Kenntnisprüfung 2026: what changes for foreign doctors in Germany

What was decided, and when does it apply?

The law is called the Gesetz zur Beschleunigung der Anerkennungsverfahren ausländischer Berufsqualifikationen in Heilberufen (Act to speed up recognition of foreign qualifications in the health professions). It covers doctors, dentists, pharmacists and midwives. It has been published in the Federal Law Gazette, so it is final, not a proposal:

What changes for doctors from outside the EU?

German law calls every country outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland a Drittstaat (third country), for example India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Syria, Ukraine or the Philippines. The main change is the order of steps. Until now, the authority first compared your degree documents with German medical training (the Gleichwertigkeitsprüfung, or equivalence check). Only if it found major differences did you sit the Kenntnisprüfung. From November, the Kenntnisprüfung is the direct route.

The ministry's reason is less paperwork: if you will sit the exam anyway, there is no need to translate and certify every page of your training records. According to the Federal Government, the medical standard itself is not lowered.

What is the Kenntnisprüfung like?

The Kenntnisprüfung is set out in section 37 of the Approbationsordnung für Ärzte (the medical licensing regulations). Under the text in force today:

Is the FSP (Fachsprachprüfung) still required?

Yes. Neither the ministry nor the Bundestag mentions abolishing it. You still need adequate German for the licence, and the state medical associations (Landesärztekammern) still test medical German in the Fachsprachprüfung, the medical language exam. What is new is that a state may require the language check before the medical assessment. The German Medical Association had asked for exactly this order, because patient care and the Kenntnisprüfung both depend on solid German.

In practice, language becomes the first hurdle. Plan your German certificate and your FSP date before you plan the Kenntnisprüfung.

What is partial access to the profession?

The law allows doctors, dentists and pharmacists to be licensed for part of the profession when their qualification only partly matches the German one. According to the ministry, this applies to qualifications from the EU, EEA or Switzerland and follows an EU directive (2005/36/EC, Article 4f). It is not a route for degrees from third countries. The German Medical Association opposes it, because patients cannot tell what such a doctor is allowed to do.

What if my application is already in progress?

The law contains transition rules. How your own application is handled is decided by the licensing authority (Approbationsbehörde) of your state, not by the medical association and not by a course provider. We do not state a rule here that we could not check in the official text. Ask in writing and keep the answer:

• Under which rules is my application of (date) being processed?
• Can I still choose between the equivalence check and the Kenntnisprüfung, and until when?
• Do I have to prove my German before the Kenntnisprüfung, and in what form?
• Which documents can I submit electronically?

What should you do now?

1. Find out which authority handles your application and read its licensing page for applications after 1 November 2026.
2. Plan German first: a general certificate, then the FSP of your state's medical association.
3. Prepare the Kenntnisprüfung in internal medicine and surgery, including presenting a patient in German.
4. Practise the speaking parts under real time limits in our medical German practice area.