Működési nyilvántartás (Hungarian practising register)

Hungary keeps two registers of health workers. The basic register (alapnyilvántartás) records your health qualification; Hungarian qualifications are usually entered automatically, and foreign qualifications once they are recognised. The practising register (működési nyilvántartás) proves that you may practise independently. OKFŐ says independent health activity is only allowed with a valid entry, and you can check entries in its public search.

Successful applicants are entered for a 5-year cycle and receive a practising register certificate, which is valid together with an identity card. Doctors and dentists are also entitled to use a medical stamp.

1. Have your foreign qualification recognised so that it appears in the basic register. Degree-level qualifications from outside the EU go to the Educational Authority (Oktatási Hivatal); see OKFŐ for the others.
2. Join the professional chamber: the Hungarian Medical Chamber (MOK) for doctors, dentists and clinical graduates, the Chamber of Pharmacists (MGYK) for pharmacists and the Chamber of Health Care Professionals (MESZK) for nurses and other professionals. OKFŐ says chamber membership is again a condition for doctors, dentists and clinical graduates from 22 October 2026, and it must stay active for the whole cycle.
3. Complete and sign the application form and pay the 4,000 Ft administrative fee.
4. Submit it through OKFŐ's practising register contacts. The deadline for a decision is 30 days from receipt, not counting time spent fixing gaps.

If more than 8 years have passed since you obtained your qualification, or since it was recognised in Hungary, and you are applying for the first time, you must first earn and prove the continuing education points normally needed for a renewal.

Before entry you can still work under supervision in some cases, which OKFŐ registers when notified. They include doing the adaptation period needed to recognise a foreign qualification, until you are entered in the basic register. The supervisor must hold the same or a higher qualification in the field, a valid entry and, for doctors and pharmacists, valid chamber membership. Supervision for those not yet entered can last at most 3 years.

• Losing chamber membership. If it ends during your cycle, OKFŐ removes you from the register.
• Missing documents. OKFŐ issues an order to fill gaps with a deadline; the procedure can be suspended for up to 6 months, after which it is closed.
• Re-entry after deletion. Getting back on the register costs 1,000 Ft, but OKFŐ checks every first-entry condition again and you must also meet the continuing education requirement.
• Name on the register. You choose between your own family and given name or your birth name, and that name goes on the certificate, your name badge and, for doctors, the stamp and prescriptions.

You also need a TAJ number for your own insurance. See Hungary.