Terviseamet (Estonian Health Board): Registration and Exams

• Nurse (õde)
• Midwife (ämmaemand)
• Pharmacist (proviisor)
• Assistant pharmacist or dispenser (farmatseut)

• Doctor (arst), including registration of a specialty (eriarst)
• Dentist (hambaarst), including specialist dentists such as orthodontists

• A diploma as a doctor, dentist, nurse or midwife obtained outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland (this third-country route is set out for these four professions).
• A written evaluation of your qualification from the Estonian ENIC/NARIC centre at Harno.
• A completed registration application form, a copy of your identity document, and copies of your diploma and diploma supplement.
• Letters from your employers covering your work in the last five years, meeting the Health Board's requirements for work descriptions.
• Payment of the €260 state fee.
• Copies notarised or certified by a sworn translator, and translations into Estonian or English of anything in another language.
• Enough Estonian to complete work practice and a theory exam in Estonian, and an Estonian personal identification code for the practice period.
• For specialists: proof of specialist training at least equivalent in duration to the Estonian specialist training.

Check your route with the route finder

1. 1

   1. Get your Harno evaluation

   Apply to the Estonian ENIC/NARIC centre by email with your diploma, transcript and identity document. It is free and Harno replies within 30 days of a complete file. The Health Board asks for this statement before anything else, so do it first.
2. 2

   2. Prepare the Health Board application

   Use the healthcare professional registration application form in Estonian. Add the work experience letters for the last five years following the Health Board's work description requirements, and translate them into Estonian if needed. Pharmacists use a separate form.
3. 3

   3. Pay the state fee

   Pay €260 to the Ministry of Finance (Rahandusministeerium) with reference number 2900082333, at SEB, Swedbank, LHV or Luminor. Keep the payment confirmation for your application.
4. 4

   4. Send the application and wait for verification

   The Health Board reviews your credentials within three months and decides whether you are eligible for the compliance examination. If you are, it issues a referral that is valid for about one year.
5. 5

   5. Arrange the compliance examination

   Doctors and dentists contact the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tartu; nurses and midwives choose Tallinn Health Care College or Tartu Health Care College. Either contact them yourself or authorise the Health Board to forward your file.
6. 6

   6. Complete the work practice

   The work practice lasts up to six months and can be extended to 12. You need an Estonian personal identification code, and non-EU nationals need short-term employment registered with the Police and Border Guard Board first. Dentists arrange and pay for their practice base privately; specialist orthodontists are reimbursed.
7. 7

   7. Pass the theory exam

   The theory exam takes place within 12 months of finishing the work practice. If you fail the work practice, you can only try again after at least six months; a failed theory exam also carries a waiting period before the resit.
8. 8

   8. Registration

   The Health Board decides on registration within one month of your successful examination. Your entry then appears in the healthcare professionals register, which employers check before you start.

• Compliance examination: work practice

  Supervised clinical work in Estonian, up to six months and extendable to 12, at a practice base arranged with the University of Tartu (doctors, dentists) or Tallinn or Tartu Health Care College (nurses, midwives).

• Compliance examination: theory

  A theory examination in Estonian held within 12 months of completing the work practice. For dentists, the Health Board's guidance links to the University of Tartu's revision questions for its dentistry final exam.

• Estonian language proficiency exam

  Not part of the Health Board procedure, but the employment language rules require C1 for doctors and pharmacists and B2 for nurses and midwives. Harno runs the exams free each quarter.

• The Health Board does not ask for an English test.
• Documents may be translated into Estonian or English for the application; translations must be professional, and copies notarised or certified by a sworn translator.
• The compliance examination, both work practice and theory, is conducted in Estonian.
• The government regulation on language proficiency requires C1 Estonian for doctors and pharmacists (§ 9) and at least B2 for nurses, midwives and physiotherapists (§ 8).
• Work experience letters must be in Estonian or come with a professional translation.

Estimate your total cost

• Harno evaluation: within 30 days of complete documents, Harno says.
• Health Board verification: within three months of your application.
• Referral validity: about one year from issue.
• Work practice: up to six months, extendable to 12; theory exam within 12 months of finishing the practice.
• Registration: decision within one month of passing. Add the time to reach C1 or B2 Estonian, which the Health Board does not estimate.