MSSS Luxembourg: Authorisation, Requirements and Fees

• General practitioners and medical specialists, with a professional register kept by the ministry and a register maintained by the Collège médical.
• Dentists, under the same law as doctors.
• Pharmacists, under their own procedure.
• Nurses, including anaesthesia and intensive care nurses, paediatric nurses, psychiatric nurses and head nurses.
• Midwives, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, dietitians, orthoptists, osteopaths, chiropodists, psychomotor therapists and curative teachers.
• Technical and support professions: surgical, laboratory and radiology technical assistants, laboratory assistants, masseurs, social workers, social and hygiene workers and nursing auxiliaries.
• The register of healthcare professions lists the contact details of every licensed health professional, who must keep them up to date.

• Nationality of an EU or EEA state or Switzerland, or of a third country with a valid residence permit or international protection.
• No ban, temporary or permanent, from practising in the country where you last practised, and no disqualification proceedings under way.
• For doctors: a basic medical diploma plus either specific training in general medicine or a medical specialisation.
• For doctors with non-EU diplomas: recognition in another EU member state allowing you to practise there on an equal footing with holders of the Annex V diplomas of Directive 2005/36/EC.
• For nurses and other health professions with non-EU diplomas: a recognition decree from the MESR (or the Ministry of Education), unless you are a general care nurse or midwife with an Annex V qualification.
• B2 in French or German, unless your mother tongue is French, German or Luxembourgish.
• Good repute, shown by a criminal record extract no more than 3 months old, and good physical and mental health, shown by a doctor's certificate no more than 3 months old.
• For doctors: a certificate of good character from the Order of Physicians dated within 3 months, and a CV.

Check your route with the route finder

1. 1

   1. Secure your qualification recognition

   Doctors bring their EU recognition and their licence to practise from that EU country. Nurses and other professionals bring the MESR recognition decree, after completing any aptitude test or adaptation period it required. Applying without this step leads to refusal and the fee is not refunded.
2. 2

   2. Prepare language proof

   Show B2 in French or German by your training certificates, by professional experience in a French or German-speaking country, or by a B2 certificate from an approved centre such as the INLL. Native speakers of French, German or Luxembourgish are exempt.
3. 3

   3. Get recent certificates

   Order your criminal record extract and medical certificate so that they are no more than 3 months old when you apply. If you have lived in your current country for less than a year, health professionals also need a criminal record extract from the countries where they practised before.
4. 4

   4. Translate where needed

   Any document not in French, German or Luxembourgish needs a translation into one of those languages by a sworn translator. English documents therefore also need translation for the licence application.
5. 5

   5. Apply on MyGuichet.lu and pay

   Use the online procedure for a licence to practise in the health sector, with or without authentication. Pay €450 (doctors) or €75 (other health professions) by card at the end; one fee is due for each title or profession. If you paid by bank transfer, send the application by post.
6. 6

   6. Opinion of the Collège médical (doctors)

   The ministry forwards complete doctors' files to the Collège médical, which gives its opinion in 3 weeks to 3 months. Missing documents delay the clock, so check the list before you submit.
7. 7

   7. Decision and registration

   The decision arrives by post. Doctors register in the ministry's and the Collège médical's registers within one month of starting work and take out civil liability insurance. If refused, doctors can appeal to the administrative tribunal within one month, and other professionals within 3 months.

• No licensing exam at the ministry

  The ministry's licence procedure is a document check. Guichet.lu does not list a national licensing examination for doctors or nurses.

• Compensation measures at the MESR

  For nurses and other health professions, the MESR can make recognition conditional on an aptitude test, an adaptation period or both, where it finds substantial differences between your knowledge and skills and the Luxembourg professional profile. The details are given in the decision letter.

• Language certificate

  If you cannot prove B2 French or German through your training or work history, you sit a B2 examination at an approved centre. In Luxembourg that is the National Institute for Languages Luxembourg (INLL).

• English is not accepted for the licence. The required level is B2 in French or German.
• Native speakers of French, German or Luxembourgish do not need to prove their level.
• Proof can be training certificates obtained in French or German, or professional experience in a French or German-speaking country.
• Otherwise, provide a B2 certificate from an approved examination centre; the approved centre in Luxembourg is the INLL.
• Nurses and other health professionals must also understand one of Luxembourg's administrative languages: German, French or Luxembourgish.

Estimate your total cost

• Doctors: the Collège médical gives its opinion between 3 weeks and 3 months after the file is complete.
• Nurses and other professions: Guichet.lu does not publish a processing time for the licence or the MESR recognition.
• Supporting certificates: criminal record and health certificates must be no more than 3 months old, so time them close to submission.
• After the licence: start practising within 2 years, or it lapses. Doctors register within one month of starting.
• Return to work: after 5 years or more without practising, health professionals complete a reintegration training course.

1. 1Guichet.lu: General and specialist medical practitioners
2. 2Guichet.lu: Regulated healthcare professions
3. 3Guichet.lu: Recognition of foreign qualifications for a regulated profession
4. 4Guichet.lu: Health sector
5. 5Ministry of Health and Social Security