Official Expert Answer
For non Hague countries the equivalent process is Legalisation, and in some cases the German mission runs an Urkundenüberprüfung instead. In practice:
• The typical chain is: issuing authority, then your ministry of education or health, then your ministry of foreign affairs, then the German embassy or consulate. Each step must be completed in order.
• For a number of countries German missions do not legalise at all and instead order a document verification through a trusted local lawyer. That takes longer and costs more, and neither the embassy nor you can shorten it.
• Start this before you submit the Approbation file, not after. It is routinely the single longest item in the whole timeline.
• Ask the German mission responsible for your country what they currently do for medical diplomas, because the practice differs by country and changes over time.
And tell your Approbationsbehörde that the verification is running. They will usually continue processing the rest of the file in parallel instead of leaving it untouched.
• The typical chain is: issuing authority, then your ministry of education or health, then your ministry of foreign affairs, then the German embassy or consulate. Each step must be completed in order.
• For a number of countries German missions do not legalise at all and instead order a document verification through a trusted local lawyer. That takes longer and costs more, and neither the embassy nor you can shorten it.
• Start this before you submit the Approbation file, not after. It is routinely the single longest item in the whole timeline.
• Ask the German mission responsible for your country what they currently do for medical diplomas, because the practice differs by country and changes over time.
And tell your Approbationsbehörde that the verification is running. They will usually continue processing the rest of the file in parallel instead of leaving it untouched.