EVC (épreuves de vérification des connaissances, France)

The EVC are the first stage of France's procedure for practitioners with diplomas from outside the EU, often called PADHUE. The Centre national de gestion (CNG) organises the tests, runs the national choice of posts and makes the assignments. They are a concours: you compete for a fixed number of posts in your specialty rather than reaching a pass mark.

For the 2026 external route the CNG's list of open posts gave a total of 1,003, all for doctors, across 13 specialties. The largest were internal and polyvalent medicine and clinical immunology (213), psychiatry (198) and geriatrics (110).

• Diploma. One that lets you practise as a doctor, dentist, midwife or pharmacist in a state outside the EU and EEA. You register in the specialty that matches your foreign diploma.
• Attempts. You can sit the EVC four times. Attempts before the 2021 session do not count.
• French. Proof of a sufficient level, such as a TCF or TEF at B2 or above, a DELF at B2 or above, a French baccalauréat or an equivalent French diploma, or an attestation that your whole course was taught in French. French nationals and nationals of French-speaking countries are exempt.
• List B. Refugees, stateless people, beneficiaries of asylum or subsidiary protection, and some French nationals sit on a separate list where only the average across the papers is needed.

On the external route you sit two anonymous written papers, one on fundamental knowledge and one on practical knowledge. Each lasts two hours, is marked out of 20 and has equal weight. A mark of 6 out of 20 or less in either paper rules you out. The internal route, for people already working in French hospitals under qualifying statuses, has a single multiple-choice paper on fundamental knowledge.

For 2026, registration ran from 17 June to 21 July, after an extension from 16 July, and the ARS had until 4 September to check files. Both routes sat on 23 October 2026 at the Espace Jean Monnet in Rungis, near Paris. Registration is free.

1. Watch the CNG website for the session announcement. The window lasts about a month, and missing it means waiting a year.
2. Prepare your ID, diplomas and French proof, translated into French where needed.
3. Submit one application on the online platform during the window. If you live in France you apply to the ARS where you live; from abroad you choose an ARS.
4. Keep the confirmation email. Filing more than one application leads to rejection.
5. Download your convocation from your candidate space before the exam.

Ranked candidates choose a hospital post in a national procedure and start the parcours de consolidation des compétences (PCC): two years of paid work as praticien associé for doctors and pharmacists, one year for dentists and midwives. Only then can you apply for the autorisation d'exercice. Common problems are untranslated documents, which lead to rejection, and choosing a specialty that does not match your specialist diploma. The CNG notes exceptions where some specialties, including psychiatry and internal medicine in 2026, opened without a specialist diploma from your country.