Specialist Doctor trained outside the EU or EEA

Only persons duly legalised by the Finnish Supervisory Agency are allowed to perform the duties of legalised health care professionals. The Finnish Supervisory Agency grants the right to practise the profession of specialist doctor on application to medical professionals trained in Finland and abroad.

Legalisation as a specialist doctor may be granted to a physician who has been legalised in Finland. See our website for more information about the legalisation process for specialist doctors who have completed their degree outside the EU or EEA. To apply for the right to practise independently as a specialist dentist, submit an application to the Finnish Supervisory Agency.

How to apply for legalisation as a medical specialist

Fill in the application form (pdf). Send your application with the documents listed below by post to the Finnish Supervisory Agency. Submitting all the relevant documents with your application will speed up the application process. The processing period is calculated from the time when the Finnish Supervisory Agency has received all the required documents and reports. Please do not send your application or documents by email. This will slow down the processing of your application. You do not need to send to the Finnish Supervisory Agency any documents that you have already sent earlier.

Send your completed application and attachments by post to:
Finnish Supervisory Agency
P.O. BOX 20
13035 LVV 

Courier mail (e.g. DHL or Fedex) is submitted to:
Finnish Supervisory Agency
Wähäjärvenkatu 6
FI-13100 Hämeenlinna, Finland

Requirements for documents

Submit documents issued outside the EU or EEA as officially certified copies by post to the Finnish Supervisory Agency. For documents issued in Finland or another EU or EEA country, a standard copy is sufficient. Copies can be officially certified by a notary public in Finland or in another EU or EEA Member State, or by Finnish missions in other countries. Copies issued by a notary public outside the EU/EEA and furnished with an Apostille or Grand Legalisation are also acceptable. You must submit to the Finnish Supervisory Agency the copies that bear the original stamp and signature of the notary public or Finnish mission by post. The Finnish Supervisory Agency may request further clarifications if necessary.

Please do not attach any original documents that you may need later to your application. The application documents will remain at the Finnish Supervisory Agency, and it is impossible to get them back after a decision has been made. If you request documents to be returned to you while the application process is ongoing, you must send in replacement documents that meet the formal requirements. This will significantly slow down the processing of your application.

Please attach the following documents to your application

1. Document proving identity and citizenship 

• a passport or
• an identity card issued in an EU or EEA Member State or 
• an alien’s passport or 
• a refugee travel document

If you do not have a Finnish personal identity code, please check the Valvira website for further instructions.

2. Specialist doctor’s degree certificate and the contact details for your educational institution 

• Your specialist doctor’s degree certificate and 
• The official email address and mailing address of your educational institution

Have your degree certificate legalised directly in your country of education, using either the Apostille or Grand Legalisation procedure. The procedure must prove the authenticity of the degree certificate. Please contact the foreign ministry or another relevant body in the country where you completed your training to find out how your degree certificate should be legalised in that country.  

If legalisation fails, and if you have provided the contact information of your educational institution, the Finnish Supervisory Agency may check the correctness of your degree directly with the educational institution if possible. In such a case, an ordinary copy of the degree certificate is sufficient. However, this review may delay the processing of the application. Please also note that in some cases, the Finnish Supervisory Agency is unable to verify the correctness of the degree from the educational institution, in which case the only option is to legalise the degree certificate using the Apostille or Grand Legalisation procedure. 

3. Certificate of the right to practise the profession 

• A certificate verifying that your right to practise the profession in question has not been restricted or revoked (e.g. Certificate of Good Standing). 
• This certificate must be no more than three months old when received by the Finnish Supervisory Agency.  
• You must submit such a certificate from every country where you have been legalised to practise your profession.  
• If you have practised your profession in a country where practitioners of that profession are not registered, you need to submit an affidavit from the competent authority in that country stating that practitioners of your profession are not registered in that country or another reliable testimonial on the matter.

4. Consent document 

• Free-form consent stating that the Finnish Supervisory Agency has your permission to submit your application documents to a Finnish educational institution for a fee-based expert opinion if necessary. When you give your consent, you agree to pay a statement fee in addition to the processing fee.

The documents listed below in points 5–7 are not always mandatory. They are mandatory if it is impossible without them to determine any differences from the training required in Finland.

5. A more detailed description of the training

• A report issued by the educational institution detailing the learning outcomes, content 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 directly to the Finnish Supervisory Agency by email.  
• We need sufficiently comprehensive information about your training to determine any differences from the training required in Finland. 

6. Employment certificates 

• Any employment certificates for work in the profession following completion of your training. 
• Employment certificates must have been issued by your employer, and they must state at least your job title, your job duties and the duration of your employment. 
• Please note that employment contracts are not accepted as certificates of employment.

7. Certificates of further and continuing education

• Certificates of any supplementary professional training and continuing education.

8. Translations of the documents listed in points 2 and 7 

• If the original documents are not in Finnish, Swedish or English, please provide official translations as well. 
• Translations must be provided by an official or authorised translator in Finland or another EU or EEA country. Authorised translators in Finland can be found through the online service of the National Agency For Education.
• The translation must be accompanied by a source document certified by the translator. 
• If the translator is not an official or authorised translator in an EU/EEA Member State, the translation may nevertheless be acceptable if the translator’s status is confirmed in the translation by Apostille or Grand Legalisation (link).

Contact information

E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: +358 295 256  932 (Monday–Friday 9:00–15:00)