Berufserlaubnis (temporary permit to practise)

The Berufserlaubnis is set out in section 10 of the Bundesärzteordnung (BÄO) for doctors, section 13 of the Zahnheilkundegesetz for dentists and section 11 of the Bundes-Apothekerordnung for pharmacists. It allows you to practise temporarily on application if you have completed training for the profession. While it is valid you have the rights and duties of a doctor, but Germany's recognition portal stresses that it is still not an Approbation.

• Time: it can be granted or extended only up to a total of two years of practice in Germany.
• Scope: it can be restricted to particular activities and workplaces, and it is always revocable.
• Exceptions: it can go beyond two years only in a special individual case or for reasons of medical care, where the Approbation cannot be granted because training equivalence is missing. Extension for medical care reasons is limited to the area concerned.
• Who cannot get one: holders of a medical qualification from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, and holders of a third-country qualification already recognised by one of those states, unless the application shows a special interest in granting it.

The permit is mainly used by doctors with a third-country qualification while the equivalence assessment runs or while they prepare for the Kenntnisprüfung. It lets you work, usually in a hospital under supervision, and gain experience of German practice before the full licence. Nurses do not have a Berufserlaubnis: their licence is the permission to use the professional title under the Pflegeberufegesetz, and they work towards it through a Kenntnisprüfung or an adaptation period.

1. Apply to the same state authority that handles your Approbation, usually at the same time. The Recognition Finder names it.
2. Provide proof that your training is complete, your identity, good conduct and health, and the German level the state asks for. Ask whether it requires the Fachsprachprüfung first.
3. Be ready to name the post you will take up, because the permit can be tied to particular activities and workplaces.
4. Track the expiry date and plan your Kenntnisprüfung well inside the two-year limit.

• Changing employer can require a new or amended permit if yours names a workplace.
• Time already worked under earlier permits counts towards the two-year total.
• Practice differs between the 16 states, so ask your authority about its current approach before you plan around the permit.

Dentists and pharmacists have matching rules. For dentists, section 13 of the Zahnheilkundegesetz also caps the permit at a total of two years, with exceptions in special individual cases or for reasons of dental care. It also allows a permit, in exceptional cases, for people whose dental training abroad is not yet complete, restricted to particular activities and workplaces and possibly under the supervision of a licensed dentist. For pharmacists, section 11 of the Bundes-Apothekerordnung sets the same two-year total, with exceptions for reasons of medicines supply.