According to the Health Services Organisation Act, the Health Board shall compare the qualifications of a person applying for registration with the qualifications required in Estonia, shall verify the correctness of information submitted in the documents certifying the qualifications within three months after the submission of documents, and make a registration decision within one month after the person applying for registration has passed the compliance examination.
All doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives, whose education has been acquired outside the European Union, European Economy Area or Switzerland, have to take a compliance examination to get registered. A compliance examination shall be organised by the University of Tartu or health care college and it is comprised of work practice and theory examination. A compliance examination shall be taken in Estonian.
To pass the examination you will first need an assesment of your qualifications from Health Board. This means that you should do thing in the following order:
1. Turn to the Estonian ENIC/NARIC Centre and get an evaluation of your educational credentials; Health Board needs the document the centre issues. If they send you a digitally signed document on your e-mail address then please do not print the file – forward it to [email protected].
2. Issue all the needed documents in their correct form to Health Board. You will either get a resolution stating that your education meets the requirements and you are eligible to take a compliance examination or that your education does not meet the requirements and you cannot be registered on your profession and/or speciality in Estonia.
3. If you get a decision stating that your education meets the requirements and you are eligible to take a compliance examination, then you can either:
a) if you are a doctor or a dentist then turn to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu at [email protected], send them the decision issued by Health Board, an application to take the test (must contain your full name and your Estonian identification code), copies of the documents you issued to Health Board;
if you are a nurse or a midwife then turn to the health care college of your choosing (Tallinn Health Care College at [email protected] or Tartu Health Care College at [email protected]), send them the decision issued by Health Board, an application to take the test (must contain your full name and your Estonian identification code), copies of the documents you issued to Health Board;
or
b) send a statement to Health Board ([email protected]) in which you give Health Board the permission to send the needed information along with the copies of the needed documents to the university or to the health care college of your choosing; in this case Health Board shall contact the university/health care college and you only have to wait for them to contact you regarding the compliance examination.
Compliance examination
Doctors/specialist doctors, dentists/specialist dentists, nurses and midwives (hereinafter: health care professionals) with qualifications from countries other than Estonia, the European Union, the European Economic Area or Switzerland whose qualification corresponds to the qualification required in Estonia must pass a compliance examination in order to be registered in the health administration information system. A decision from the Health Board is required to take the compliance examination. Applicants whose qualifications do not meet the requirements in Estonia cannot be sent for a compliance examination or be entered into the health administration information system.
The decision for sending an applicant for a compliance examination issued by the Health Board is valid for one year, ie the applicant must apply to the University of Tartu (doctors/dentists) or the health care college (nurses/midwives) for taking the compliance examination within one year.
The compliance examination is organised by the University of Tartu or the health care college and it is comprised of work practice and theory examination. The compliance examination is taken in Estonian.
To attend work practice, the applicant needs an Estonian personal identification code. For more information on the right to stay in Estonia and the personal identification code, please contact the migration advisers of the Police and Border Guard Board.
The University of Tartu or the health care college shall send the person to a work practice at a residency teaching hospital of the University of Tartu or the practice base of the health care college. The fee of a person sent to a work practice during practice, the organisation expenses of the University of Tartu or health care college and the fee for supervising work practice will be covered from the state budget through the budget of the Ministry of Social Affairs unless the person applies for registration as a dentist. This means that the National Health Board will not cover the costs for dentists with a qualification from another country who are sent to take the compliance examination. Orthodontists as specialist dentists who are sent to take the compliance examination are reimbursed for the costs of work practice and supervision fees by the National Health Board.
The duration of work practice is up to six months. Work practice may be extended for up to one year at the request of the supervisor.
The University of Tartu or the health care college will organise a theory examination for the persons having passed the work practice within 12 months after termination of the work practice.
If a person fails to pass the work practice for the first time, they may, after six months, submit a new application (to the Health Board) for the assessment of compliance of their qualifications with the requirements. If a person fails to pass the work practice for the second time, the Health Board has the right to request additional documents from the person concerning the compliance with the requirements and, in justified cases, to refuse from the assessment of qualification.
If a person fails to pass the theory examination for the first time, they are able to retake the examination for the second time after six up to twelve months. If a person fails to pass the theory examination for the second time, they may submit a new application (to the Health Board) for the assessment of compliance of qualifications with the requirements.
The Health Board compensates the work practice of the doctor / specialist doctor, specialist dentist, nurse and midwife referred to work practice and their supervision in accordance with the current directive of the minister.
Reimbursement of the fee is subject to a valid contract between the practice base and the Health Board and the practice base undertakes to notify the Health Board about the persons and the duration of the work practice before the beginning of the work practice.
For compensation, the practice base must submit to the Health Board:
a) a report listing the persons who participated in a work practice with the healthcare provider during the previous calendar month, their supervisors and the dates on which the person who participated in the work practice performed the practice (for this purpose, the Health Board will provide a file in which to enter the necessary information);
b) no later than by the 20th day of each calendar month, an e-invoice reflecting the gross wages paid to the persons who participated in the work practice and to their supervisors in the previous calendar month, and the labour taxes calculated from the fees. The e-invoice may be sent via an e-invoicing operator or e-Financials (https://www.rik.ee/et/e-arveldaja).
Pursuant to subsection 32 of § 30 of the Health Services Organisation Act, the Health Board does not reimburse the costs related to the compliance examination of dentists.
Dentists wishing to register in Estonia must, in agreement with the University of Tartu, find a practice base willing to accept them. The person performing work practice must be paid by the practice base.
The Health Board does not regulate agreements between the person and the practice base.
An alien who does not have a residence permit in Estonia may not work in Estonia without a valid short-term employment registration. The employer/practice base must apply from the Police and Border Guard Board for a short-term employment registration before beginning of work. The alien may not begin work/practice before a positive decision has been taken regarding the application for short-term employment registration.
NB! The Health Board is not the person’s employer/practice base and does not register the short-term employment of a person.
The conditions and rules laid down in the Aliens Act apply to all third-country nationals. Citizens of the European Union and EEA may work and perform work practice in Estonia from the first day of arrival and do not need to register for short-term employment.
Short-term employment registration is not a basis for stay and the person must apply for a long-stay visa if necessary. Usually, a long-stay visa is applied for, which may be issued for the period of stay in Estonia of up to 365 days within twelve consecutive months. The whole period of stay in Estonia with a long-stay visa must not be longer than 548 days within 730 consecutive days. Before coming to Estonia, a long-stay visa may be applied for only at the foreign missions of Estonia where visa applications are processed (check the list of foreign missions on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
NB! An alien may not be entitled to stay in Estonia even if they have a decision issued by the Health Board to undergo a compliance examination. The Police and Border Guard Board may ask for such a decision in the course of the procedure, but it is not the basis for granting the right to stay in Estonia.
For more information on the right to stay and work in Estonia, please contact the migration advisers of the Police and Border Guard Board: https://www.politsei.ee/et/migratsiooninoustajad
This text has been prepared in accordance with the legislation in force on 15 July 2024.
Additional information
- Health Services Organisation Act
- Regulation No 53 of the Minister of Social Affairs of 03 September 2019 ‘Procedure for the preparation, organisation and assessment of a compliance examination and the amount of the fee for a health care professional who has obtained a qualification abroad’.
- Fees for the compliance examination for doctors, specialist doctors and dentists at the University of Tartu
- Revision questions for the final examination in dentistry at the University of Tartu
- Registration of short-term employment
- Estonian foreign missions processing visa applications
Last updated: 14.11.2024
