Gesundheitsberuferegister (GBR): Registration and Exams

• Diplomierte Gesundheits- und Krankenpflegerin / Diplomierter Gesundheits- und Krankenpfleger (registered nurse, DGKP), registered by GÖG or the Arbeiterkammer.
• Pflegefachassistentin / Pflegefachassistent (two-year nursing assistant), registered by the Arbeiterkammer only.
• Pflegeassistentin / Pflegeassistent (one-year nursing assistant), registered by the Arbeiterkammer only.
• Diplomierte Operationstechnische Assistentin / Assistent (operating technical assistant), registered by the Arbeiterkammer only.
• Physiotherapists, biomedical scientists (Biomedizinische Analytik), radiographers (Radiologietechnologie), dietitians, occupational therapists, speech therapists (Logopädie) and orthoptists: the seven MTD professions.
• Midwives and doctors are not in the GBR: doctors register with the Austrian Medical Chamber, and the Hochschule Campus Wien names the Hebammengremium as the authority for midwives.

• A nostrification decision for a third-country qualification, or EU recognition for qualifications from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland.
• German at B2 for registered nurses, operating technical assistants and the MTD professions except speech therapy, C1 for speech therapy and B1 for Pflegeassistenz and Pflegefachassistenz.
• A recognised language certificate from a completed exam, such as ÖSD, ÖIF, Goethe, telc, TestDaF or the University of Vienna language centre; a placement test, self-test or attendance certificate is not enough.
• No certificate is usually needed if German is your mother tongue, you completed at least a year of education or training in Austria, Germany, Switzerland or South Tyrol, or you have at least a year of work in a health or social profession there.
• Sworn German translations of foreign documents, made by court-certified translators.
• For early registration with an open nostrification: a conditional decision and German at B1.
• An intention to work in the profession in Austria; registration is also allowed, but not required, if you are not currently working or work only abroad.

Check your route with the route finder

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   1. Find the right recognition body

   With a non-EU diploma, registered nurses, midwives and MTD professionals apply to a Fachhochschule that teaches the subject, and nursing assistants to their provincial government. The ministry's information sheet lists all nine provincial offices. EEA-trained applicants, and third-country nurses recognised in the EEA with three years' work there, apply to the ministry instead.
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   2. Apply for nostrification at one Fachhochschule

   Applications at Hochschule Campus Wien are online only and need your diploma in the original, transcript, the official curriculum from your own university, a CV, passport, proof of experience and, for nursing, a summary of clinical placement hours. Documents must be legalised where required and translated into German or English by a sworn translator. You may not apply to several Fachhochschulen at once.
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   3. Take part in the competence assessment

   The Fachhochschule compares your training with its own degree and may hold a competence assessment interview, which is not a graded exam and has no preparation material. It is usually in German; if your German is not enough, a court-sworn interpreter is brought in and, since January 2026 at Hochschule Campus Wien, you pay for it.
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   4. Receive the decision and complete the conditions

   If your training is broadly equivalent, you receive a conditional decision listing courses, exams or placements to complete as an extraordinary student before a deadline. You need German at the Fachhochschule's level before starting; for nursing at Hochschule Campus Wien, B1 plus enrolment in a B2 course is enough until summer semester 2027. If equivalence is refused, you can apply for the regular bachelor's degree and ask for credit.
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   5. Register early if you want to work during the conditions

   With a conditional decision and B1 German, you may register in the GBR and work in the profession for up to two years from registration. Alternatively, the provincial government can authorise supervised work for further training under section 34 or 89a of the GuKG for up to a year, extendable to two years for registered nurses, without GBR entry.
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   6. Apply to the GBR after full nostrification

   Once you hold the final confirmation, apply online or in person in Vienna by appointment; applications by email or post are not accepted. GÖG handles registered nurses and MTD professions unless you are an employed Arbeiterkammer member, in which case the Arbeiterkammer registers you. Contact GÖG before you book a language course if you are unsure whether a certificate will be accepted.
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   7. Receive your confirmation and professional ID

   After successful registration you receive a confirmation of entry and a Berufsausweis valid for five years.
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   8. Renew every five years

   Registration lasts five years. To keep your right to practise, you must extend it for another five years before it expires.

• Competence assessment (Kompetenzeinschätzung)

  An interview, online or on site, that Fachhochschulen may use alongside your documents to check profession-specific knowledge. Hochschule Campus Wien says it is not a graded exam, cannot be repeated and has no preparation material.

• Supplementary courses and exams

  Set in your nostrification decision and taken as an extraordinary student under a training contract with the Fachhochschule, in German or English according to the curriculum. The AST notes very good German is needed. For nursing assistants, nostrification courses are run by nursing schools, for example in Vienna.

• German certificate

  A completed exam at the level for your profession: B1, B2 or C1 for the GBR, and the Fachhochschule's own level for supplementary courses (at Hochschule Campus Wien, B2 for nursing, C1 for physiotherapy, biomedical science, midwifery and occupational therapy, C2 for speech therapy).

• Commission exams for nursing assistants

  Vienna's MA 40 says recognition of nursing assistant and similar qualifications is usually conditional on theory or practical training at a nursing school and/or commission exams, decided during the procedure.

• The GBR does not accept English tests. Its language requirement is German.
• B2 for registered nurses (DGKP), operating technical assistants and all MTD professions except speech therapy; C1 for speech therapy; B1 for Pflegeassistenz and Pflegefachassistenz.
• Accepted proof includes the Österreichisches Sprachdiplom (ÖSD), the ÖIF test, Goethe-Institut, telc, TestDaF and the University of Vienna language centre course with a passed exam.
• Exemptions: German as mother tongue; at least one year of full-time education or training in Austria, Germany, Switzerland or South Tyrol; a German-language school leaving certificate; at least a year of work in a health or social profession in those countries; or supplementary measures that ensured the language, which always counts if they lasted a year.
• Fachhochschule courses may also be taught partly in English, so English skills are assumed there.

Estimate your total cost

• Fachhochschule nostrification: Hochschule Campus Wien does not publish a processing time; the decision sets a deadline for any conditions.
• Early working: up to two years of practice from GBR registration while completing conditions, with B1 German.
• Supervised further-training permit: up to one year, extendable to two years for registered nurses.
• EEA nurses: the ministry's One-Stop procedure can issue recognition within an hour if the qualification is on its list.
• Registration: valid for five years, then renewed for five more.
• Overall: no official total timeline is published; learning German to B1 and B2 is usually the longest stage.