The language requirements for the medical profession are high in order to guarantee the quality of medical care. Meanwhile, almost all federal states of Germany have commissioned the state Medical Associations to carry out a medical language examination (»Fachsprachenprüfung«) for physicians coming from abroad. In 2012 the first medical language test was developed and realised by the Rhineland-Palatinate Medical Association, and now all federal Medical Associations have established a nationwide offer.

Many doctors who apply for a license to practise medicine in Germany (»Approbation«) do not know which certificates are officially recognised. Some applicants pay a lot of money and invest a lot of time in the hope of »bypassing« the medical language examinations in front of the state Medical Associations, which are considered to be challenging. Then they acquire certificates and learn afterwards that these are not accepted by the approval authorities in their federal state. Weiterlesen →