Ordem dos Médicos Portugal: Registration for Foreign Doctors 2026

In Portugal, no one may practise medicine without being registered with the Ordem dos Médicos. The Ordem is the public professional association that represents all doctors in the country. It keeps the register, sets ethical and deontological standards, oversees the quality of medical training and runs the specialty colleges that award specialist status.

For doctors trained abroad, the Ordem is where your route ends: you register once your degree has the right recognition and, if you trained in a language other than Portuguese, after you pass its Prova de Comunicação Médica.

Key facts

What the Ordem dos Médicos does

The Ordem has several roles at once:

• Register. It admits doctors, keeps the register and issues the professional card.
• Ethics and deontology. It sets the code of ethics and handles disciplinary matters.
• Training quality. Its colleges are involved in specialist training and the award of specialist titles.
• Support for doctors. It runs services such as a job board, a mediation project for doctor-patient conflicts and the scientific journal Acta Médica Portuguesa.

Regional structure

The Ordem works through regional sections. Registrations, the communication test and much of the day-to-day contact happen at regional level, with the main offices in Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon and sub-regional and autonomous region offices including the Azores and Madeira. You normally register with the section for the area where you will live or work.

Who needs what

Your route depends on where you trained and in which language.

Recognition of non-EU degrees

Degrees from outside the EU are not recognised automatically. Recognition is carried out through Portuguese medical schools, which compare your training with the Portuguese degree and may require an assessment. Only after recognition can the Ordem register you as a doctor. Requirements and timelines vary by school, so read each school's current rules before applying.

EU citizens who hold a degree from outside the EU that another member state has already recognised should check with the Ordem directly, because the treatment of these cases depends on the details.

The Prova de Comunicação Médica

The communication test assesses whether you can understand patients and communicate safely in Portuguese in a clinical setting. It is not a general language exam; it is focused on the doctor-patient relationship.

Who sits it: doctors trained abroad in a language other than Portuguese. Doctors who completed their medical degree in Portuguese are exempt. Passing it is a condition for practising in Portugal.

Format:

1. You watch a multimedia presentation of a real or dramatised clinical case.
2. You write the medical history (anamnesis) for that case.
3. You are interviewed by a regional jury of three members.

Result: pass (Apto) or fail (Não Apto), decided by majority. Results are published the following week.

Schedule: the test runs monthly at the Ordem's regional offices, with district offices used in the Azores and Madeira.

Retakes: if you fail, you can sit it again after three months.

The Ordem publishes a guide to the test on its website. A pass may also count towards the communication component used in selection for the general training year.

How to prepare

• Practise history-taking aloud in Portuguese, using real case structures: presenting complaint, history, medications, allergies, family and social history.
• Learn everyday patient vocabulary, not just textbook terms. Patients describe symptoms in colloquial language.
• Write histories under time pressure, then check grammar and clinical structure.
• Rehearse explaining diagnoses and plans in plain Portuguese.

European Portuguese differs from Brazilian Portuguese in pronunciation and some vocabulary, so listen to European Portuguese clinical material even if you already speak Portuguese well.

The route at a glance

Specialist status

Registration with the Ordem gives you the right to practise, but not the title of specialist. Specialist titles are awarded through the Ordem's specialty colleges, normally after completion of the Portuguese specialist training programme. Doctors with specialist titles from outside the EU can apply for assessment, which may involve an exam and a review of their training; the outcome is not guaranteed.

Fees (as of October 2026)

The Ordem charges a registration fee, a fee for the communication test and annual dues, and the amounts are set in its own fee tables. Recognition through a medical school has separate costs. Check the current tables on the Ordem's and the school's websites before applying; amounts are not quoted here because they are revised.

Typical mistakes

• Applying to the Ordem before recognition. A non-EU degree must be recognised first.
• Assuming Brazilian Portuguese exempts you from everything. It exempts you from the communication test, not from degree recognition.
• Treating the communication test as a grammar exam. It is a clinical communication assessment.
• Ignoring regional practicalities. Registration and test dates are handled by the regional sections.
• Expecting automatic specialist recognition. Non-EU specialist titles are assessed case by case.

Checklist

• Diploma, transcript and syllabus, legalised as required.
• Certified translations where needed.
• Recognition application with a Portuguese medical school (non-EU degrees).
• Communication test booked if you trained in another language.
• Registration documents for your regional section.
• Plan for specialist recognition, if relevant.

Clinical knowledge still matters

Recognition assessments and later specialist exams test clinical knowledge, not just paperwork. Regular practice with clinical questions, for example in MediFlow Exam Prep, helps keep core medicine, surgery, paediatrics and obstetrics current while you work through the administrative steps.

Related pages

Comparing options in the Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking world? See the CFM and CRMs in Brazil and the CGCOM in Spain.

Next steps

1. Confirm whether your degree needs recognition and which school to apply to.
2. Read the Ordem's guide to the communication test.
3. Contact the regional section where you will register.
4. Plan for specialist recognition separately.

Contact and official links

• Website: ordemdosmedicos.pt
• Registration: "Inscrições" section of the Ordem's website
• Communication test: "Prova de Comunicação" page

Contact details for the national and regional offices are listed on the Ordem's website.