On 19 October Germany’s Bundesrat gave the green light to a regulation designed to slash processing times for recognising foreign professional qualifications in the health sector. The by-law fleshes out July’s Accelerated Recognition Act and will enter into force largely on 1 November 2026. Under the new rules, medical councils and state authorities must offer end-to-end digital application procedures, publish uniform document check-lists nationwide and issue provisional licensing decisions within three months. Knowledge examinations for doctors, pharmacists and dentists are being modernised and will be scheduled at least four times a year; candidates who ultimately fail must be reported to immigration authorities. For hospitals and care providers the regulation is a potential game-changer. Germany needs an estimated 35 000 additional doctors and 50 000 nurses by 2030; overseas recruitment has been hampered by recognition timelines that often stretch beyond 18 months. The Health Ministry expects the average to fall below eight months once IT systems and training for examiners are in place. Notably, the order scraps the €1 134 monthly cap on remuneration for final-year medical interns, a move aimed at making Germany more competitive with Austria and Scandinavia. It also clarifies that the visa-exempt “adaptation period” may be completed part-time, giving employers flexibility to combine language courses with supervised practice. Talent managers should revisit relocation timelines for internationally-hired clinicians and budget for faster onboarding. The obligation to notify authorities after a definitive exam failure underscores the need for robust progress-tracking mechanisms to avoid inadvertent overstays.
Source: Pharma Deutschland
