Danish Patient Safety Authority: Doctor Authorisation 2026

In Denmark you may only work as a doctor with an authorisation from the Danish Patient Safety Authority (Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed, often shortened to STPS). The Authority decides whether your medical degree can be recognised, sets the conditions for doctors trained outside the EU/EEA and, at the end, grants the authorisation and permission to work independently that every hospital and practice will ask for.

The most important news for international graduates in late 2026: applications from doctors educated outside the EU/EEA are paused while a quota applies. Read the quota section before you spend money on courses or tests.

Key facts

What the Authority does

The Authority is Denmark's national body for patient safety. For doctors, the parts that matter are:

• assessing foreign medical education and deciding which route you follow;
• issuing authorisation and permission to work independently;
• issuing temporary authorisations, including the evalueringsautorisation used during evaluation employment;
• keeping the public register that employers and patients can check;
• supervising doctors once they are authorised.

Specialist recognition is a separate step. After full authorisation, foreign specialist training is assessed by one of the three Regional Councils for Postgraduate Medical Training, which also approve evaluation posts.

The 2026 quota and who can still apply

Denmark has introduced a quota for doctors and nurses from outside the EU/EEA. Work in Denmark states that the current quota is zero and applies until 31 December 2026, and the Authority's doctor page says applications are paused.

You may still apply if you:

• have a specific employment offer for adaptation and training as a specially requested health professional, covering the full evaluation period;
• have valid legal residence in Denmark when you apply;
• were educated outside the EU/EEA but hold Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic or another EU/EEA citizenship;
• were educated in Greenland or the Faroe Islands.

If none of these apply to you, use the waiting time for Danish lessons and medical revision rather than paying fees that cannot yet lead to a decision.

Doctors educated in the EU/EEA

If your medical degree comes from an EU/EEA country or Switzerland, the Authority may be able to recognise it automatically. In that case you only complete the application step. EU/EEA citizens with a degree from outside the EU/EEA can use special provisions if they have worked for at least three years in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland.

Employers will still expect workable Danish, even when the Authority does not test it in your case.

The five steps for non-EU graduates

Step 1: Application and assessment of your degree

You apply online, pay the fee and open an EPIC account with ECFMG in the USA, which verifies your medical credentials directly with your university. The Authority then assesses whether your education can form the basis for the Danish route.

Step 2: Danish 3 Exam

You must pass Prøve i dansk 3. It runs twice a year, in May/June and November/December, at language centres across Denmark. The result must be from the 12 months before your application unless you can show you have lived in Denmark continuously since passing. Without this pass you cannot register for the medical tests.

Step 3: Medical tests

The medical tests have two parts:

• a written test, held in March and September;
• an oral test, held in May and November.

You must pass the written test before you sit the oral one, and you need proof of your passed Danish exam to register.

Step 4: Course in Danish health legislation

This is an e-learning course. You receive the link automatically once your language documentation has been validated. It covers how Danish health law shapes daily work: patient rights, consent, records and the duties of an authorised doctor.

Step 5: Evaluation employment

You find your own post. Before you start, you need a temporary evalueringsautorisation, and the post must be approved by one of the Regional Councils for Postgraduate Medical Training. Pay and conditions follow normal employment terms.

Any period can be extended if you need to make up clinical teaching hours. With positive evaluation forms you receive Danish authorisation and permission to work independently. If an assessment is negative, you can apply for a new evaluation post within the same deadline.

Deadlines to watch

• Evaluation employment must start within 12 months of passing the final medical test or completing the legislation course.
• You must finish your first evaluation post and start (or hold a commitment letter for) your final one within five years of the Authority's assessment of your education. For assessments made before 1 September 2024, the deadline is 31 August 2029.

Fees (as of October 2026)

The Authority does not list the other costs on its doctor page. Budget separately for ECFMG verification, Danish courses, the Danish exam and the medical tests, and check each provider's current price.

How long it takes

The Authority says the whole process can take several years, mostly depending on how quickly you reach Danish 3 and pass the tests. The medical tests run only twice a year each, so a failed sitting usually costs you six months.

Checklist before you apply

• Quota checked. Confirm you fall under an exception, or wait for the quota period to end.
• ECFMG EPIC account opened and verification started.
• Danish 3 planned with a realistic timeline, since everything else depends on it.
• Written test revision started early. It is the gate to the oral test.
• Deadlines in your calendar. The 12-month start rule and the five-year rule.

Typical mistakes

• Applying during the pause without belonging to an exception group.
• Booking the medical tests before Danish 3. Registration requires your language pass.
• Letting the Danish result age. It must be from the 12 months before the application.
• Assuming the Authority finds your evaluation post. You have to find it yourself.
• Starting work without the evaluation authorisation. It must be in place before day one.

Preparing for the medical tests

The written test checks broad clinical knowledge, so steady question practice across all core specialties pays off. You can train with MediFlow Exam Prep questions in the app while you work on your Danish. Clinical reasoning in English transfers well, but plan to revise key terms in Danish before the oral test.

Next steps

1. Check the quota rules on the Authority's site.
2. Read the doctor page for non-EU countries.
3. Compare the Nordic routes: Sweden, Norway and Finland.
4. Read our guide to working as a doctor in Denmark.

Contact and official links

• Website: stps.dk (English pages under en.stps.dk)
• Applications and forms: via the Authority's online services

Contact details are listed on the Authority's website.