PIS (Panhellenic Medical Association): Licence and Exams

• Certificate to practise medicine (βεβαίωση άσκησης ιατρικού επαγγέλματος), valid across Greece
• Medical specialty titles, after the Greek specialty exam
• Automatic recognition of specialty titles obtained in EU member states
• Recognition of specialty titles from the USA (current American Board of Medical Specialties certification), valid only in Greece
• Temporary licence for EU doctors providing temporary and occasional services
• Certificates of good professional practice, current professional status (good standing) and specialty training time

• A medical degree from a Greek university, an EU degree recognised under Presidential Decree 38/2010, or a foreign degree recognised by DOATAP as equivalent to a Greek medical degree.
• For degrees from outside the EU: a copy of the foreign degree, its official translation and the DOATAP equivalence decision.
• The licence to practise medicine from your country of training.
• The necessary knowledge of Greek. EU citizens and third-country nationals with EU rights submit a B2 certificate; graduates of Greek schools or universities, and doctors whose degree DOATAP recognised after exams, are exempt from the certificate.
• No deprivation of civil rights or judicial guardianship, and no final conviction for the offences the decision lists, such as theft, fraud, forgery, drug offences or sexual offences.
• For third-country nationals without EU rights: a copy of your residence permit and work permit.
• The decision also lists, as a condition, that no more than two years have passed since the DOATAP equivalence decision. If yours is older, ask PIS what it needs before you apply.
• The €80 fee for the certificate to practise.

Check your route with the route finder

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   1. Get DOATAP equivalence for your medical degree

   Apply to DOATAP through eDoatap and pass its preclinical and clinical exams in Athens. PIS will not accept a non-EU degree without the DOATAP decision. Plan this stage first, because the exams run only twice a year and the question bank is in Greek.
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   2. Prepare translated and apostilled documents

   Foreign documents need an apostille from the country of issue and an official Greek translation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a sworn translator of the Ionian University, a lawyer in Greece or the official translator of a Greek consulate. Untranslated or uncertified documents are the usual reason a file is returned.
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   3. Create an account on the PIS platform

   Applications are made electronically through the PIS online platform, where you upload the application form and documents together. PIS announced in 2019 that supporting documents must be submitted at the same time as the application, not afterwards.
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   4. Submit the application for the certificate to practise

   Upload the application, two colour photos, your passport, your foreign degree with translation and the DOATAP decision, your home licence, a solemn declaration on criminal convictions and proof of the €80 fee paid into the PIS bank account. Third-country nationals without EU rights add their residence and work permit. PIS checks your Greek criminal record itself.
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   5. Receive the certificate

   The decision says PIS must issue its decisions as soon as possible and no later than one month after your application. If the certificate has not been issued within three months of your application, you may work. The certificate states that you meet all the conditions to practise medicine throughout Greece and is signed by the PIS President.
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   6. Register with your local medical association

   Join the medical association for the area where you will work. You need this registration for specialty exams, for hospital and auxiliary doctor posts and for good standing certificates, which PIS issues on the basis of the local association's confirmation.
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   7. Apply for specialty recognition or the specialty exam

   If you hold a current American board certification, apply to PIS for recognition with a €30 fee. Otherwise, ask the Ministry of Health to recognise your specialty training abroad after an opinion from the Central Health Council, then apply to PIS to sit the Greek specialty exam, at least 20 days before the exam date PIS announces. Each sitting costs €30.
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   8. Keep your certificate valid

   PIS suspends the certificate after certain disciplinary penalties or criminal prosecutions and revokes it in the cases the decision lists, including five continuous years without practising or engaging with medical science, after an opinion from the Supreme Disciplinary Council of Doctors. Doctors whose practice certificate is renewed together with their residence permit deal with PIS for the renewal.

• DOATAP medicine exams (before you reach PIS)

  Two computer-based sections in Athens: preclinical sciences with 150 questions in 3 hours 45 minutes, and clinical sciences with 200 questions in 5 hours. The pass mark is 50% with negative marking and the fee is €70 per subject. These are DOATAP's exams, not PIS's, but you need them for a non-EU degree.

• Greek medical specialty exam

  Held before three-member examination committees appointed by the Minister of Health after an opinion from the Central Health Council, in a hospital chosen by the committee chair. The exams are held in Greek. Applicants who completed training abroad may choose their examination committee.

• Resits

  If you fail three times you must follow the specialty programme for six months and may sit twice more. The fourth attempt can be with another committee, and a fifth attempt is with the same committee. A new application for a resit needs no new documents, but the €30 fee applies to each sitting.

• PIS does not use an English test. Its requirement is the necessary knowledge of Greek for practising medicine.
• EU citizens and third-country nationals with EU rights submit a B2 Greek certificate from the Centre for the Greek Language, the Modern Greek Language Teaching Centre of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens or the School of Modern Greek Language of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
• The certificate is not required for graduates of Greek secondary education or of a Greek university, or for doctors whose degree DOATAP recognised as equivalent after exams.
• Employers may ask for more. ESY Consultant and Director posts require a B2 certificate or a certificate from the Central Health Council's Greek language committee, and auxiliary doctor lists ask foreign doctors for a Greek language certificate.
• Specialty exams are held in Greek, so plan to keep improving your medical Greek after you receive the certificate to practise.

Estimate your total cost

• Certificate to practise: PIS must issue it within one month of your application, according to Decision Β' 1373/2019.
• If it has not been issued within three months of your application, the decision says you may work.
• Specialty title recognition (EU and USA): the official Mitos procedure gives a three-month deadline; an incomplete application cannot stay open for more than 90 days.
• Specialty exam: applications close at least 20 days before the exam dates PIS announces.
• Before PIS: DOATAP exams are held twice a year, and reaching the Greek level needed for those exams usually takes the most time.