Medical, dental or pharmacy student trained outside of the EU/EEA

Students who are studying medicine, dentistry or pharmacy abroad must register in the register of health care professionals if they wish to work as a temporarily legalised health care professional in Finland. Valvira registers student rights to practise in medicine, dentistry and pharmacy for students studying in Finland and abroad.

If you wish to apply for the right to practise as a student of dentistry or pharmacy, please contact the advisory service for the right to practise (below) for information on how to apply.

To register as a student of medicine, you must have acceptably completed your fifth-year studies in full, and you must have acceptably passed the first part (clinical examination) of the three-part examination held by the University of Tampere. You can take the clinical examination during your fifth-year studies. You do not need to take that examination again after graduation if you complete the second part of the three-part examination (health care administration) within 3 years of taking the first part.

Please note that you must apply for recognition of your medical degree after graduation. What this means is that you will need to take a break from practising your profession after your student right to practise expires, until Valvira has issued the decision to recognise your degree and you have then completed the required internship. Applications are processed in the order in which they are received.

After receiving the decision recognising your degree, you can begin the workplace training or internship required by Valvira, which will last for at least six months. Valvira will not credit any practical training that you have done before the recognition of your degree. If you have worked temporarily performing the duties of a physician as a medical student registered by Valvira in Finland, the time worked may be credited towards your six-month internship service.

Applying for the right to practise

Application form for student registration (pdf). Send your application with attachments to Valvira. The processing period is calculated from the time when Valvira has received all the required documents. Please do not send your application or attachments by e-mail in advance, because this will slow down the processing of your application.

The processing of an application in Valvira is subject to a fee. A fee is also charged for a withdrawn application. By submitting an application, you agree to the fees. Please check the prices at end of the instructions, under “Fees”. 

Send your completed application and appendices by mail to:
National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira)
PO Box 43
FI-00521 Helsinki

You must supply officially certified copies of the documents listed below. Copies can be officially certified by a notary public in Finland or in another EU or EEA Member State, or by a Finnish mission in other countries. Copies issued by a notary public outside the EU/EEA and furnished with an Apostille or Grand Legalisation are also acceptable. You must submit to Valvira, by mail, the copies that bear the original stamp and signature of the notary public or Finnish mission.

Please attach the following documents to your application:

  1. Passport, identity card issued in an EU/EEA Member State, alien’s passport or refugee travel document (proof of your identity and nationality). Please read the instructions on our website if you do not have a Finnish personal identity number.
  2. Academic transcript of studies completed 
  3. If you do not use the Valvira application form, please append an official statement from your university confirming that the studies you have completed are equivalent to 4th-year or 5th-year studies.
    This statement must include:
    a) details of when you began your studies and the date on which those studies were fully and acceptably completed
    b) your estimated date of graduation
    c) contact details of the university
    Valvira recommends that the university send its statement or the filled-out application form directly to Valvira by e-mail: [email protected]. In other cases, Valvira will verify your right to study on the basis of the information you supply. You may give several contact details to ensure that this verification can be performed even during holidays. This will significantly slow down the processing of your application.
  4. Translations into Finnish, Swedish or English of the documents listed in points 2–3.
    The translations must have been produced by an authorised translator in Finland or in another EU/EEA Member State. Authorised translators in Finland can be found through the online service of the National Agency For Education. If the translator is not an official or authorised translator in an EU/EEA Member State, the translation may nevertheless be acceptable if the translator’s status is confirmed by Apostille or Grand Legalisation.

Valvira may request further clarifications if necessary. The application documents will remain in Valvira, and it is not possible to get them back after a decision has been made. If you request for documents to be returned to you while the application process is ongoing, you must send in replacing documents that meet the formal requirements. This will significantly slow down the processing of your application.