Anerkennungsmonitor 2026 – every number at a glance.
A foreign-trained doctor who wants to practice in Germany needs an Approbation — the state medical license. How long that takes, what it costs, and where it breaks down is decided separately by each of Germany's 16 federal states. We support over 4,000 doctors through this process and share exclusive data on this page.
Backed by leading organizations
Germany's first digital guide for internationally trained doctors
Get2Germany guides foreign-trained doctors through the German Approbation process — from the first German course to the first shift. Over 4,000 people from more than 100 countries have started this journey with us, across all 16 federal states. The data on this page comes out of that work.
Dr. René RheimannPhysician · Co-founderSaw firsthand as a doctor how internationally trained colleagues get stuck in the process. Leads the medical and clinical side.
Pasha AlidadiCTO · Co-founderBuilds the platform and data foundation behind Get2Germany. Leads technology and analysis.
Where the data on this page comes from
Four clearly separated sources. Every figure on the page carries the matching label.
Anonymized self-reported data from over 4,000 active users of our platform: language level, country of origin, specialty, stage in the process.
Exclusive · as of September 9, 2026A survey of 302 internationally trained doctors and six expert interviews, conducted by the Berlin Institute for Innovation.
Exclusive · May–September 2025Fee schedules, state-parliament records, freedom-of-information requests, and disclosures from Ärztekammern and Approbation authorities.
Public · continuously updatedPress coverage, the Bundesärztekammer's physician statistics, and first-hand accounts from forums and communities — each flagged with a confidence level.
Public · with confidence levelWho are the doctors who want to come?
302 internationally trained doctors were surveyed, along with six expert interviews across clinics, placement agencies and language schools — conducted by the Berlin Institute for Innovation, commissioned by Get2Germany GmbH (funded by Investitionsbank Berlin, May–September 2025).
Why some doctors don't choose Germany
Answers from respondents for whom Germany isn't one of their top three destination countries. Multiple answers possible.
of respondents in this subgroup cite the language. Next come an easier process in other countries, too little information and a process that takes too long.
The reasons given are mainly hurdles: language, information, the process.Process and cost by federal state
The Approbation is federal law, but each of Germany's 16 states runs the process through its own authority, its own fee schedule, and its own Ärztekammer. Here's what that means in practice — metric by metric.
27 metrics across all 16 federal states
Pick a metric to see it ranked, or switch to the full table. Click a state to open its source. Note: this data was compiled from publicly available sources online. We do not guarantee or accept liability for its accuracy.
Kenntnisprüfung (KP) fee
Official fee for one Kenntnisprüfung sitting. Excludes prep costs.
How long does it actually take? Depends on who's measuring.
Authorities usually only state the statutory deadline from the moment all documents are complete — “three months,” “four months,” “case-by-case.” The months before that are missing: the equivalence assessment, the language exam, the wait for the Kenntnisprüfung. Where a ministry or state parliament does put a number on the total, it lands between one and a half and two years.
Never compare wait times across states without stating each one's starting point.
Externally documented: total duration from a ministry or state parliament
Verified by us: a ministry or state-parliament answer states the total duration outright — Brandenburg “one and a half to two years,” Saxony-Anhalt “18 months,” Thuringia “up to 671 days.” Source on click.
Official partial figure, not a total duration
The authority only states a partial figure: Berlin “can also take several years” with no number, Schleswig-Holstein 12 months for the Kenntnisprüfung alone, Baden-Württemberg 15 months for the assessment alone. The value shown is our estimate, not the authority's own figure.
No reliable source for a total duration
We found no source stating a total duration for these states — authorities write “case-by-case,” “no deadlines,” or only state the statutory processing time from complete documents. The value shown is an estimate.
Scale in months. Always shows the source's original value. Click a state to open its source and verification links.
These internationally trained doctors are currently on their way into our healthcare system.
Anonymized data from our platform, which supports over 4,000 internationally trained doctors. Learn more about tomorrow's internationally trained doctors in Germany.
German level at sign-up
B2 is the formal entry threshold into the process — and the single most common level.
Where they come from
Nationality, the eight most common of over 100 countries.
Specialties
Multiple selections possible — percentages are of people.
Where they live in Germany
Federal state of current residence for those already in Germany.
| State | DoctorsA |
|---|---|
| Bavaria | 13.7 % |
| N. Rhine-Westphalia | 13.4 % |
| Berlin | 9.8 % |
| Baden-Württemberg | 9 % |
| Lower Saxony | 4.5 % |
| Saxony | 2.8 % |
| Hesse | 2.5 % |
What our founders say — and what clinics say
Cleared for articles, talks, statements and applications.
„We're not short of doctors who want to come to Germany. We're short of an administration that lets them arrive.“
„Most federal states don't publish how long an Approbation takes at all. Where a ministry does put a number on the total, it's always the same: one and a half to two years.“
„When an authority states four months, it's measuring from the day all documents are complete. By then, a year has often already passed.“
„Candidates arrive with B2, but often can't really work at that level. Expensive further language training becomes necessary.“
„Between 930 and 2,400 euros in fees — paid by people who aren't allowed to work as a doctor during that time.“
Frequently asked questions
What is an Approbation?
The state license required to practice as a doctor in Germany. Without it, nothing works — not even with 20 years of experience. Anyone who studied outside the EU has to show their degree is equivalent to a German one (an equivalence assessment), pass a German exam at physician level (the Fachsprachprüfung), and — if equivalence isn't granted — sit a medical exam (the Kenntnisprüfung).
What do Fachsprachprüfung (FSP) and Kenntnisprüfung (KP) mean?
Fachsprachprüfung (FSP): a German exam at physician level (C1 medical) held by the state Ärztekammer — a patient conversation, a discharge letter, a conversation with colleagues. Without passing it, the process doesn't continue.
Kenntnisprüfung (KP): a medical exam for everyone whose degree wasn't recognized as equivalent — that's the majority of non-EU applicants. This is where the longest waits in the entire process happen.
Why do the federal states differ so much?
The Approbation is federal law, but each of Germany's 16 states runs the process through its own authority, its own fee schedule, and its own Ärztekammer. That produces different wait times, fees, exam dates and fail rates — for identical requirements.
How long does it actually take?
Only three federal states put a number on the total duration for non-EU degrees — each via a ministry or a state-parliament answer: Brandenburg “one and a half to two years,” Saxony-Anhalt “18 months,” Thuringia “up to 671 days.” Three more give only a partial figure, such as 12 months waiting for the Kenntnisprüfung in Schleswig-Holstein or 15 months for the assessment in Baden-Württemberg. Ten states give no reliable figure at all. We individually re-verified all 16 sources on September 10, 2026 — the result is shown in every click popover.
For EU degrees it goes considerably faster: Brandenburg cites around 4 months, Thuringia an average of 237 days.
Where do the numbers come from, and how reliable are they?
Where a source is available online, the click popover links straight to it and states whether the source confirms the value, only partially supports it, or contradicts it. We didn't adjust the values themselves — we placed the verification result next to them.
From four clearly separated sources: A our own anonymized platform user data, B the primary survey of 302 respondents, C official disclosures such as fee schedules, state-parliament records and chamber statements, D public reporting and first-hand accounts. Every figure carries its label; in the state comparison, every cell shows its source on click.
Green: officially documented. Orange: mixed sources. Red: individual reports.
Why did you split up duration instead of showing one ranking?
Because authorities, state parliaments and the press use the same word for three different things being measured. A single ranking would put an authority's 4-month figure next to a measured 24-month total duration and imply the first is six times faster. Two sources state the difference themselves: Brandenburg cites 18–24 months for non-EU degrees and around 4 for EU degrees, Saxony-Anhalt around 18 versus around 1.
Who ran the study, and what are its limits?
The Berlin Institute for Innovation, commissioned by Get2Germany GmbH and funded by Investitionsbank Berlin. An online survey of 302 internationally trained doctors and six expert interviews, May to September 2025, conducted in English.
The sample isn't representative of all foreign-trained doctors: respondents were people already interested in Germany. The question about reasons against Germany is based on a subgroup — reliable as a direction, not as a number to the decimal point.
Can I use these numbers?
Yes, with the citation “Get2Germany, Anerkennungsmonitor 2026” and — where available — the original source from the click popover. For values from the survey, please add “conducted by the Berlin Institute for Innovation, n = 302.” The full usage rules are further down this page.
Usage rules
All figures and charts may be used freely for editorial purposes. Please cite as “Get2Germany, Anerkennungsmonitor 2026”; for values from the survey, add “conducted by the Berlin Institute for Innovation, n = 302.”
Only reuse charts unaltered and always with the source line, along with the date and sample size. Never compare wait times across states without stating each one's starting point.
The Anerkennungsmonitor is not an official statistic and must not be presented as one. We do not release personal data or breakdowns of fewer than ten people.
Disclosure: the survey was commissioned and funded by Get2Germany, and Get2Germany operates commercially in the recognition market.
Get in touch.
We're happy to share the dataset in a structured form — as a CSV with full source references, or tailored to your question. Our founders are available for exclusive expert interviews and on-the-record context.