Medical Doctor trained in an EU or EEA Member State

If you have not completed the postgraduate workplace training required in the country where you completed your training, you can apply for a fixed-term right to practise medicine in Finland. In this case, you must practise under the guidance and supervision of a legalised professional who is licensed to practise medicine independently and who has been designated in writing to perform this role. This right will be granted to you if you have completed a basic medical degree in an EU or EEA Member State where you are required to complete postgraduate workplace training in order to be legalised as a physician. 

The right to practise is granted for a fixed term of three years. This term may be extended for justifiable causes. Justifiable causes include, but are not limited to, parental leave, illness or military service of the trainee. You may apply for an extension of the term by filling in an application and giving a freeform explanation of why you are applying for an extension. No certificate of parental leave, illness or military service is required. 

While your right to practise is valid, you may also temporarily undertake other duties of a physician if under the guidance and supervision of a legalised professional who has the right to practise medicine independently and who has been assigned in writing to this role.

If you are a citizen of an EU or EEA Member State or a person of comparable status, you can choose one of the following options:

1. The Finnish Supervisory Agency will grant you the right to practise medicine in Finland under guidance and supervision for a fixed term of three years, allowing you to complete your postgraduate workplace training in Finland. You must have the training approved in the country where you completed your training, after which your degree will be in compliance with the Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications. Then you can be granted the right to practise medicine independently in Finland. Or
2. You can apply for the right to practise medicine independently, in which case the Finnish Supervisory Agency will compare your professional qualifications to those gained through Finnish medical training. The Finnish Supervisory Agency may request a statement from the university in support of the decision, in which case you will be charged a fee for the statement. Please note that Finnish medical training includes workplace training, while in other countries such training may take place after graduation. Therefore, you may have to complete some kind of postgraduate workplace training in order to be granted the right to practise medicine independently in Finland. You should also note that in this case you will not have the documents required under the Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications. In other words, other Member States are not automatically required to recognise your professional qualifications even if you are granted the right to practise medicine independently in Finland. 

If you are applying for a fixed-term right, append copies of the following documents to your application:

1. Document verifying your identity and nationality 

• passport or 
• ID card issued in an EU/EEA Member State or 
• alien's passport or 
• refugee travel document

If you do not have a Finnish personal identity number, please check the additional instructions on the website of the Finnish Supervisory Agency.

2. Degree certificate

Although a certificate of language proficiency is not required, health care professionals must have a sufficient command of Finnish or Swedish to perform their duties. It is the duty of the employer to ensure that a physician in workplace training has sufficient competence and language skills and also to ensure that a legalised physician is assigned in writing to guide and supervise the physician in training. 

If you are applying for the right to practise medicine independently, append the following documents (3-8) to the application in addition to the documents mentioned above (1-2). The documents mentioned in points 4-7 are not necessarily mandatory. They are mandatory if, without them, it is not possible to establish any differences with regard to the education required in Finland.

3. Consent document

• Freeform consent stating that the Finnish Supervisory Agency has your permission to submit your application documents to a Finnish educational institution for an expert opinion if necessary, which is subject to a fee charged to you.. By giving your consent, you agree to pay a statement fee in addition to the processing fee.

4. Appendix to the diploma certificate

• for example, diploma supplement or academic transcript

5. Certificate of sufficient language proficiency 

• A list of approved certificates of sufficient Finnish or Swedish language proficiency is available on our website. These include the Civil Service Language Proficiency Certificate and the National Certificate of Language Proficiency. Further information on language proficiency certificates is available on the Finnish National Agency for Education website.

If you do not submit a certificate of language proficiency, the Finnish Supervisory Agency can only recognise your professional qualifications. In order to be eligible for this, you must be a citizen of an EU or EEA Member State or a person of comparable status, and you must have completed your training in an EU or EEA Member State. Recognition of professional qualifications does not automatically entitle you to practise your profession or to use a protected occupational title in Finland. Read more about the recognition of professional qualifications on our website. 

6. Detailed description of the education

• A report issued by the educational institution detailing the learning outcomes, contents and scope in hours of the units included in your degree and the operating environments in which you completed your practical training and your duties therein 
• If the educational institution supplies a general study programme to provide this information, the institution must separately confirm that you have completed the units required. The educational institution may deliver the confirmation to the Finnish Supervisory Agency by e-mail (contact information below).  
• We need sufficiently comprehensive information about the education to establish any differences between the education required in Finland.

7. Employment certificates

• Employment certificates from the field of medicine for work performed both during studies and after graduation 
• Employment certificates must have been issued by your employer, and must state at least your job title, duties and the duration of your employment 
• Please note that employment contracts are not accepted as employment certificates.

8. Certificates of any supplementary training and continuing education

• Certificates of any supplementary professional training and continuing education.

9. Translations of the above-mentioned documents

• If the original documents are not in Finnish, Swedish or English, please also provide official translations.
• The translations must have been produced by an official or authorised translator in Finland or in another EU/EEA Member State. Authorised translators in Finland can be found through the online service of the Finnish National Agency for Education.
• The translations must be accompanied by the document in the original languagecertified by the translator.
• An official translator outside the EU/EEA may be acceptable if the translator’s status is confirmed in the translation with an Apostille or Grand Legalisation.

Have you completed your degree in Sweden?

According to the decision-making practices of the Finnish Supervisory Agency, a Swedish medical degree is equivalent to a Finnish medical degree, but the granting of the right to practice also requires competence in the Finnish healthcare service system, which is demonstrated by work experience. According to the current decision-making practice of the Finnish Supervisory Agency, work experience is considered sufficient at least if there is work experience from Finland as an intern, a medical student or a medical doctor under management and supervision for at least three months in one-month work periods. Work experience is demonstrated by employment certificates. Employment certificates must have been issued by the employer, and they must state at least the applicant's job title, duties and the duration of employment. 

Are you a medical doctor or a dentist who has graduated in Romania?

If you have graduated in Romania and are applying for the right to practise as a doctor or dentist, you must have a degree certificate entitled "Diploma de licenţă și master". This certificate is issued by the "Ministerul Educaţiei Naţionale". This applies to degree certificates issued in and after 2011.

Are you a medical doctor who has graduated in Spain?

If you have graduated in Spain and are applying for the right to practise as a doctor, you must have a degree certificate entitled "Título de Licenciado en Medicina y Cirugía" or "Título de Licenciado en Medicina" or "Título de Graduado/a en Medicina". These certificates are issued by the "Ministerio de Educación y Cultura" and "El rector de una Universidad".

Are you a medical doctor who has graduated in Italy?

If you have graduated in Italy and are applying for the right to practise as a doctor, you must have a degree certificate entitled "Diploma di laurea in medicina e chirurgia". This certificate is issued by an "Università".

You will need to let the Finnish Supervisory Agency know if you wish to provide services on a temporary or occasional basis in Finland. You must be a citizen of an EU/EEA Member State and legally established as a health care professional in another EU/EEA Member State. You must also have a licence to practise your profession independently or to use a protected title in another EU/EEA Member State. 

According to the Finnish Supervisory Agency's policy, the pursuit of a profession is considered temporary and occasional if it takes up no more than three (3) days a month. However, whether an activity is or is not to be considered temporary and occasional in nature is always evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Please note that an activity is not considered temporary or occasional if you engage in it on a permanent or continuous basis. An activity can be deemed to be ‘established’ especially if your objective appears to be circumventing the requirements relating to establishment. 

Each notification is valid for 12 months. You will need to submit a new notification if you intend to continue to pursue your profession on a temporary or occasional basis or if the nature of your activity changes significantly. In such cases, you must submit the relevant documents and evidence to the Finnish Supervisory Agency without delay. 

The notification must contain the following information: the nature of the services, the time and place where the services will be provided, information on the service provider’s insurance coverage, or similar individual or collective professional liability cover, and a statement of language proficiency (Finnish or Swedish). See our website for further instructions for temporary or occasional employment.

Within 30 days of receiving the application, the Finnish Supervisory Agency will ask the applicant to submit any missing documents. The processing period is calculated from the date when the Finnish Supervisory Agency  receives all the required documents. 

The processing period for applications is three months, as specified in the Act on Health Care Professionals. If the application can be processed in the automatic recognition system and no additional information is required, the application may be processed in as little as 30 days. The processing period is laid down in the relevant EU Directive and is the same in all Member States.

A fee is charged for every decision concerning licences to practise a profession, including when an application is denied. Half the processing fee is payable if you withdraw your application. 

Types of fees include: 

• Legalisation 710 euros.
• Recognition of professional qualifications 470 euros.
• Legalisation once proof of language proficiency is received after recognition of professional qualification 240 euros.
• Fee for expert opinion 100–400 euros.

The decision on the right to practise a profession will be issued in Finnish or Swedish. The invoice will be sent separately by post after the decision. If the Finnish Supervisory Agency has requested an expert opinion, the invoice for the fee for the expert opinion will be sent to you after the Finnish Supervisory Agency receives that opinion.

You will find the information on the rights to practise granted to you in JulkiTerhikki or JulkiSuosikki. 

Rights to practise granted may be viewed in the public information services for social welfare and health care professionals (JulkiSuosikki and JulkiTerhikki, respectively) after the decision is issued or the registration is made. The register data is updated once a day. 

More information on the official registers of professionals underlying the public information service is available on our website.

The Finnish Supervisory Agency may send you any requests for further information, certificates, decisions and invoices electronically as a Suomi.fi message if you have registered in that service. Suomi.fi messages may only be used for matters that are currently pending. You may register for Suomi.fi messages at the www.suomi.fi website or by downloading the Suomi.fi mobile app.

In application matters, we will only deal with the applicants themselves. However, an applicant may authorise an agent or attorney to act on their behalf in the matter of their application. In this case, the agent or attorney must present a power of attorney authorising them to act for the applicant. The power of attorney may be an e-mail or physical document sent by the applicant, stating that the applicant authorises the person in question to act for them in the matter of the application. However, attorneys-at-law and public legal aid attorneys do not need to present a power of attorney unless specifically requested.