Professional Qualification Requirements guide

UAE Healthcare PQR (Professional Qualification Requirements) Guide for Professionals

Read the UAE Professional Qualification Requirements against the exact title you want to hold. This guide shows how to connect the qualification table, its footnotes, your career history and the receiving authority instructions.

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Guide overview

A shared framework with title-specific requirements

MOHAP, DOH Abu Dhabi, DHA and SHA jointly publish the healthcare PQR. It provides a basis for assessing education, experience and licensure. Your professional category and the receiving authority process still need individual review.

Professional titleQualification contextExperience and recent practiceLicensure and verification history

A review you can trace

Build a requirement-to-evidence worksheet

For each requirement, keep four things together: where you found it, what evidence you have, what remains uncertain and who can resolve it. This prevents a promising title match from hiding an unanswered condition.

On smaller screens, scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Review item	Record in your notes	Question to resolve
Requested title	Exact title, profession chapter, edition and page or section.	Is this the intended scope of work, or only a similar name?
Qualification	Full award, issuer, course duration, study mode and relevant transcript.	Does the evidence address every condition in the row and footnotes?
Experience	Dated roles, working pattern, duties and supporting registration.	Which completed periods need clarification before counting them?
Current practice	Last clinical work, breaks and later training or professional activity.	How should the authority classify those dates and activities?
Assessment or exemption	Prior attempts, results and the exact credential supporting any exemption request.	Does the title-specific provision apply, and what evidence is still needed?
Later updates	Official notice date, affected titles and receiving service instructions.	Does a later update change the provision you were about to use?

Keep uncertainty visible

Finish with a review note, not a guessed verdict

Mark each item as evidence available, evidence to obtain or authority clarification needed. Keep the reason beside the label. “Experience to clarify: one letter omits the role dates” is more useful than “probably eligible”.

Illustrative situation: a job advertisement uses a senior title, while an applicant’s award and experience appear to align with a different category. Keep both titles in the review note and ask which title the facility intends to license. Do not change the applicant’s records to fit the advertisement.

Retain the worksheet when a new document arrives. Update the affected item and record what changed, rather than restarting the review from an unlabelled folder of certificates.

Reading references checked 20 September 2026: DOH PQR introduction and April 2025 unified PQR. The graduate update is identified separately below. This worksheet is independent preparation guidance.

Key things to know

Key Things to Know

Read the profession chapter and title row together with the general provisions, footnotes and later authority updates. Do not borrow the requirements for a similar-sounding role.

Qualification evidence

Write the full award name, institution, country, study duration and graduation date. Keep basic qualifications separate from specialty or postgraduate awards.

Experience timeline

List each role with start and end dates, working pattern and registration coverage. Separate completed clinical work from internships, teaching, training and future plans.

Professional standing

Keep licence and good-standing records alongside the career timeline. Check the destination service for the relevant issuer, validity and recency requirements.

Title and scope

Record the exact requested title. A job advertisement, overseas designation or degree name may not match the authority title; highlight that mismatch before applying.

Shared qualification framework

What the Healthcare PQR Covers

The unified healthcare PQR provides a shared qualification framework for MOHAP, DOH Abu Dhabi, DHA and SHA. Read the relevant title and category provisions alongside the receiving authority’s current application instructions.

Four authorities, one standard

The PQR Committee is made up of MOHAP, the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, the Dubai Health Authority and the Sharjah Health Authority. The document refers to them collectively as the Authorities, and its requirements are the shared floor for all four.

This version cancels the ones before it

The April 2025 edition is the third, and it states it is published “invalidating previous versions”. Guidance quoting an earlier PQR is quoting a document the Authorities have withdrawn.

Each authority can still add to it

Meeting the PQR is the baseline, not the whole test. Internal licensing processes and privileges remain subject to each authority's own policies.

An unlisted qualification needs clarification

Check the provision for the relevant profession and ask the authority how an unlisted award should be assessed. Do not assume a committee review is available for every qualification or that it guarantees a title.

Sources: UAE Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements (PQR), April 2025
Checked 30 August 2026. Issued jointly by MOHAP, DOH Abu Dhabi, DHA and SHA. Each authority may add its own requirements on top.

Read the applicable provisions

General Requirements and Category Conditions

These selected provisions have different scopes. Check the professional category, exceptions and later authority updates before applying a rule to an individual case.

Distance learning does not count

Qualifications acquired through honorary nature, correspondence, distance-learning or equivalency criteria are not counted towards the PQR requirements. Hybrid certificates are not accepted either, except those issued during exceptional periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

A General Practitioner degree must be five years

Physicians applying for the General Practitioner title must have completed a medical degree of not less than five years, excluding the internship year.

Internship is one year, and missing it costs two

All physicians and dentists must complete a one-year internship post-graduation. Without evidence of it, an additional two years of experience is required instead.

Check the graduate update before arranging six-month training

The April 2025 PQR contains graduate training provisions with exceptions. MOHAP’s 2 April 2026 announcement removed the six-month experience requirement for specified nursing and allied-health graduate roles. Confirm the exact title and current authority implementation before purchasing training.

Teaching and volunteering do not count as experience

Experience must be hands-on clinical experience gained by a licensed professional during salaried employment. Non-clinical and teaching experience is not considered. Part-time counts only above 400 hours a year.

Check good-standing recency at application

It must be valid and not older than six months at the time of applying, and must cover the minimum required experience for the title. It is issued by the regulator in the country of last employment, or by the last employer where no regulator exists.

You cannot get a GSC in your first three months

The Authorities will not issue a Good Standing Certificate until the professional has completed three months of clinical experience from the date the licence was issued.

Surgical specialties need a logbook

Physicians and dentists in surgical specialties must provide a logbook covering the common aspects of the specialty, signed and stamped by the medical director or head of department. It is a prerequisite for licensing, and again every two years for renewal.

Three attempts, counted across all four authorities

The applicant is granted three attempts to pass the examination across the Authorities, and must declare how many attempts they have already taken. Failing in one emirate does not reset the count in another.

A fourth attempt exists, with conditions

After failing three times with one authority, one final attempt may be granted with a different authority — or with the same one, on a declaration that no other UAE regulator has failed them. This does not apply to upgrading to a consultant title with Tier 3 qualifications.

Further attempts need the applicable reapplication route

The PQR describes further-attempt provisions for a qualifying lower title, or reapplication after an additional recognised qualification or at least two years of clinical experience after the last attempt for the same title. Declare the complete attempt history and confirm which provision applies before booking.

The oral exam is at least five scenarios, in English

All examinations are conducted in English and no translator is allowed in the oral examination. An oral consists of a minimum of five different scenarios or questions in the specialty.

Residents and interns can move facilities without a new licence

Residents and interns in an approved training programme may transfer between health facilities nationwide on their existing licence, provided they hold valid medical malpractice insurance.

Returning to clinical practice

Gap-of-Practice Requirements in the April 2025 PQR

The April 2025 PQR describes requirements for discontinuity in clinical practice exceeding three years. Its table is reproduced below as a reference. The receiving authority must confirm the applicable band, approved training and eligibility for your circumstances; the table is not an assurance of recovery or approval.

Time out of practice	Physicians / Dentists	Nurses	Allied Health / Pharmacists	TCIM
3 to under 4 years	80 credits + 6 months training	40 credits + 6 months	20 credits + 6 months	20 credits + 6 months
4 to under 5 years	120 credits + 8 months training	60 credits + 8 months	30 credits + 8 months	30 credits + 8 months
5 to 10 years — UAE nationals and Children of Emirati Women only	200 credits + 12 months training	100 credits + 12 months	50 credits + 12 months	50 credits + 12 months

These are document-specific reference bands, not a guarantee of eligibility. Confirm how the authority classifies your exact dates, title and circumstances before arranging training.

Planning renewal

Annual CME/CPD Reference Requirements

These are the annual minimum CME/CPD figures in the April 2025 PQR. Check the receiving authority’s renewal period, accepted activities, credit rules and submission requirements separately.

Licensing category	Minimum CME/CPD per year
Physicians and Dentists	40
Nurses	20
Pharmacists	20
Allied Health	10
Traditional Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM)	10

CME/CPD must be relevant to the field of the specialty. Where a professional holds more than one title, DHA states the targets are added together rather than the higher one applying.

A change of authority

Conditions for Licence Recognition

The PQR sets conditions for recognition between its participating authorities. Recognition does not replace the receiving authority application or establish automatic permission to practise at a new facility.

Recognition has examination-exemption conditions

Professionals who meet the PQR requirements are eligible for examination exemption when moving between the Authorities, provided they have not already exceeded the permitted attempts for that title.

A different title needs its own requirements

The applicant is granted the same title previously held, if that title is listed in the PQR. A higher or lower title requires meeting that title's requirements from scratch.

A suspension in one emirate applies in all of them

If a licence is suspended or revoked by one authority, the same decision is applied by every other UAE authority where that professional is licensed.

An expired licence has a six-month window

If the licence is expired or cancelled, it must not be more than six months past expiry at the time of application.

Under three months of experience, the facility can vouch

A valid GSC and full PSV report are required. Where experience is under three months and a GSC cannot be issued, a certificate from the last health facility is accepted instead.

The receiving authority still controls its process

Keep the current licence, status, title, PSV and good-standing evidence available. The receiving authority’s internal licensing processes and privileges remain applicable.

Authority and profession context

Authority and Profession Context

Identify profession and titleClarify the intended professional category and title.
Review authority routeCheck the target emirate, facility and applicable authority.
Consider PQR factorsReview qualification, experience, licence history and verification context.
Plan next stepsUse profile-based guidance before verification or application.

Practical checklist

Profile Details Relevant to PQR Review

The following information can help a profile-based PQR review.

Profession and intended title

Highest qualification

Graduation year

Clinical or professional experience

Recent practice

Current or last professional licence

Good-standing context

Target authority and emirate

Important: Exact requirements depend on your authority, profession, title and individual case. This page does not collect document attachments.

Prepare carefully

Common Mistakes When Reading the PQR

Confusing PQR with DataFlow

Treating qualification-requirement review (PQR) and document verification (DataFlow/PSV) as the same step.

Miscounting the practice gap

Underestimating time out of clinical practice, which can trigger extra CME/CPD or retraining requirements.

Applying for the wrong title tier

Applying for a title the qualification and experience profile does not yet support.

Assuming an old GSC still counts

Relying on a Good Standing Certificate issued too long before the application.

Assuming exam attempts reset per authority

Assuming a failed attempt with one authority does not count toward the shared PQR attempt limit.

Assuming automatic recognition

Assuming an international qualification or exam is recognised without checking it is on PQR's specific list.

When to ask for expert guidance

When to Ask for a PQR Review

Ask for profile-based PQR guidance when you are uncertain about the correct title, authority, experience context or next licensing step.

Independent consultancy support.

UAEHealthPro provides profile-based guidance and preparation support. We do not control authority decisions, verification outcomes or assessment results.

Start a profile review

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MOHAP / MOH License UAE

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SHA License Sharjah

CDA Social Care License Dubai

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UAE Healthcare PQR Guide FAQs

Questions About UAE Healthcare PQR Guide

What does PQR mean?

PQR means Professional Qualification Requirements. The unified healthcare document provides a shared basis for MOHAP, DOH Abu Dhabi, DHA and SHA to assess professional qualifications, experience and licensing requirements.

Where should I start reading the PQR?

Start with the exact professional category and intended title. Save the title row and footnotes, then read the applicable general provisions. Record the edition and check for later authority updates before relying on a requirement.

Does the shared PQR mean one application works for every authority?

No. Shared qualification requirements do not replace the receiving authority application, verification, assessment or facility-related process. Choose the intended facility and route before preparing the final submission.

Is there one experience requirement for all healthcare titles?

No. Use the specific title row, category conditions and applicable updates. A blanket claim such as two years for everyone can mislead applicants whose title has a different requirement or exemption.

Do all nursing and allied-health graduates need six months of experience?

Do not apply that rule to everyone. MOHAP announced an exemption for specified graduate roles in April 2026. Check the listed title and the current receiving authority instructions; the announcement does not remove every other licensing requirement.

Does a positive DataFlow report prove I meet the PQR?

No. Verification and qualification eligibility answer different questions. Match each verified credential to the requirement for the title you are applying for.

Does the healthcare PQR decide eligibility for every CDA role?

No. A CDA social care application needs the relevant CDA category and qualification rules. Clarify the role and facility before deciding which framework applies.

What if my qualification is not clearly listed?

Record the exact award and the closest relevant provision, then ask the authority how it should be assessed. Do not rename the qualification or select a different title just to force a match.

How should I prepare if I have a practice gap?

Give exact dates and describe the work performed before and after the break. Use the gap table as a reference, then ask the receiving authority to confirm the applicable training, assessment and eligibility conditions.

What should a useful PQR review produce?

A clear record of the title considered, the requirements checked, the evidence available and the unresolved questions. Independent guidance can help organise that review; only the authority can decide the application.

Start with your profile

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