Work in Denmark as a foreign doctor, nurse or AHP (2026)

• STPSDanish Patient Safety Authority (Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed)

  Doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives and the other authorised health professions

  How to register with the STPS

1. 1

   1. Check whether the 2026 quota stops you applying

   Doctors and nurses who are citizens of, or trained in, a country outside the EU/EEA cannot apply in 2026 unless they are exempt. You are exempt if you hold legal residence in Denmark when you apply, are a Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic or EU/EEA citizen, were educated in Denmark, the Faroe Islands or Greenland, or have a job offer as a specially requested healthcare professional. If none applies, applying now will lead to rejection.
2. 2

   2. Find an employer if you are abroad

   For most people outside Denmark the specially requested route is the only open door. The employer's offer must cover the whole evaluation period (up to 4 years for doctors and dentists, 3 years for most other professions) and include a supervision plan covering who supervises you, duty cover and how you will learn Danish. You email the offer to STPS at [email protected] after applying through the normal route for your profession.
3. 3

   3. Set up primary source verification (doctors)

   Doctors create an EPIC account with ECFMG and submit the final medical diploma, the final transcript and the licence to practise from the most recent country of work. When all three are verified, you ask ECFMG to send the EPIC reports to STPS. The licence verification report must be no more than 3 months old when you apply.
4. 4

   4. Apply for approval of your education

   Apply online with your passport, CV, diploma, transcript and any postgraduate records, and pay the application fee: DKK 3,689 for doctors and DKK 1,362 for nurses on the current application pages. Nurses later post certified copies plus a confirmation of degree and a Certificate of Current Professional Status in sealed envelopes. Documents not in English, Norwegian or Swedish need a certified translation, uploaded in the same file as the original.
5. 5

   5. Watch the 6-year rule

   If you completed your basic education more than 6 years before STPS receives your application, it generally assesses that your skills are not up to date unless you document at least 12 months of recent full-time work in the profession. Doctors can apply for a dispensation from this rule. Gather employer letters early if this applies to you.
6. 6

   6. Pass the Danish 3 exam

   You need Prøve i Dansk 3 with at least 10 in oral communication and 7 in both reading comprehension and written communication. The exam is held in May/June and November/December at language centres in Denmark, and you must have passed it within 12 months before applying unless you have lived in Denmark continuously since. For nurses this requirement applies from 1 July 2025.
7. 7

   7. Pass the professional tests (doctors and dentists)

   Doctors sit a four-hour written test covering all medical specialties in March or September, then a two-hour oral test with stations in May or November, at the University of Copenhagen, in Danish and free of charge. You have three attempts at each, and missing a test without unregistering at least a month ahead counts as an attempt. Dentists sit a written test and oral tests in children's and adult dentistry.
8. 8

   8. Complete the course in Danish health legislation

   Doctors and dentists are enrolled automatically once STPS has your language documentation. It is free, online and in Danish, ends with a 20-question test needing 18 correct answers, and allows three attempts. It must be finished within one month of starting your adaptation job.
9. 9

   9. Get temporary authorisation and do your adaptation job

   With a job offer you apply for a temporary authorisation (evalueringsautorisation) before you start. Doctors without recognised specialist training work 12 months in two 6-month posts in different specialties; doctors with recognised specialist training work 6 months; nurses work 6 months. Any of these can be longer if STPS finds you lack clinical teaching hours. You find the job yourself, for example on jobnet.dk.
10. 10

    10. Receive your Danish authorisation

    The employer evaluates your clinical and communication skills on an evaluation form (evalueringsskema). A positive evaluation leads to your Danish authorisation, and for doctors permission to work independently. Doctors must finish within 5 years of the education assessment and nurses within 3 years; a negative evaluation lets you try again, but the deadline does not move.

• Denmark tests Danish, not English. Doctors, dentists and, from 1 July 2025, nurses educated outside the EU/EEA must pass Prøve i Dansk 3 (the Danish 3 exam) with at least 10 in oral communication, 7 in reading comprehension and 7 in written communication.
• The Danish 3 exam has written and oral parts and is held twice a year, in May/June and November/December, at language centres across Denmark. STPS says your municipality can tell you where classes and exams are held.
• The pass must be no more than 12 months old when you apply, unless you can show you have lived in Denmark continuously since you passed it. STPS confirms language documents within up to 14 days of receiving them.
• You do not need the Danish 3 exam if you completed Danish upper secondary education or hold certain Danish diplomas such as the higher preparatory examination (HF), GIF, a Danish IB or a Danish university education. Nurses who had started or been offered adaptation employment by 1 July 2025, or whose 3-year deadline ended before 1 July 2026, were also exempt.
• STPS does not list an English test for the third-country route. Your documents can be in English, Norwegian or Swedish without translation; anything else needs a certified translation with the translator's name and stamp visible.
• The medical and dental tests and the course in Danish health legislation are held in Danish. A residence permit for the purpose of authorisation gives you access to free Danish lessons if you are 18 or over, according to SIRI.

• Residence permit to obtain a Danish authorisation

  SIRI issues this permit to doctors, dentists, nurses and specially requested healthcare professionals trained outside the EU/EEA whose primary qualifications STPS has assessed as eligible for testing. SIRI states the doctor and nurse quota is 0 until 31 December 2026, so those applications are refused unless exempt. The fee is DKK 3,060, processing takes about 1 month, the permit gives the right to work, and you must show you can support yourself.

• How long the authorisation permit lasts

  SIRI says doctors and dentists get 3 years at first, extendable by 2 years once they pass the language exam; nurses get up to 3 years in total; specially requested professionals get 3 or 4 years depending on profession. Self-support amounts for 2026 are DKK 66,276 if you are under 25 and DKK 79,920 if you are 25 or over, with more for family members.

• Positive List for People with a Higher Education

  Medical doctor, chief physician, nurse, nurse with a specialty and midwife are on SIRI's Positive List. Pay and terms must match Danish standards, and for a regulated profession you attach your Danish authorisation or a receipt showing you have applied for it. The fee is DKK 6,810 and normal processing is 1 month.

• Pay Limit and Fast-track schemes

  The Pay Limit scheme needs a salary of at least DKK 552,000 a year in 2026, paid into a Danish bank account, and SIRI says a doctor needs STPS authorisation, or temporary authorisation for an adaptation post. The Supplementary Pay Limit track is DKK 446,000. Employers certified by SIRI can use the Fast-track scheme; each application costs DKK 6,810.

• Job-seeking permit after authorisation

  If you held a permit to obtain authorisation and then receive your authorisation, SIRI offers a 6-month job-seeking permit. You may not work on it, must support yourself and cannot receive public benefits. The fee is DKK 3,060 and processing usually takes about 3 months.

• Family members and EU/EEA citizens

  A spouse, registered or cohabiting partner and children under 18 can apply with you under the authorisation and Positive List schemes. EU/EEA citizens trained outside the EU/EEA are exempt from the quota, and EU/EEA graduates with an Annex V diploma use automatic recognition through STPS instead of the third-country route.

Denmark has no single national pay scale published as one table. Regional hospital pay is set by collective agreements negotiated by Danske Regioner, plus local supplements. The figures below are Danske Regioner's average gross monthly pay across all regions in February 2026, from its Personalestatistik 2026. Gross pay here includes basic pay, central and local supplements, special payments, special holiday allowance and pension, so it is higher than the basic salary on a contract. STPS says pay during adaptation employment follows general employment terms.

Monthly amounts

• Chief physician (overlæge)

  DKK 106,004

  Average gross pay, all regions, February 2026.

• Specialist doctor (speciallæge)

  DKK 89,344

  Average gross pay, all regions, February 2026.

• Doctor in training (uddannelseslæge)

  DKK 60,554

  Average gross pay, all regions, February 2026.

• Nurse (sygeplejerske)

  DKK 50,173

  Average gross pay, all regions, February 2026; from DKK 48,432 in Central Denmark to DKK 52,099 in the Capital Region.

• Nurse manager (ledende sygeplejerske)

  DKK 62,503

  Average gross pay, all regions, February 2026.

• Midwife (jordemoder)

  DKK 48,829

  Average gross pay, all regions, February 2026.

• Physiotherapist (fysioterapeut)

  DKK 45,011

  Average gross pay, all regions, February 2026.