Hungary has no medical licensing exam: how honosítás and registration work

Medical and health education in Hungary

Medicine in Hungary is a six-year single-cycle degree (360 ECTS) at four universities: Semmelweis in Budapest, Szeged, Pécs and Debrecen. Each runs Hungarian, English and in some cases German programmes, and Hungary trains a large international medical cohort, including students from Norway, Germany, Israel, Iran and India. Dentistry and pharmacy are five-year degrees. The Hungarian Accreditation Committee (MAB) and the Educational Authority accredit and register programmes, and the national health authorities oversee practice.

Graduation includes a final state exam run by the university, not a national licensing test. Doctors then register with the health authority, join the Hungarian Medical Chamber, and begin specialty training, which is entered by applying to a residency post. Working in a Hungarian hospital requires Hungarian, so English-medium graduates mostly practise elsewhere. EU graduates benefit from mutual recognition, but graduates from outside the EU must pass the home-country exam: the FMGE in India, the NRE in Pakistan, and so on. Confirm current requirements with the National Public Health Centre.

The exam is the university's, not the state's

Search for "Hungary medical licensing exam" and you will find very little, because a single national paper does not exist. What Hungary has instead is a decentralised check: the university where you ask for recognition decides which subjects you must prove, and you prove them on its terms.

That makes the Hungarian route different from Poland, where one body sets one paper, and from Sweden, where the regulator sets a test directly. It also makes it harder to prepare for with generic material. The syllabus is whatever the nostrifying faculty says it is.

Who needs what in Hungary

Honosítás: how a foreign diploma is recognised

Honosítás is the Hungarian word for nostrification. A Hungarian university with the relevant faculty reviews your diploma, your transcript and your course contents against its own curriculum. It then decides whether your degree can be recognised as it stands or whether you must pass additional exams.

In practice the outcome for a non-EU doctor is often a set of differential exams. These are oral or written assessments in subjects where your training differed from the Hungarian curriculum. They are set and graded by the faculty, not by the registry. Their number, format and timing vary between universities and from case to case, so we do not quote a format. Ask the faculty in writing what it will require.

1. Choose the faculty. Check which Hungarian universities handle nostrification for your profession, and read their current requirements.
2. Prepare the documents. Diploma, transcript, proof of identity and certified translations. Some countries need apostilles.
3. Apply for nostrification and pay the fee set by the university.
4. Sit the differential exams, if the faculty sets them.
5. Prove Hungarian to the level required for practice.
6. Register with the national registry (NNGYK) and start work.

Doctors: no licensing exam, but a specialty exam

A Hungarian medical graduate is entitled to register after graduation. The exam that matters later is the szakvizsga, the specialty examination at the end of residency. It certifies you as a specialist in a field. It is not required to begin practice and it is not what international graduates are asked to pass on entry.

Because there is no national MCQ licensing paper, the closest thing to exam preparation for a non-EU doctor is revising the subjects your faculty names. A general bank of clinical questions helps with that revision, but it is not specific to Hungarian practice.

Dentists and pharmacists

Neither profession has a state licensing exam. Hungarian graduates register on the degree. Non-EU graduates take the nostrification route and the language requirement. The faculty of dentistry or pharmacy decides on any differential exams.

Nurses, midwives and physiotherapists

The same principle applies. Registration follows the qualification, and a foreign qualification must be nostrified or recognised. There is no national exam for these three professions in Hungary.

Language

Hungarian is unrelated to the languages most international graduates already know, and it is the language of patient records, of hospital teams and of the registry. Proof of Hungarian is required before you practise. Several Hungarian universities teach medicine in English, so many foreign students graduate there. If you plan to stay, treat the language as the real project.

Recognition summary

What this means for exam preparation

TriagePass does not yet offer a Hungary-specific licensing course, because Hungary has no licensing exam to prepare for. If you are going through nostrification as a doctor, a structured question bank can still help you revise the broad subject areas that differential exams tend to cover: internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics, paediatrics and public health. Join the waitlist and tell us what your faculty required, so we can build the right material.

Practical notes for applicants

Which university should I apply to?

Hungary has several medical faculties, and they do not have to reach the same decision on the same file. Contact more than one, ask what each would require, and compare the cost and time. Some applicants find the differential exams are fewer at one faculty than at another.

How much does it cost?

Nostrification carries an application fee and often a fee per differential exam. The amounts are set by the university or the authority and they change, so we do not quote them. Ask for a written fee schedule.

Can I work while I wait?

Not as a registered professional. Ask the registry and the faculty about any supervised or observer arrangements that are allowed in your profession.

Why does Hungary have so many international students?

Because its universities run English-language medical, dental and pharmacy programmes. Those graduates hold a Hungarian degree and register by it. Their main hurdle is Hungarian for working life, which many underestimate while studying in English.

Last reviewed October 2026