Short answer: Applicants usually need a passport, photo, degree and transcripts, evidence of registration or licence, experience letters and often a good-standing certificate. Exact requirements depend on your title and are set by the DHA, so check the current requirements document for your profession before you start gathering.
Start from the official requirements
The DHA publishes the standards for each health profession in its Professional Qualification Requirements, and the Sheryan portal includes a self-assessment that shows what applies to your title. Read the page for your exact profession and grade first. A nurse, a general practitioner and a physiotherapist will not need identical papers, and rules change over time.
Requirements, fees, document rules and timelines are set by the Dubai Health Authority and its partners and can change, so treat this guide as an outline and confirm every step on the official pages.
Documents most applicants prepare
This is a typical set. Treat it as a prompt, not a promise.
- Passport: the bio page and any pages the portal requests. Your name here becomes the master version for the whole application.
- A recent passport-style photograph, taken to the stated specification.
- Degree or diploma certificate, and transcripts or a statement of marks.
- Proof of internship or training, where relevant to your profession.
- Current registration or licence from your home country or last place of practice.
- A certificate of good standing from your regulator, if requested. These usually have a validity window, so request them close to when you will upload.
- Experience letters on letterhead, signed and dated, showing job title, dates and duties.
- A current CV that matches the dates on the letters.
- Evidence of English-language ability if the requirements ask for it.
Names, dates and titles must agree
A frequent source of delay is a mismatch: the passport says one spelling, the degree another, the experience letter a third. Decide on the passport version and prepare explanation letters, or official name-change documents, for any difference before you upload. Check that dates in your CV and your experience letters do not overlap or leave unexplained gaps. A gap is not a problem if it is explained; it becomes a problem when a reviewer has to ask.
Experience letters done properly
Ask each employer for a letter that states your full name as on the passport, your job title, the department, exact start and end dates, whether you worked full time, and a short description of duties. It should be on company letterhead, signed, and carry a contact that a verifier can reach. Letters that say “worked for about two years” or leave out the exact dates are likely to cause questions later in verification. See also DataFlow primary source verification, which will check these papers with the issuer.
Scanning and file hygiene
Poor scans cause rejections that waste weeks. Scan in colour, flat and straight, at a readable resolution, and check the file after saving. Keep each document as one file with a clear name, such as “Degree certificate, full name”. Respect the portal’s format and file size limits. Keep the originals safe, as you may need them later, and keep a folder with copies on your computer and a backup.
Translations and attestation
Documents that are not in English or Arabic may need an official translation. Some papers may also need attestation or similar formalities depending on where they were issued. Because these steps take time, check early whether any of your documents need them. Do not rely on a forum post: requirements differ by country and change.
A worked example: a nurse with two previous employers
Take a nurse who trained in one country, worked for two years at a hospital there and then three years at a clinic in another country. Her checklist might look like this. Passport: bio page, with the name spelled exactly as on the nursing degree. Degree certificate and transcript: from the nursing college, scanned in colour. Registration: current nursing council certificate and, if requested, a certificate of good standing from that council, requested about a month before she plans to upload. Experience: a letter from each employer on letterhead stating her job title, department, exact start and end dates, full-time status and duties, signed by human resources or the nursing director. CV: with dates that match the letters to the month.
She notices that her passport shows a married name while her degree shows her maiden name. Rather than hope nobody notices, she gets the marriage certificate or the official name-change document ready, and prepares a short letter explaining the difference. She also notices a six-month gap between the two jobs. She adds a line to her CV and a short explanation, because a gap that is explained is rarely a problem, and a gap that is discovered is a question.
A simple tracker that saves arguments with yourself
Make a table with one row per document and columns for what it is, who issues it, the date you asked for it, the date it arrived, the date it expires and whether it has been scanned and checked. Colour any row that has a deadline in the next two weeks. Update it whenever you speak to an issuer, and note the name of the person you dealt with. When something takes longer than expected, you will know whom to chase and what to say.
Share a copy with a trusted friend or family member who can help chase documents while you are on shifts. Do not share your passwords for the portal.
What not to do
Do not alter a document, even to fix what looks like a small error. Ask the issuer for a corrected copy. Do not submit a document that you have not read through, because a wrong date will surface later at a worse moment. Do not accept a photo of a document from a friend and call it your own scan. Do not rely on a third party to hold your only copy of a credential. And do not pay anyone for a document that the issuer provides for free on request. If a person or website promises that your licence will be quick if you pay a fee outside the official portal, step away and check with the authority.
Extra items doctors and specialists often prepare
Doctors usually have a longer paper trail. Beyond the items above, expect to gather evidence of internship or house-officer training, postgraduate qualifications, specialty certificates and logbooks where relevant, and a list of the posts you have held with dates. If you are applying as a specialist, the requirements usually ask for evidence of specialist training and registration, and the experience letters should show your level of responsibility. Start early with certificates from colleges or boards, because some take weeks to issue and some are issued only by post.
If you plan to apply for a residency place too, keep a second folder for those documents. Residency applications may ask for similar papers in a different format, and having a clean master folder will save time.
A four-week document sprint
If you want to move quickly, spread the work over four weeks. Week one: read the requirements for your title, write the tracker and request every document that comes from another person, such as certificates, letters and transcripts. Week two: scan the documents you already hold, check names and dates, and prepare translations or name-change papers. Week three: chase anything outstanding, review each file for quality and prepare the CV. Week four: assemble the folder, run the pre-submission checklist in the mistakes guide and upload when the portal allows it.
Real timelines depend on how fast issuers answer, which is not in your control. The sprint simply makes sure that the part you control is finished early.
A realistic order of work
Start the slowest items first: certificates of good standing, experience letters from previous employers and any translation. While those are in progress, create your portal account and set up your study plan. You can study in parallel with paperwork, which is why many candidates start the study plan at the same time. The licence documents and timeline post gives a high-level view of the sequence, and the eligibility checker gives a first indication of which steps may apply to you.
Related guide
The short, printable version of this list is the DHA licensing checklist. This guide covers the habits behind it: names, experience letters and clean scans.
Frequently asked questions
This article is general educational guidance, not official advice. Exam rules, fees and timelines are set by the Dubai Health Authority and the test provider and can change, so always confirm the latest details on their official channels.
Last updated .