Exercising a healthcare profession with a diploma from outside the EEA

If you wish to permanently exercise a healthcare profession in Belgium and you have a diploma from outside the EEA, your options are the following:

• if you are an EU national and your diploma is deemed to be equivalent (academic equivalence) in one of the countries of the EEA and if you’ve worked for at least 3 years in this country of the EEA, request  recognition of your profession from the Agency for Care and Health
• if you aren’t an EU national, but you’re married to an EU national, and your diploma is deemed to be equivalent (academic equivalence) in one of the countries of the EEA and if you’ve worked for at least 3 years in this country of the EEA, request  recognition of your profession from the Agency for Care and Health
• in all other cases you first request recognition of the equivalence of your diploma from NARIC (National Academic Recognition Information Centre) of the Government of Flanders. Then you request a visa from the Federal Public Service Health. Your request concerning basic diplomas (medical doctor, dentist and pharmacist) isn't the competence of the Agency for Care and Health. However, if you also possess a specialist diploma, you do need to send a demand for recognition of this diploma to the Agency for Care and Health after you've received the visa. This is the case for the following titles:
  • all medical specialist diplomas
  • dentist-specialists (general dentist, orthodintist, periodontist)
  • hospital pharmacist
  • clinical psychology
  • clinical special needs education