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

• PISPanhellenic Medical Association (Πανελλήνιος Ιατρικός Σύλλογος)

  Doctors: certificate to practise medicine and specialty titles

  How to register with the PIS

• DOATAPDOATAP, Hellenic NARIC

  Academic recognition of non-EU degrees, including the medicine and dentistry exams

  How to register with the DOATAP

• ENEHellenic Nurses Association (Ένωση Νοσηλευτών Ελλάδος)

  Nurses: compulsory registration before the Region issues the practice certificate

  How to register with the ENE

1. 1

   1. Get your degree recognised by DOATAP

   Apply online through the eDoatap platform for recognition of a first-cycle degree. The fee is €180. Documents not in Greek, English or French need an official translation, and your degree and transcript need an apostille. DOATAP says complete first-cycle applications take 1 to 8 weeks to decide, but for a non-EU medical degree the decision is a requirement to sit its exams.
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   2. Doctors: pass the DOATAP medicine exams

   Article 312 of Law 4957/2022 requires exams for every medical degree from outside the EU. There are two computer-based sections in Athens: preclinical sciences (anatomy, physiology, pharmacology; 150 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours 45 minutes) and clinical sciences (paediatrics, internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology; 200 questions in 5 hours). The pass mark is 50% with negative marking, and the fee is €70 per subject. The question bank is published in Greek, so you need strong medical Greek before you sit.
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   3. Nurses: complete any compensatory measures

   DOATAP compares your nursing programme with a Greek university programme. If it finds differences, its decision sets compensatory measures: a written exam, a placement, a thesis or a combination. You arrange these yourself with the department of a Greek university of your choice and must complete them all at the same institution.
4. 4

   4. Learn Greek and get the right certificate

   The Centre for the Greek Language runs the Certificate of Attainment in Greek at six levels, with the main exams each May in Greece and abroad. ENE asks non-Greek citizens for level C1. For doctors, the PIS rules require B2 from EU citizens and those with EU rights, and exempt holders of a DOATAP equivalence obtained after exams. Language learning is usually the longest part of the route.
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   5. Doctors: apply to PIS for the certificate to practise

   Apply on the PIS platform with your passport, photos, foreign degree with its official translation and the DOATAP decision, your licence from the country of training, a solemn declaration about criminal convictions and the €80 fee. Third-country nationals without EU rights also submit their residence and work permit. PIS must issue it within one month, and if it has not done so within three months of your application you may start working.
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   6. Nurses: register with ENE, then get the practice certificate

   Register with the ENE regional department for your area: you need the apostilled and translated degree, the DOATAP equivalence, the C1 Greek certificate, your passport, your licence from home, two photos and the €35 fee. Then apply to the Region's public health service for the certificate to practise as a nurse, with the ENE registration and an €8 state fee. The official procedure has a three-month deadline.
7. 7

   7. Register with the local medical association

   Doctors join the medical association of the area where they will practise, for example the Athens Medical Association. You need that registration for the specialty exams, for the auxiliary doctor lists and for certificates such as good standing.
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   8. Sort out your specialty

   A current American board certification is recognised automatically by PIS for €30. Specialty training from the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa can be counted by the Ministry of Health, after an opinion from the Central Health Council, towards the Greek specialty exam, which is held in Greek. Other specialists apply to have training time recognised in the same way, or join a Greek hospital waiting list for specialty training.
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   9. Find a job and get a residence permit

   Your Greek employer applies to the Ministry of Migration and Asylum for approval to employ you, you collect a national D visa from the Greek consulate, and you apply for the residence permit after you arrive. Highly qualified posts use the E.1 permit, which is the Greek route for the EU Blue Card. Check the salary threshold before you sign.

• The language you must prove in Greece is Greek, not English. There is no English test for licensing, and the ministerial decision for doctors, the nurse procedure and ENE all ask for a Greek certificate.
• Nurses: ENE requires a certificate of adequate knowledge of Greek at level C1 (Γ1) from every applicant who does not hold Greek citizenship. The Region's nurse procedure asks EU citizens and third-country nationals with EU rights for level B2, and exempts graduates of Greek universities.
• Doctors: Decision Β' 1373/2019 requires the necessary knowledge of Greek. EU citizens and third-country nationals with EU rights submit a B2 certificate from the Centre for the Greek Language, the Modern Greek Language Teaching Centre of the University of Athens or the School of Modern Greek Language of Aristotle University. The certificate is not required for graduates of Greek secondary schools or universities, or for doctors whose degree DOATAP recognised after exams.
• Hospital posts set their own rule. ESY Consultant and Director posts ask for a B2 Greek certificate or a certificate of Greek from the Central Health Council committee, and the auxiliary doctor lists ask foreign applicants for a Greek language certificate.
• The Certificate of Attainment in Greek has six levels, A1 to C2. For May 2027 the Centre for the Greek Language lists exams on 11 to 13 May in Greece and abroad, registration from 1 February to 14 March 2027, and fees of €90 for A1 to B1 and €100 for B2 to C2. A smaller October session covers only A2 for professional purposes and B1, in Greece.
• In practice your Greek also has to carry you through the DOATAP medicine exams and the Greek specialty exams, because the DOATAP question bank is in Greek and specialty exams are held in Greek.

• Highly qualified employment (E.1, EU Blue Card)

  Under Law 5038/2023 your employer first applies for approval to employ you in a highly qualified post. The post must be available under the admission procedure of Article 26 of the Migration Code, and you need a contract of at least 6 months with a gross annual salary of at least 1.6 times the average gross annual salary in Greece, and for a regulated profession proof that you meet the professional recognition rules. The employer must show gross annual income of at least €60,000 per worker. The residence permit costs €150 plus a €16 card fee and the official deadline is 90 days.

• Dependent employment (E.4)

  For posts that do not meet the E.1 salary threshold, the employer applies for an E.4 employment approval, paying a €200 employer fee. It needs a full-time contract of at least one year at no less than the unskilled worker's monthly pay, and an available post under Article 27 of the Migration Code. The residence permit that follows costs €166 in total.

• National D visa

  Both routes need a national entry visa (visa D) issued by the Greek consulate after the employment approval. You then apply for the residence permit in Greece after you arrive and before the visa expires, with an email address and a mobile phone number.

• Why your residence status matters for licensing

  PIS asks third-country doctors without EU rights for a copy of their residence and work permit. Some hospital routes are limited by status: the auxiliary doctor lists accept long-term residents and Blue Card holders, while ESY Consultant and Director posts require Greek or EU citizenship.

• Family members

  Family reunification is a separate residence permit category under the Migration Code, with its own fees and conditions. Check the current rules with the Ministry of Migration and Asylum before you plan your move.

• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens

  You do not need a work permit. Doctors with an EU diploma listed in Directive 2005/36/EC apply to PIS for the certificate to practise without DOATAP exams, and nurses use automatic recognition through the Region. EU doctors providing temporary and occasional services can apply to PIS for a temporary licence valid for up to one year, for an €80 fee. To settle and practise, EU citizens still need Greek at B2.

Pay in Greek public hospitals is set by law rather than by a collective agreement. Pay for ESY doctors is set by Law 4472/2017, and nurses in public hospitals are paid under the unified public sector pay scale of Law 4354/2015, by education category and step. The figures below are the basic monthly amounts as enacted in Law 4472/2017. Later laws have changed public sector pay, and we could not find an official consolidated table for 2026, so treat them as the legal starting point only. Private clinics set their own pay.

• ESY Coordinating Director, step 1

  €1,903 basic a month

  Law 4472/2017, Article 138 as enacted. Each of the 16 steps adds €67.

• ESY Director

  95% of the Coordinating Director step

  Law 4472/2017, Article 138.

• ESY Consultant A (Επιμελητής Α')

  90% of the Coordinating Director step

  Law 4472/2017, Article 138.

• ESY Consultant B (Επιμελητής Β')

  78% of the Coordinating Director step

  Law 4472/2017, Article 138.

• Specialty trainee (ειδικευόμενος)

  63% of the Coordinating Director step

  Law 4472/2017, Article 138.

• Hospital employment allowance: €230 (trainee) to €340 (Director) a monthLaw 4472/2017, Article 139 as enacted; on top of basic pay, with separate on-call pay.
• Public hospital nurses: Set by the unified public sector pay scaleLaw 4354/2015, by education category and step; check the current scale with the hospital.