Practising in Iceland: Directorate of Health licences and training abroad

Medical and health education in Iceland

The University of Iceland in Reykjavik teaches medicine as a six-year degree, together with nursing, midwifery, pharmacy and physiotherapy. Dentistry is also taught there, though some Icelandic dentists still qualify abroad. The University of Akureyri also trains nurses. Teaching is in Icelandic, with a heavy use of English texts.

The medical school admits a limited number of students each year through a competitive entrance examination, so many Icelanders who want to study medicine go abroad. Common destinations have included Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. Those graduates return and apply to the Directorate for a licence on the basis of a foreign diploma.

Graduation and licensing are linked through the Directorate, which holds the register. After the diploma, doctors work through a period of clinical training (kandídatsár) in Icelandic hospitals before obtaining full licensing in some cases. Check the current requirement with the Directorate.

Graduates who plan to leave Iceland should consult the destination's rules: UK registration through PLAB or an accepted route, Scandinavian authorisation, Approbation for Germany, or Gulf regulator exams after Dataflow verification.

An island system that imports its doctors' training

Iceland has about 390,000 people. A single medical school cannot train every specialty, and it does not try to. The system is built on the assumption that clinicians study and specialise abroad and come back. As a result, the licensing decision is an act of recognition, and a candidate's training country shapes the process.

That has consequences for preparation. If you are an Icelander studying in Budapest or Bratislava, you sit that country's final exam, and the Icelandic licence follows from the diploma. If you are a foreign doctor wishing to work in Iceland, you prepare documents and language, not a test.

Who needs what

Doctors: Directorate of Health licence

1. Obtain a qualification. Complete medical training at the University of Iceland or abroad.
2. Apply to the Directorate. Submit the diploma, identity documents and certificates through the Directorate's service.
3. Show language ability. Icelandic or a Scandinavian language is expected for patient work.
4. Receive the licence. The Directorate grants the right to practise.

For EEA nationals the directive applies. Non-EEA doctors go through recognition and may face additional conditions.

Other professions

Nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dentists and physiotherapists also receive a licence from the Directorate by qualification. The detail has not been verified for each profession here, so check the Directorate's page for yours.

The Nordic dimension

Iceland belongs to the Nordic cooperation on professional recognition, and its health workforce moves easily to and from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. A doctor with Danish or Swedish training faces few additional steps, because the systems resemble one another and the languages are close enough for most colleagues to bridge. Icelandic itself is the harder step for everyone else.

The same openness works in reverse. Icelandic-trained clinicians are recognised across the region, and a licence from the Directorate is a recognisable document. Request a certificate of good standing when you move.

Practical points for foreign-trained applicants

• Begin the Icelandic language course as soon as you decide to apply. Hospitals work in Icelandic, and patients expect it.
• Collect certified copies of your diploma, transcript and certificate of good standing.
• Ask the Directorate whether it needs your documents translated and by whom.
• Contact hospitals about positions before the licence arrives, since employers sometimes help with the process.
• Check whether a period of supervised practice applies to your category.

The country is small and the health service is compact, so questions to the Directorate usually receive a personal reply. Use that. A short, specific email gets a better answer than a general enquiry.

Language and recognition routes

Icelandic is the working language. Doctors from other Nordic countries often manage with Scandinavian languages in hospital, and the Nordic framework eases movement. Non-EEA graduates are expected to show Icelandic or Scandinavian proficiency. English alone is not enough for most posts.

EEA nationals use Directive 2005/36/EC through the EEA Agreement. Doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and midwives benefit from automatic recognition, and physiotherapists from the general system.

What international students should know

Iceland does not run a large international medical programme, so most readers who reach this page are either Icelanders studying abroad or clinicians considering a move. For Icelanders abroad, the practical rule is to treat the foreign school's final exam as the main test and the Directorate's licence as an administrative follow-up. For clinicians moving in, treat language and documents as the main tasks. In both cases, an exam taken elsewhere, such as PLAB, USMLE or a Scandinavian authorisation test, is a separate decision based on where you expect to work next.

If you study abroad and plan to return

Choose a school whose degree meets the EU training standards, and keep full records: transcript, clinical hours and certificates. Ask the Directorate early whether it accepts your school and programme. Continue learning Icelandic during your studies, since the last year is the wrong time to start. Keep in touch with Icelandic hospitals about placements and electives, which help with both the language and the contacts that lead to a first post.

Last reviewed October 2026