Studied medicine in an EU/EEA country? How to become a doctor in Norway

1Check you are on the right route

Medicine is a harmonised profession in the EU. If you can document a completed harmonised medical degree from an EU/EEA country, you have an automatic right to Norwegian authorisation (chapter 2 of the EEA regulation). You do not take the fagprøve, the course in national subjects or DataFlow verification. Those apply to applicants educated outside the EU/EEA.

The country of education decides the route, not your citizenship. A Norwegian who studied in Poland applies as EU/EEA-educated. The official page is “Apply for authorisation as a doctor, educated in the EU/EEA” (Norwegian).

2While you study: the student licence

If you want to work in Norway in the summer or in your final year, you can apply for a student licence (stud.med.) once you:

• have completed and passed all preclinical subjects, and
• as a rule have at most one year left to your expected final exam.

The licence can start at the earliest one year before the final exam. In Altinn you upload: a transcript showing the passed preclinical subjects, a confirmation from your university that you have passed the ninth semester and all preclinical subjects, and a confirmation of your expected final exam (date or month). All documents must be at most three months old and scanned in colour as PDF. Processing is continuous, within 3 months.

What the student licence does and does not allow

• You work in a hospital or institution, or as an assistant to a GP, under supervision.
• No independent practice, no back-up on-call duty and no out-of-hours emergency service.
• You can prescribe group B and C drugs on the supervising doctor's or hospital's prescriptions, but not reimbursable prescriptions in your own name.
• Your title is stud.med., not doctor.
• A student licence does not qualify you to start LIS1.

Source: Student licence, educated in the EU/EEA (Norwegian). If your university gave a wrong end date, or it changes, you apply again with a new confirmation.

3Get the documents from your country of study

You must attach:

• Diploma. If you have graduated but not yet received it, attach a formal Degree Certificate.
• Transcript.
• Certificate of Conformity: confirms that your degree meets the minimum requirements of the EU Professional Qualifications Directive. Issued by the competent authority in the country of study, in English.
• Certificate of Current Professional Status (CCPS): confirms your right to practise in the country of study and any other EEA country where you have held that right. Issued by the competent authority, in English, and no older than 3 months when sent.

In some countries you must appear in person at the authority to get these documents. Getting them is your responsibility. Find the right authority in the European Commission’s Regulated Professions Database.

Exceptions and special rules

• Sweden, Denmark, Finland or Iceland: you do not need a Certificate of Conformity or CCPS. If you hold the right to practise in a Nordic country but studied in another EEA country, you still need the Certificate of Conformity from the country of study.
• Poland, graduated before September 2016: also attach a personal certificate from the Polish health authorities. See regjeringen.no on the certificate.
• Poland, graduated in the last 12 months and not working or going to work as a doctor in Poland: you do not need a Certificate of Conformity or CCPS.

You may also be asked for

• A curriculum from your university for the years you studied, with contact details.
• Proof of a passed state exam, where your country requires one.
• Authorisation from the country of study or another country.
• Work certificates with position and tasks, letterhead and stamp, signed by a manager with name and title, and contact details. Do not send employment contracts.

4Get the documents into shape

• A scanned copy of the original, as PDF. Photos of documents are not accepted.
• If the original is in colour, the scan must be in colour too.
• Multi-page documents go in one file, in the right order and the right way up.
• Documents not in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English must be translated by an authorised translator. The translation goes in the same file as the original.
• The diploma and transcript do not need translating. Helsedirektoratet may ask for a translation if needed.

Attempts to gain approval with false documents are reported to the police.

5Apply in Altinn and pay the fee

Apply with the “Autorisasjon og lisens” form in Altinn. The fee is NOK 1,665, paid in Altinn when you register the application.

Important: after paying, return to the application page in Altinn and complete the submission. Do not close the window. The application is not sent until Altinn confirms it.

6Wait for the decision

Normal processing time is up to 3 months, longer if documents are missing. Do not apply for a new student licence while you wait. A student licence can only be given while you are still studying.

If you have been offered a LIS1 post, you do not need to ask for priority or send the offer. Helsedirektoratet knows who has been offered a post and processes these applications continuously, so authorisation is ready before the 1 March and 1 September start. If you got a remaining post (restplass), apply in the normal way; applicants with LIS1 offers are prioritised before the start dates.

7LIS1: how to apply

LIS1 is the first part of specialist training: one year in hospital and six months in a municipality. All LIS1 learning outcomes must be met before LIS2 and LIS3.

• All ordinary LIS1 posts are advertised together twice a year in Helsedirektoratet's job portal (webcruiter.no). You cannot arrange a LIS1 post yourself.
• You can apply if you have, or qualify for, authorisation or a licence (not a student licence), and have not already had Norwegian internship (turnus) approved or met all part-1 learning outcomes.
• Apply for as many posts as you like, one application per advert. Not answering an offer in time counts as declining.
• When you start you must document authorisation (or a licence under sections 48 or 49 of the Health Personnel Act) and Norwegian sufficient for safe practice.

Next application round

For a start on 1 September 2027: posts advertised Thursday 21 January 2027, deadline Thursday 4 February 2027, first offers 29 April 2027. Every offer round is on Helsedirektoratet’s page on applications and deadlines (Norwegian). Posts that open up later are advertised continuously as remaining posts.

Special situations

• LIS1 licence: if you were offered a study place or started medicine in an EU/EEA country without integrated clinical practice before 2012, you can apply for LIS1 and complete it on a licence.
• LIS1 in Norway instead of practical service in your country of study: attach the form “Confirmation of practical service in the first part of specialist training” when applying for authorisation. Choose “authorisation”, not “authorisation after completed internship”.
• At least one year of formal training after graduation, or specialist training started abroad: you can apply for confirmation of LIS1 learning outcomes.
• Many hospitals have an informal start period a few weeks before LIS1. It does not count as LIS1, and authorisation is not required during it.

8After authorisation

Your authorisation is recorded in the Health Personnel Register (HPR), where employers look you up. If you hold a specialist approval from another EU/EEA country, see Helsedirektoratet’s pages on specialist training and approval. Norwegian authorisation comes first.