The type of health license you require will depend on the location of your potential employer’s facility and NOT on the perceived simplicity of any of the exams available to earn that license. Each emirate (Dubai and Abu Dhabi) has its own licensing authority or healthcare regulatory body, and the northern emirates are separate entities from each other due to Sharjah creating a separate health authority for local and private facilities. As of September 2026, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is the governing body for all facilities in Dubai, and the Department of Health (DOH) governs licensed facilities in Abu Dhabi. Most licensed facilities located in Sharjah are regulated by the Sharjah Health Authority (SHA), while those in the other northern emirates and federal government facilities are regulated by the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) at the present time.
Earning the licence to practice by passing an exam does not guarantee you the right to practice anywhere in the UAE. Also, the licence provided to you by one regulator does not automatically extend to an emirate regulated by a different regulator. This is general information regarding licensing of healthcare professionals in the UAE; it should not be construed as legal or immigration advice for your situation. The best way to begin is simply to identify the appropriate regulatory agency or authority for your employer’s facility.
Which authority matches the emirate where you will work?
The regulatory authority that you need to consider when planning to work will be the one that is responsible for issuing your licence. Your nationality, training location, and qualifications don’t determine which authority is relevant to you. Each of the six routes below ends with the facility applying for, or activating, your licence under its own regulatory authority. Therefore, if you hold a Dubai licence, you cannot use it to practise at an Abu Dhabi or Ajman clinic, and vice versa.
As of September 2023, the regulatory landscape is as follows:
- Dubai: DHA’s FAQ gives its jurisdiction as “All Dubai”. That includes the Dubai Healthcare City free zone, where professional licensing is handled by DHA.
- Abu Dhabi: DOH licenses professionals in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Its professionals FAQ sends applicants through the TAMM platform and DataFlow document verification before the exam stage.
- Sharjah: in July 2025 the Sharjah Executive Council issued a decision on regulating health professions in the emirate. It covers Sharjah government health establishments, private facilities in the emirate and its free zones, and the professionals working in them. It doesn’t cover federal government health facilities operating in Sharjah.
- Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, plus federal facilities: these remain with MOHAP. Its licensing service pages list representative offices in each of these emirates.
This can be confusing; for example, a nurse who just passed the Abu Dhabi exam posted on r/UAE (2023) to ask whether her Abu Dhabi licence would allow her to practise in Dubai or Sharjah. The relevant web pages above provide confirmation: it will not, unless you obtain the destination authority’s approval.
The first step is to ask your employer which authority issued the facility’s licence. In the case of Sharjah, find out if it is a federal facility. When seeking approval to practise in Dubai, refer to our step-by-step guide to obtain DHA approval.
What “MOH exam” means now: MOHAP, the Northern Emirates, and the assessment route
The term “MOH exam” typically refers to the route taken by candidates to be evaluated by MOHAP. The exam constitutes one of the key components in this process. As of September 2026, MOHAP’s Evaluation of Health Professional service works like this:
- What it issues: an evaluation certificate. MOHAP’s evaluation officer decides whether you need an exam before it’s issued.
- Pass mark: Prometric results come back as pass or fail, with a minimum passing score of 60%.
- Fees: AED 500 for physicians and dentists, AED 400 for nurses and midwives, and AED 300 for allied health.
- Time: the listed service time is five working days.
- Practice gap: you can’t have been out of practice for more than three years.
When you successfully pass your exam, you will obtain an evaluation certificate issued by MOHAP. This document is also known as the Evaluation Certificate, which allows the holder to seek and receive job offers, as well as apply for licensure. Therefore, evaluation certificates are not the same as licensure.
This is where the relationship between MOHAP and Sharjah (SHA) becomes more nebulous. SHA runs its own Healthcare Professional Assessment, checked in September 2026:
- Fees: AED 500 for physicians and dentists, and AED 300 for nurses, pharmacists and allied professionals.
- Review time: eight working days.
- Exam declaration: if you need an exam, you must accept a disclaimer and state how many attempts you’ve already made with other UAE authorities.
The SHA professional licensing page indicates a requirement of “an original, valid professional evaluation certification from an approved MOH agency.” Hence, to work within an SHA-licensed facility in Sharjah, taking only the MOH exam to obtain an evaluation certificate is not sufficient to meet SHA’s licensing requirements.
The attempt rules are the part most likely to cost you money, and the regulators don’t word them the same way:
- MOHAP (September 2026): three attempts is the maximum for MOHAP exams, with no fourth. Applicants “may choose to apply for the exam through another health authority.”
- DHA (same month): its registration page says a professional must pass “within 3 attempts across the Authorities.”
- SHA: asks you to declare attempts made elsewhere, which suggests it counts them.
All four regulatory authorities jointly publish the Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements (UHPQR). These requirements specify the titles and educational qualifications, as well as the professional experience, required to hold a specific position. However, none of the agencies provide any clear interpretation of how to determine if your attempts were counted by multiple agencies. If you have already taken an exam and received a fail mark from one regulatory authority, it would be best for you to inquire of the agency you wish to book your next exam with about how they will regard your previous attempt(s) prior to making a payment.
Why passing an exam is not the same as holding an active licence
The journey to licensure is separated into stages, with each stage being owned by a different party. You are responsible for verifying your own documents and taking the examination. The regulator has responsibility for determining whether you meet the qualifications for your title. Your employer will provide you with the last step to turn your eligibility into a licence. You can generally see which stage has caused the delay in an offer if it is stalled.
The stages of the DHA path are the clearest. As of September 2026:
- Registration: DHA’s Get Registered service confirms you meet the requirements for your title. It is “valid for one year,” and a healthcare facility must activate it into a licence before you can practise.
- What registration means: DHA’s FAQ calls an active registration “like an eligibility proof to start searching for a job.”
- Renewal: registration can be renewed only in the three months before it expires, or within three months after a licence is cancelled. Once it lapses, you start again with the Self Assessment Tool.
- Activation: this is done by the facility. It needs an active facility licence covering your specialty, your consent, malpractice insurance, and a valid labour card for non-UAE nationals.
The other regulators follow the same pattern, checked in the same month:
- MOHAP: licensing is a service the facility applies for. It requires a valid MOHAP evaluation and a work invitation you’ve accepted.
- SHA: its assessment page says the certificate “does not authorize practice.” Only the licence the facility applies for does.
- DOH: its FAQ describes verification, review and the exam as steps before licensing, all run through TAMM.
The one-year timer is important because finding a job takes a lot of time. One Reddit user described the experience of their sister through the DHA route: she passed in October 2022, and it took her approximately six months to find a good-paying job. While this is only one individual experience, it is not the average timing, and it demonstrates why you should keep track of how many months, if any, remain on your registration/eligibility before you pay for an exam that you will not be able to use to find a job for a while.
What actually transfers between DHA, DOH, and MOHAP?
Three different things can move between authorities, and each has its own rules:
- your DataFlow verification report
- an evaluation or exam result
- an active licence
When individuals incorrectly mix up the regulatory authorities in question, they tend to redo actions unnecessarily and/or think they accomplished something that wasn’t completed.
In September 2026, here’s what was on each regulatory authority’s website:
| Moving into | What the destination’s pages say carries over | What you still need | Who files |
|---|---|---|---|
| DHA (Dubai) | DataFlow reports issued for other authorities are recognised, with a report transfer fee of AED 300. DHA may ask for extra or updated documents. | DHA registration through Get Registered, then activation by a Dubai facility. | You register; the facility activates. |
| MOHAP (other northern emirates and federal facilities) | A DHA evaluation plus its DataFlow report can lead to a MOHAP evaluation certificate “without the need for another examination.” A valid DHA or DOH licence can be used for licensing without a new evaluation application. | A job offer, and the facility’s licensing application. | You register your licence number; the facility applies. |
| SHA (most Sharjah facilities) | Recent verification reports and exam-exemption documents can be attached to the assessment application, along with a good-standing certificate from your current regulator. | A valid SHA assessment certificate, then a licence application by an SHA-licensed facility. | You apply for assessment; the facility applies for the licence. |
| DOH (Abu Dhabi) | DOH’s FAQ describes the verification and exam route through TAMM. I didn’t find an official DOH page setting out an inbound transfer from another emirate. | Confirm the current route on TAMM before assuming anything carries over. | Starts on TAMM. |
The most detailed source on active licences is MOHAP’s Evaluation of Health Professional page (updated September 2026). According to that FAQ, if you want to create a record in MOHAP, you must have your valid DHA or DOH licence number available to enter into the MOHAP portal. After creating your record, you should provide that registration number to your employer. The facility then files MOHAP’s Transfer License from DHA/DOH service, which lists these conditions:
- an active DHA or DOH licence
- a work invitation you’ve accepted
- a clean professional record in the UAE
- a valid facility licence
MOHAP has a standard processing time of two working days. The fee to license an individual doctor who works in a private facility is AED 3,000. For nurses/technicians, the fee is AED 1,000.
The SHA process is different. SHA states that transfers of licences are permitted only for those facilities that have been licensed with SHA and to transfer licencing from another authority, you must obtain an assessment certificate from SHA. The SHA licence transfer service says transfers are allowed only between facilities licensed by SHA.
While real-life experience has its limitations when determining what to expect, a comment from a user within an earlier r/UAE thread provides some insight into the conversion of DHA to MOHAP… as in this case. In 2023, the user stated they paid “around 2000AED” to convert a DHA licence to MOHAP, and they had all necessary documentation ready at the time. However, please note this was one single user’s experience before Sharjah established its own regulatory authority, and the above-mentioned information from the various regulatory authorities is to be used as the definitive information regarding the current process and requirements.
What to verify before booking an exam or accepting a healthcare job
The most costly errors are made when the assumption is made that one of the checks below would prove incorrect. Each of the below checks directs you to the official sources from which you can independently confirm this information.
- Find the facility’s regulator. Ask the employer which authority licensed the facility and whether it covers your specialty. DHA activation, for example, requires an active facility licence covering your specialty. In Sharjah, ask whether the facility is federal (MOHAP) or local or private (SHA).
- Count your attempts before you book. Given DHA’s rule of three attempts “across the Authorities” and MOHAP’s rule of three for its own exams, ask the authority you’ll book with how it counts attempts you’ve already made elsewhere.
- Check whether your title needs an exam at all. The shared PQR decides titles and exemptions. DHA’s free Self Assessment Tool, linked from its Get Registered page, gives an immediate result against it.
- Work out how long your eligibility lasts. DHA registration is valid for one year and can only be renewed in set windows. Know your date before you sign a long notice period at home.
- Link your existing verification report instead of starting again. DHA recognises DataFlow reports from other authorities, for a fee. MOHAP asks you to confirm that earlier reports transferred into its system before you submit.
- Verify licences, including your own. DHA’s Verify Professional License/Registration Status tool and DOH’s Find a Medical Professional search show what the regulator actually has on file.
Which regulatory agency governs your employment is determined by the location of your employer. Passing an examination with one regulatory agency may only qualify you to take the examination with a different regulatory agency. A licence can only be granted when the regulatory agency for the respective location issues that licence. Therefore, the most important step in obtaining a licence is to determine which regulatory agency governs the location of the job before you pay for your examination or any verification or transfer process. Once you determine the appropriate regulatory agency, the examination you have already passed will serve as a resource for your application process. However, if you determine the wrong regulatory agency first, you’ll have spent money and lost attempts at passing your exam and may have a lapse in your qualifications before you are hired for the job.
Frequently Asked Questions
I received an offer for a position in a Federal Hospital in Sharjah. Is this considered SHA or MOHAP? The July 2025 Sharjah decree indicates that it does not apply to Federal Government Health Facilities in the Emirate and will therefore be outside of the scope of SHA after September 2026. Please verify with your prospective employer to know which authority will be responsible for your licensing.
Does my DataFlow expire? According to the September 2026 DHA FAQs, verification reports issued do not have a Set Expiration Period and the information submitted will continue to be available when you obtain your new Verification Report. If your employment experience increases after your initial submission, you will need to do a new verification for that employment experience.
If I have had my DHA Licenses cancelled, will I have to take the tests again? Per the September 2026 DHA FAQs, if the registration is not renewed within one year of the cancellation of the DHA license and the assessment was done over five years before the cancellation, the candidate may be required to take reexamination unless there is a separate exemption.
Can I appeal my failed test? Depends on the individual licensing authority. According to the DHA FAQ, the applicant may submit an appeal letter to info@dha.gov.ae within one month of their results. The MOHAP FAQ indicates that Prometric results are processed automatically, and there will be no access to any individual questions within the Report. The above information was verified in September 2026.
Is Dubai Healthcare City a Separate entity from Dubai? No. The Dubai Healthcare City FAQ through September 2026 indicates that all licensing for the Health Professional in the Free Zone is with the DHA.
