BI-test (Netherlands)

If you trained outside the European Economic Area and want to work in a regulated health profession in the Netherlands, you apply to the BIG-register for a certificate of competence (verklaring van vakbekwaamheid). The BIG-register says that if you are a doctor, dentist or nurse, you must take a BI-test, which looks at the extent to which your knowledge and skills are equal to the Dutch level.

The parts differ by profession:

• Doctors: a written test of basic medical knowledge and a skills test with test subjects. From 1 March 2026, physicians no longer take the clinical knowledge section, a change made to run more tests and cut waiting times.
• Dentists: written knowledge tests and a practical skills assessment, organised with ACTA in Amsterdam.
• Nurses: a written knowledge test, a skills test and a clinical reasoning interview.

Only three professions take the BI-test: doctors, dentists and nurses with qualifications from outside the EU/EEA. Other professions covered by the certificate of competence procedure, such as pharmacists and physiotherapists, go straight to the CBGV assessment, which the BIG-register says normally happens within six weeks of the application being submitted. A positive outcome is then followed by BIG registration for the professions that require it.

1. Reach the required Dutch level, proven with an approved certificate: B2+ for doctors and dentists, B1 for nursing at secondary vocational level. You also prove English reading skills, at B2 for university-trained professions such as doctors and dentists. Certificates must be under two years old.
2. Apply online for a certificate of competence and send your documents.
3. Your diploma is assessed, then you are invited to the BI-test.
4. Results usually follow within 3 to 6 weeks.
5. The CBGV assesses your file and test results, normally within 12 weeks of the BI-test result, and advises the ministry.
6. You receive a decision: full recognition, extra training, or refusal. With a positive decision you apply for BIG registration.

The application and the CBGV assessment are free. The BI-test is charged by profession: the BIG-register lists €400 for nurses and €1,500 for dentists, and says these may change. It lists no fee for doctors, because there are no test places for doctors at the moment. BIG registration itself costs €85. Language courses, certified documents and translations are extra.

The BIG-register says the whole certificate of competence procedure takes between six months and one and a half years from application, and that any extra training required can take between three months and two years.

• No places for doctors. The BIG-register says there are no BI-test places for doctors at the moment and it is not known when it can schedule participants again. Its Dutch test page also says dentists' places for 2026 are full.
• Language certificates from the wrong provider or older than two years are not accepted.
• Expecting automatic recognition. The BI-test does not lead straight to registration. The CBGV may still advise extra training.

Our BI-test guide walks through each profession.