Rhineland-Palatinate (RLP), the regional medical associations have distributed this task to various regional chambers  (verschiedene regionale Kammern) within the area. For applicants, this requires that they know which regional chamber is responsible for their place of residence – in case of doubt, this must first be asked at the chambers.

Application forms can almost always be found in the section ”Weiterbildung” (“Further education”) of the websites of the respective chambers. To find the application form, it is helpful to know the sometimes different application names/notation. For example, applications sometimes carry the title „Antrag auf Anerkennung einer Facharzt-Weiter- bildung“ (“Application for Recognition of Specialist Training”), another area calls it ”Antrag auf Anerkennung einer Gebietsbezeichnung“ (“Application for Recognition of Area Designation”), and still others speak only of „Bezeichnungen“ or „Gebieten“. (“designations” or “areas”)

All chambers hold the respectively valid continuing education regulations  (Weiterbildungsordnungen WBO) ready for download, which contain in particular in §§ 18 and 19 information on the recognition of continuing education from abroad. For the recognition of completion/degree of EU nationals or members of the EEA and Switzerland, a distinction must be made as to whether a completed specialist diploma should be recognized or activities abroad are to be credited with Weiterbildung (further education). If the respective specialist diploma is listed in Annex V of EU Directive 2005/36 / EC, then the recognition can be done easily. Applicants from third countries or specialist diplomas from third countries – including most late repatriates (Spätaussiedlerinnen und Spätaussiedler) – may: i. d. At best, recognition of equivalence is required for some of the qualifications and, according to WBO as a rule, you must complete a 15-month further education course (Weiterbildung) in the recognized subject in Germany as well as the final specialist examination.

To apply for specialist recognition for foreign and to find contacts of the regional medical associations  (Landesärztekammern) Click here

— taken and translated from ”Antragstellung’‘; ”Anerkennung und Berufszugang für Ärzte und Fachärzte mit ausländischen Qualifikationen in Deutschland” by Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF)

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