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

• MZMinistry of Health (Ministrstvo za zdravje)

  Recognition of third-country qualifications for all regulated health professions (ZPPKZD); professional exam for graduate health workers

  Read the registration guide

• ZZSMedical Chamber of Slovenia (Zdravniška zbornica Slovenije)

  Doctors and dentists: register, licences, professional exam and Slovenian language test

  How to register with the ZZS

• Zbornica - ZvezaNurses and Midwives Association of Slovenia (Zbornica - Zveza)

  Nurses, midwives and nursing technicians: register and licences

  Read the registration guide

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   1. Check that your profession is regulated and gather your documents

   The ZPPKZD applies to anyone who trained for a regulated health profession in a third country. You need proof of your formal education, proof of the content and length of your programme, your traineeship programme and professional exam if you completed them, a certificate of good standing no more than three months old, a CV describing your work experience and, if you have one, a written job offer from a Slovenian provider. Everything must be a certified copy with a translation into Slovenian by a sworn court interpreter; missing translations are the most common reason a file stalls.
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   2. Start learning Slovenian at once

   You will need Slovenian at C1 for speaking and B2 for writing if you are a doctor, dentist, pharmacist, graduate nurse or graduate midwife in contact with patients, and at least B2 for other health professions. The Ministry of Health accepts B2 for graduate nurses and midwives until 31 December 2027, and B1 for nursing technicians and nursing assistants until the same date. Very few applicants arrive with Slovenian, so language learning usually sets the pace of the whole route.
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   3. Apply to the Ministry of Health

   Send the application form, documents and proof of the €22.60 administrative fee by registered post to the Ministry of Health, Štefanova ulica 5, Ljubljana. A Slovenian health provider can apply on your behalf with your written authorisation. The ministry can ask the Ministry of Education for an opinion on the level of your programme.
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   4. Expert assessment and the decision on supplementary conditions

   Where the ministry's own officials cannot assess your programme, it appoints an expert, who must give an opinion within 20 days of receiving a complete application. The expert compares your education, traineeship and professional exam with Slovenian requirements and takes your work experience into account. The ministry then issues a decision that can require up to five supplementary exams, a full or partial traineeship and the professional exam, and it sets a deadline of no more than three years. If your programme cannot be made comparable, the application is refused.
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   5. Complete supplementary exams and any employer training

   Supplementary exams are taken at a Slovenian institution that runs the accredited programme, as often as its rules allow. If you have a job offer, the ministry can add up to six months of training with that employer, on the employer's proposal, to help you settle in. You are employed and supervised during this training.
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   6. Traineeship (sekundariat for doctors) and the professional exam

   The traineeship is done with your prospective employer if it is authorised to train, or with providers the competent body assigns. For doctors and dentists the professional exam is held at the Medical Chamber; for nurses and other graduate professions it is held at the Ministry of Health. You must prove your Slovenian when you register for the exam. The full exam costs €300 for doctors, €250 for dentists and €200 for other health workers, and the first attempt is paid by the employer where you did your traineeship.
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   7. Recognition decision, register and licence

   When you send proof that you have met the conditions within the deadline, the ministry issues a recognition decision. You then apply to the Medical Chamber or Zbornica - Zveza to be entered in the register and, for doctors, dentists, graduate nurses, graduate midwives and pharmacists, for a licence. The law says the chamber or ministry must decide within 30 days of a complete application. A doctor recognised this way practises with a basic licence.
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   8. Get a single permit or EU Blue Card

   Once an employer offers you a job, you or the employer apply for a single residence and work permit at a Slovenian embassy or consulate, or in some cases at an administrative unit in Slovenia. The Employment Service of Slovenia gives its consent within the procedure. Doctors and other graduates with a qualifying contract can instead apply for an EU Blue Card.
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   9. Specialists: recognition of a specialist title

   If you hold a specialist title from a third country, you apply separately for recognition as a specialist. Where your training does not fully match the Slovenian programme, the ministry can set an adaptation period of up to eight months, extendable by four months to a maximum of 12, an oral aptitude test before a three-member committee, or both. You can sit the test no more than three times.

• Slovenia does not use IELTS, OET or any other English test for health licensing. The language requirement is Slovenian, and English results do not count towards recognition, registration or the licence.
• Doctors and dentists: the Medical Chamber of Slovenia and the Ministry of Health require Slovenian at C1 for speaking and B2 for writing (CEFR). Article 11 of the Medical Services Act (Zakon o zdravniški službi) requires doctors in direct contact with patients to use Slovenian.
• Graduate nurses, graduate midwives and pharmacists in direct contact with patients: C1 for speaking and B2 for writing, but the Ministry of Health and Zbornica - Zveza say B2 in speaking and writing is accepted until 31 December 2027.
• Nursing technicians and nursing assistants (bolničar negovalec): B1 in every part of the test is accepted until 31 December 2027 under Article 26 of the Act on Additional Intervention Measures in Healthcare; other health professions need at least B2.
• Accepted proof: a certificate of completed secondary school (at least) in Slovenian in Slovenia, a certificate from the professional Slovenian language test for health workers, or a certificate from a public higher education institution in Slovenia or abroad that teaches and examines Slovenian as a second or foreign language, such as the Centre for Slovene as a Second and Foreign Language at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Arts.
• Professional language tests: the Medical Chamber's test for doctors costs €610 including VAT and runs six times across 2026 and 2027, with applications due by the 15th of the month before. Zbornica - Zveza's test for nursing and midwifery has written and oral parts on the same day, costs €300 and runs on 23 October 2026 and six dates in 2027.
• If a public health institution offers you a job, the ZPPKZD says it pays for one Slovenian course and one language test, and can claim up to €300 back from the state budget. If you leave that employer through your own fault within 12 months, you must repay those costs.
• Exemptions: an invited specialist doctor working under a ministry permit for up to 12 months, and a professional authorised to perform demonstration procedures for up to three months, do not have to prove Slovenian; the employer must ensure communication with patients and records are in Slovenian.

• Single residence and work permit (enotno dovoljenje)

  The main permit for non-EU health workers employed in Slovenia. The Employment Service of Slovenia says you first find an employer, then you or the employer apply at a Slovenian diplomatic mission or consulate, or in limited cases at an administrative unit in Slovenia. The administrative unit runs the procedure and obtains the Employment Service's consent. The first permit is issued for the length of the contract but for no more than two years, and can be extended for up to three years.

• Fees and documents for the single permit

  The EU Immigration Portal gives the administrative fee as €102 if you apply at a Slovenian mission abroad, or €70 at an administrative unit in Slovenia, plus €12 for the residence permit card. You need a photograph, a travel document valid for at least three months beyond your intended stay, health insurance if you are not compulsorily insured, proof of means of subsistence, the signed employment contract and a criminal record certificate from your home country.

• EU Blue Card

  A single permit for highly qualified work. The EU Immigration Portal describes highly qualified work as work by a person with at least a university education under a contract of at least one year at a salary of at least 1.5 times the average annual gross wage in Slovenia, and says the employer must first advertise the vacancy. The government says a 2025 amendment to the Foreigners Act made the Blue Card easier to obtain, including by recognising professional experience as proof of high qualifications, so check the current threshold with the mission before you apply.

• Changing jobs

  Consent to a single permit is tied to a specific employer. To change jobs with the same employer, change employer or work for two or more employers, you need written approval from the administrative unit, issued after the Employment Service consents. Blue Card holders need approval in the first two years and only have to notify the authority after that, according to the EU Immigration Portal.

• Family reunification and the A2 rule

  Close family members can apply for a temporary residence permit for family reunification. The government says that for applications to extend a family reunification permit filed from 1 November 2024, an adult family member must pass a Slovenian test at A2; family members of EU Blue Card holders are among those exempt. Eligible people can receive up to 180 hours of free Slovenian lessons, extendable to 240, and one free exam attempt.

• Permanent residence

  The EU Immigration Portal says that after five years of continuous legal residence on a temporary residence permit you can apply for a permanent residence permit, which also gives EU long-term resident status. Absences shorter than six consecutive months and no more than ten months in total do not break continuity.

Doctors and nurses in public health institutions are paid under the public sector pay system. Since 1 January 2025 the Act on the Common Foundations of the Public Sector Pay System (ZSTSPJS) has applied, and health and social care form their own pay pillar. The government says the lowest pay grade was set at the 2025 minimum wage, the highest basic salary is about seven times that, the difference between grades is 3%, and pay rises are being phased in until 2028. Each post (for example ZDRAVNIK SPECIALIST or DIPLOMIRANA MEDICINSKA SESTRA) is placed in a pay grade by the collective agreement and the employer's job classification, and the government notes that during the transition basic pay is generally not yet equal to the grade value on the scale. We could not confirm a single official figure per post, so the rows below show only what the government publishes; check the pay grade in your job offer.

• Lowest pay grade

  €1,277.72 a month gross

  Set at the 2025 minimum wage, as the government states for the new pay scale.

• Highest basic salary

  €8,821 a month gross

  Government figure for the top of the 2025 scale.

• Adjustment from 1 April 2026

  +0.9%

  Pay grade values and basic salaries rose by 0.9% under Article 104 of the ZSTSPJS.

• Doctors and nurses in public institutions: Set by the pay grade of the postPay rises phased in until January 2028; ask your employer for the grade and basic salary.
• Trainees, sekundariat and specialty trainees: Employed and paid during trainingThe ZPPKZD says you are employed on a trainee, sekundarij or specialty trainee post while you complete supplementary conditions.
• Private providers: Set by employerNo national scale outside the public sector.