
Approbation und Tilladelse til selvstændig virke
To work as a doctor in Denmark, you need a Autorisation (medical license) and a Tilladelse til selvstændig virke (translated: "Permission for independent practice").
When you apply for and receive it, you will also get your Authorisation ID, which is also necessary.
You will then be entered into a register that is publicly accessible and can be found here: Link to follow.
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Below you will find how to apply for these important documents as an EU citizen.
For non-EU citizens, unfortunately, the process is much more complicated.
What is the Autorisation and Tilladelse til selvstændig virke?
The process goes through the Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed (Danish Patient Safety Authority), whose website provides all the information in Danish.
I wrote a brief explanation for you here
Medicin students who studied in Denmark automatically receive their Authorisation after passing their final exam and taking the lægeløftet (a non-legally binding declaration to practice medicine responsibly). You are only allowed to call yourself a doctor and practice medicine once you have received this Authorisation.
After completing the KBU (Klinisk Basis Uddannelse) as a Danish-trained doctor, you can apply for the Tilladelse til selvstændig virke. The Tilladelse til selvstændig virke automatically expires when you turn 75.
Doctors not trained in Denmark, who are EU citizens, trained in an EU country, and have followed a KBU-equivalent path, can apply for both the Authorisation and the Tilladelse til selvstændig virke in one go. The German Praktisches Jahr (PJ) counts as a KBU-equivalent, and if you have received your German medical license, you will easily get both the Authorisation and Tilladelse til selvstændig virke without needing to complete the Danish KBU.
However, if you wish to complete parts or even the entire theoretical KBU program, you can contact your Videreuddannelsesregion to check if there’s still a chance to get a spot in one or more courses. This might be beneficial, as the training is excellent and provides an easier introduction to the differences in practice than learning on the job, which can lead to stressful situations.
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On the Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed website, you’ll find a list of the documents required for submission.
The list may look longer than it is, as it’s often enough for German-trained doctors to submit their medical license and, importantly, the Certificate of Good Standing.
The Certificate of Good Standing is obtained from the relevant authority in the federal state where you (last) worked. For example, in Hessen, it’s the Hessische Landesamt für Gesundheit und Pflege (HLfGP).
If you already have a job offer (as I did back then), I strongly recommend including the job offer in your application. This can expedite the process, and you’ll receive your documents as quickly as possible (I received mine within two weeks). Otherwise, I’ve heard of very long processing times. At that time, I only had a job offer in an email, and I printed out the entire email thread and included it in my application, which was sufficient.
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Here’s a list (translated, no guarantee of completeness) from the Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed website:
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Employment contract for specific positions (this refers to the place of your PJ in Germany, though you usually won’t have an employment contract for that)
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Information on the name and address of the hospital
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Detailed description of the relevant departments, functions, patient flow, and number of specialists and other medical staff
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Employment period and weekly working hours
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Information on the type of supervision and guidance you received
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Training program
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Information about the skills acquired
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Proof that the program and training elements were satisfactorily completed according to the appropriate training programs
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Proof that you are authorized to work as a doctor and that you haven’t had your license revoked. This is documented by a Certificate of Current Professional Status/Certificate of Good Standing. The certificate must be issued by the relevant health authority in the country where you last worked, usually the country where you completed your KBU-equivalent training. The certificate must not be older than three months when all documents are received. The certificate must be in Danish or English. If you completed your KBU-equivalent training in Norway, Sweden, or Iceland, we will obtain the certificate ourselves, so you do not need to send it.
The documentation must be translated into Danish or English by a certified translator.