Berufserlaubnis: the temporary licence, and what it does not give you
The Berufserlaubnis lets you work as a doctor before your Approbation is granted. It is time-limited, tied to conditions, and it starts several clocks that have nothing to do with the authority.
The Berufserlaubnis is permission to work as a doctor in Germany before the Approbation has been granted. A state authority issues it, it is usually tied to one employer or region, and it expires.
The difference from Approbation, in one sentence
The Approbation is unlimited in time and valid across Germany. The Berufserlaubnis is neither. It exists so that you can work and earn while the recognition procedure is still running.
What that means in practice
- You are bound by the conditions in your decision letter. Changing jobs can require a new permission.
- Put the expiry date in your calendar the day the decision arrives, with a reminder several weeks before.
- Your first employment contract starts deadlines that have nothing to do with the authority, above all the three-month deadline for exemption from statutory pension insurance.
How long it takes
There are no nationwide processing-time figures. In 2025 the Bundestag confirmed that the federal government holds no nationwide data on physician Approbation applications. Only individual state figures are published, and they are sobering. The Berlin chamber of physicians reported that in 2024 more than half of applicants, around 1,000 doctors, had been waiting longer than a year, with some cases running to several years. For 2025 Baden-Württemberg reported about 3,900 ongoing recognition procedures and 704 Approbationen granted to third-country-trained doctors.
What you can do now
- Check the competent authority and its current document requirements. All 16 addresses are in the authority table on this site.
- The ZSBA of the Federal Employment Agency advises free of charge and neutrally, including from abroad.
- Work through the document list before the application goes out. An incomplete application is not rejected, it waits.