Which federal state for your Approbation? What is known and what is not
No published ranking of the fastest authorities exists. Here is what has actually been published, and what to base the decision on instead.
The question of which state is faster comes up constantly in forums and groups. The honest answer starts with the fact that the statistic you would need does not exist.
Why there is no ranking
In 2025 the Bundestag recorded that the federal government holds no nationwide data on physician Approbation applications. The recognition statistics cover recognition procedures for foreign qualifications rather than the whole Approbation route. So there is no basis from which 16 comparable processing times could be derived.
What individual states have published
- Baden-Württemberg: about 3,900 ongoing recognition procedures and 704 Approbationen for third-country-trained doctors in 2025.
- Saxony: 224 Approbationen for doctors trained outside Germany in 2025.
- Berlin: in 2024, according to the chamber, more than half of applicants, around 1,000 doctors, waited longer than a year.
- Nordrhein: 3,352 medical-language examinations in 2025, of which 1,489 were not passed.
These four numbers measure four different things. They cannot be combined into a ranking, because they do not measure the same thing.
What you can base the decision on
- Exam dates: ask the authority and the chamber directly for the next free slots for the FSP and the Kenntnisprüfung.
- Document requirements: the lists differ. If one document is hard to obtain in your country of origin, that can decide it.
- Labour market: 71% of working physicians without German nationality work in hospitals. Where you find a post often matters more for your timeline than which authority handles your file.
- Reachability: phone them. An authority that answers the phone saves you more time than any statistic.
Free neutral advice
The ZSBA of the Federal Employment Agency advises free of charge and neutrally on choosing an authority and assembling documents, including while you are still abroad.