Latvian Health Inspectorate: Registration, Exams and Fees

• General care nurse (vispārējās aprūpes māsa) and nurses in nursing specialties: recognition of foreign qualifications
• Nursing assistant (māsas palīgs): recognition of foreign qualifications
• Dental assistant (zobārsta asistents): recognition of foreign qualifications
• Register of Medical Practitioners and Medical Support Staff, covering doctors, dentists, dental specialists, nurses, midwives, physician assistants, physiotherapists, biomedical laboratory assistants, radiologist assistants and others
• European Professional Card applications for nurses who qualified in the EU

• A nursing qualification that entitles you to practise in the country where you trained, with documents from that country on your right to practise (certificate, licence or registration).
• The application form in Annex 1 of Cabinet Regulation No. 827.
• A copy of your identity document.
• Diplomas and transcripts of your nursing education.
• Evidence of work experience, where you have it.
• A certificate of good character and absence of disciplinary action from your country of origin.
• Translations into Latvian of documents other than your ID, and legalisation of documents issued outside the EU and EFTA.
• For registration after recognition: a Latvian state language certificate and a certificate of good standing from your previous competent authority.

Check your route with the route finder

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   1. Submit your documents to the AIC

   The Inspectorate's service description says the application goes first to the AIC, at its offices in Riga, with the documents listed above. The fee of €240 is paid to the AIC's account. Check the AIC's current address and opening hours before you post anything.
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   2. AIC evaluation

   The AIC compares your education, qualification and the length of your practical training with Latvian requirements and prepares an evaluation report. It may ask you for more documents, and incomplete files are the main cause of delay at this stage.
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   3. Review by the Health Inspectorate

   The Inspectorate reviews the AIC's documents and your submissions and may consult experts. It then issues one of three decisions: full recognition with a certificate, partial recognition subject to an adaptation period or aptitude test, or non-recognition with information about the further training you would need.
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   4. Complete any compensation measure

   If an adaptation period or aptitude test is set, the decision tells you what will be assessed, where, and what it costs. Under Cabinet Regulation No. 71, nurses whose documents are not recognised under the EU directive are given one or the other without a choice. An adaptation period lasts no more than three years.
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   5. Prove Latvian

   The Inspectorate's service description says you must demonstrate state language proficiency after recognition and before registration. For nurses the level is C1 under Cabinet Regulation No. 157, tested by the State Education Development Agency.
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   6. Apply for first registration

   Send the registration card form, your diploma, your recognition certificate, your state language certificate and a certificate of good standing. You can submit through the official e-address, by email to [email protected], by post or in person. First registration is free and the Inspectorate decides within one month of a complete application.
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   7. Keep your registration and record changes

   Registration lasts five years. You must report changes in your employment within five days. To re-register you show at least 150 academic hours of training over the five years or pass a professional conformity exam, unless you hold a valid medical practitioner's certificate, in which case re-registration does not apply.
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   8. Check your entry in the public register

   The register can be searched online at registri.vi.gov.lv by surname. The Latvian Medical Association, for example, issues its certificates of professional status only once a doctor appears in the register, so confirm your entry is correct.

• Aptitude test or adaptation period

  The compensation measures the Inspectorate can set for nurses whose training differs from Latvian requirements. The content, place and cost are stated in the decision; the Inspectorate does not publish a standard test format.

• Professional conformity exam

  Required for first registration if your diploma was issued more than five years before you apply, and one of the two ways to re-register. Ask the Inspectorate who runs the exam for your profession.

• State language test

  Latvian at C1 for nurses, run by the State Education Development Agency. The state fee for non-EU nationals is €52.

• The Health Inspectorate does not accept English tests for recognition or registration. The requirement is Latvian.
• Nurses and midwives need Latvian at C1 under Cabinet Regulation No. 157, as do doctors, dentists and pharmacists.
• Foreign-educated applicants must submit a state language proficiency certificate with their first registration application.
• Documents for recognition must be translated into Latvian; the AIC says a notarised translation is not required.

Estimate your total cost

• Non-EU nursing qualifications: 6 to 12 months for the recognition decision, according to the Inspectorate.
• Members of the Latvian diaspora with qualifications from Australia, Brazil, New Zealand or NATO countries: 3 to 6 months.
• EU-qualified nurses: 3 months, or 1.5 months for diaspora members.
• Adaptation period, if set: up to three years.
• First registration: decided within one month of a complete application, then valid for five years.