DHA licence: a clear guide for Dubai healthcare employers in 2026

A DHA licence is the permission that doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives, allied health staff and complementary medicine practitioners need before they can practise in Dubai, and for an employer it decides the date a new hire can start work. The Dubai Health Authority runs the process online through its Sheryan system, in stages: an eligibility check, verification of documents at source, an assessment where the title requires one, registration and, finally, activation of the licence by the hiring facility. This guide explains each stage, the fees and timelines the Dubai Health Authority publishes and the duties that fall on employers, as of November 2026.

It is written for HR, licensing and medical director teams. It is not legal advice. Fees and rules change, so the regulator’s own service pages and manuals, linked below, remain the reference.

What a DHA licence is and who issues it

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) lists among the main functions of its Health Regulation Sector “issuing licensure of healthcare facilities as well as healthcare professionals”. Its Sheryan portal is the only channel: DHA’s licensing manual states that “all applications must be submitted through the Sheryan licensing system”.

The legal basis is Executive Council Resolution No. (49) of 2024, issued in Dubai on 28 August 2024 to regulate healthcare activities and health professions in the emirate. Article 7(b) states that no natural person may practise the health profession within the emirate unless he has obtained a licence. The resolution superseded Executive Council Resolution No. (32) of 2012 and, under Article 32, took effect 60 days after its publication in the Official Gazette. The Dubai Health Authority sent it to all professionals and facilities in its jurisdiction in a circular dated 28 March 2025.

Procedure sits in two Dubai Health Authority documents: the Manual for Licensing Healthcare Professionals (version 1.3, issued and effective on 18 July 2025) and the Manual for Professional Assessment (version 1.1, effective 8 May 2025). DHA’s Director General approved the licensing manuals by Administrative Resolution No. (25) of 2025, issued on 12 March 2025, which requires all healthcare facilities and professionals to comply with them as updated. Both manuals apply the Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements, known as the PQR, a common rulebook that every health authority in the UAE is required to observe.

Two terms are easy to confuse. A registration confirms that a professional meets the requirements for a title. The Dubai Health Authority says it “allows the professional to become part of the Dubai Medical Registry” and “is valid for one year, within which a healthcare facility should activate it into a licence”. Only the activated DHA licence permits practice. The assessment manual states: “This Registration is not considered a permit to practice.”

Who needs a DHA licence, and what employers must do

The Sheryan registration service covers five categories: physicians, dentists, nurses and midwives, allied health professionals, and complementary and alternative medicine practitioners. Resolution 49 applies to all facilities practising health activities across the emirate, including special development zones and free zones such as the Dubai International Financial Centre. Federal government entities and their health facilities fall outside it. In Dubai Healthcare City, the free zone’s own website states that professional licensing in the free zone is managed by Dubai Health Authority, and Law No. (16) of 2024 Concerning the Dubai Healthcare City requires licences and permits from DHA for any healthcare activity there.

The employer duty is direct. Article 7(c) says no healthcare facility may engage a health professional or visiting physician who is not authorised by DHA to work at that facility. Schedule 5 of the resolution sets fixed fines for facilities, including:

• AED 30,000 for engaging a person not authorised to practise the health profession;
• AED 20,000 for engaging an individual who meets the requirements for a licence before it has been issued;
• AED 10,000 for engaging a health professional whose licence has expired;
• AED 5,000 for engaging a professional who is authorised to practise at another facility under different ownership.

Under Article 19(f), a fine is doubled for a repeat offence within one year, up to AED 400,000 for a facility. The resolution also gave existing facilities and professionals one year from its effective date to comply, a period the Director General may extend once.

Facilities carry the administrative load once a DHA licence is live. The Sheryan FAQ says it is the facility’s responsibility to renew or cancel the professional licences of its staff. The licensing manual requires a valid labour card for non-UAE nationals at activation, medical malpractice insurance at the facility where the licence is activated, and a medical fitness report for activation or renewal when the professional is 65 or older.

The volumes are large. DHA figures reported by Emirates 24|7 on 15 October 2026 put licensed health professionals in Dubai at 70,566 in the first half of 2026, up 6.5 per cent from 66,277 a year earlier, working across 5,931 licensed facilities. THD covered the same release in Dubai home care facilities up 22.7 per cent in H1, and follows operators in its Providers section.

Qualification requirements under the unified PQR

The PQR has federal force. Cabinet Resolution No. (20) of 2017, dated 28 June 2017, adopted it at state level and says that “all authorities concerned with health affairs in the State shall observe the provisions of the PQR”. The Minister of Health and Prevention may amend it in coordination with those authorities.

The version hosted on the Dubai Health Authority’s website is the third version, dated 2022. It has been amended since. The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) lists Ministerial Decree No. (70) of 2024 amending provisions of the unified licensing standards, and DHA’s legislation page lists Ministerial Decision No. (51) of 2025 amending certain provisions of the PQR. THD has not reviewed a consolidated text, so employers should check the current wording for a title before making an offer.

Under the third version, the core rules for physicians and nurses include:

• General practitioner: two years of clinical experience after internship.
• Consultant in a main specialty: two years of experience after a Tier 1 specialty qualification, or five years after a Tier 2 qualification. Holders of Tier 3 qualifications cannot attain the title.
• Registered nurse: a bachelor’s degree with a minimum of three years of full-time study.
• Good standing certificate: valid and not older than six months when the application is made.
• Gaps in practice: an interruption of clinical practice of more than two years triggers education and training requirements, and non-UAE nationals cannot apply after a gap of more than five years.
• Examinations: professionals must pass the authority’s examination. UAE nationals and Children of Emirati Women are exempt, and applicants get three attempts across the authorities.

Tiers are the PQR’s categories of postgraduate qualification for physicians and dentists. DHA adds title-specific evidence on top: physicians and dentists in surgical specialties must provide a surgical logbook, and DHA’s registration page asks for the last two years of logbook entries for surgical specialties.

How to get a DHA licence in 7 steps

DHA’s licensing manual sets out the sequence. In practice it runs in seven steps, some of which can overlap.

1. Check eligibility. The professional creates a Sheryan account and runs the Self-Assessment Tool, which the Sheryan FAQ describes as a free e-service. It shows whether the professional is eligible, the matching title and the assessment the title requires. An applicant shown as ineligible can ask DHA to review registration eligibility through a separate service.
2. Verify documents at source. Qualifications, experience certificates, licences and good standing certificates go through primary source verification (PSV) by DataFlow. The Sheryan FAQ says a new report takes about 15 working days from the payment date.
3. Sit the computer-based test where required. The CBT is run with Prometric. DHA’s manual says “both PSV and CBT steps can be done simultaneously”, which shortens the critical path.
4. Apply to Get Registered. With a positive PSV report and any required CBT passed, the professional applies for registration on Sheryan. The fee is AED 200 for all professional categories and the published service time is five working days.
5. Take the oral assessment if DHA asks for one. For some titles DHA reviews the registration request and then requires an oral assessment, conducted virtually on a DHA-approved meeting platform. Booking opens only after that review.
6. Receive the registration. The professional joins the Dubai Medical Registry. The registration is valid for one year from issue and is not a permit to practise.
7. Activate the licence through the employer. A DHA-licensed facility activates the DHA licence on Sheryan for one, two or three years. If several facilities invite the same person, the full-time licence is activated at the facility that completes payment first.

The application belongs to the professional, but the timing is the employer’s problem: no one can start work until step seven is complete. Resolution 49 commits DHA to accept or reject an application within 30 days of its submission.

Primary source verification and assessment

PSV is the first step that depends on a third party. DHA’s manual says PSV “is currently delegated by DHA to a third-party professional verification agency”, and the Sheryan FAQ names DataFlow. Each document returns one of three results: positive, unable to verify, or discrepancy. The manual lists a negative PSV report among the conditions for adding a professional’s name to DHA’s blacklist, so the outcome matters well beyond a single application.

Reports can travel between regulators. The Dubai Health Authority accepts PSV reports transferred from the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, the Sharjah Health Authority and MOHAP. The FAQ says a transfer takes about five working days from payment and carries a report transfer fee of AED 300. Reports from Dubai Healthcare City are also accepted and are uploaded under “Other Documents” in the registration application.

Assessment follows the PQR. DHA’s assessment manual says candidates may face computer-based testing, oral assessments, or a combination of both, depending on the title. Results are pass or fail, with no score breakdown. CBT results are uploaded to Sheryan within two working days, and oral results arrive through Sheryan within three to five working days.

Attempts are limited. Every applicant gets three attempts, and failure at the third attempt blocks the applicant from reapplying for a DHA licence for two years. The assessment manual allows narrow exceptions: one final attempt with a different authority, a fourth DHA attempt for an applicant who declares no failure with any other UAE regulator (not open to Tier 3 holders seeking a consultant title), and three new attempts after a further recognised qualification or two years of licensed clinical experience.

Exam fees are non-refundable, including for rescheduling, cancellation and no-shows, and DHA may cancel an oral assessment application left pending for more than 90 days, again without a refund.

Exemptions are narrow. DHA’s manual exempts, among others, professionals applying within five years of the cancellation of a DHA licence. It also stresses that an exam exemption is limited to examination requirements: PSV, experience and credentialing still apply.

DHA licence fees and timelines as published

The Dubai Health Authority publishes DHA licence fees service by service rather than in one schedule. The table lists the figures THD found on DHA’s own pages in November 2026. Where DHA does not publish a figure, the table says so.

Item	Published fee	Published timeline
Self-Assessment Tool	Free	Not stated
PSV, new report (DataFlow)	Not published on the DHA pages cited	About 15 working days from payment
PSV, transfer of an existing UAE report	AED 300 transfer fee	About 5 working days from payment
CBT (Prometric)	Not published on the DHA pages cited	Result in Sheryan within 2 working days
Get Registered	AED 200, all categories	5 working days
Oral assessment	AED 500 for physicians and dentists; AED 250 for nurses, midwives and other professionals; AED 2,000 urgent	5 working days service time; result in 3 to 5 working days
Licence renewal, physician or dentist, full time	AED 3,000 (1 year); AED 5,000 (2 years); AED 7,500 (3 years)	Instant
Licence renewal, nurse, allied or TCAM, full time	AED 1,000 (1 year); AED 1,500 (2 years); AED 2,500 (3 years)	Instant
Part-time licence renewal	AED 3,000 physician or dentist; AED 1,000 nurse, allied or TCAM	Instant
Licence card update	AED 50	1 working day
Temporary licence, up to 6 months	AED 3,000 physician or dentist; AED 1,000 nurse, midwife or other	Not stated
Transfer to another facility in Dubai	AED 1,000 physician or dentist; AED 500 nurse, midwife or other	Not stated
Certificate of good professional standing	AED 500	Not stated

The renewal fees on DHA’s service page match the second schedule of Resolution 49, which sets the same amounts for “issuing or renewing” a licence for one, two or three years, so they also apply to a first licence. The same schedule sets the oral assessment fees in dirhams (DHA’s service page lists them without a currency), a AED 200 fee for reviewing an application, and the temporary licence, transfer and good standing fees in the last three rows. DataFlow and Prometric charges are set by those providers and are not listed on the DHA pages cited here.

No single end-to-end processing time is published. The individual service times in the table, together with the 30-day decision commitment in Resolution 49, are the only official guide.

Licence types, renewal and CPD

DHA’s manual classifies licences as full time or part time, and the first DHA licence is always full time. A part-time licence needs approval from the medical director of the full-time facility. The number allowed depends on title: up to four for a consultant physician or dentist, for example, and one for a general practitioner or general dentist.

For short-term cover, a facility can apply for a temporary permit to practise. The facility selects the duration, up to a maximum of six months, and the manual says the permit is neither renewable nor transferable.

A DHA licence can be activated for one, two or three years. Renewal is a facility task: DHA’s renewal service lets facilities renew full-time or part-time staff licences within three months of the expiry date, with the new validity running on from the old expiry date. An expired full-time licence can still be renewed for up to six months after expiry, with penalties. A part-time licence that is not renewed is set to cancelled with no penalty.

Renewal of a DHA licence depends on continuing professional development, and points are updated through a Sheryan service. The annual targets are 40 CPD points for physicians and dentists, 20 for nurses, 10 for allied health and TCAM practitioners and 20 for pharmacists, scaled by the licence period, so a physician on a three-year licence must submit 120 points before it expires. At least 70 per cent of the points should be in the professional’s specialty.

Inactivity has consequences. Under the manual, failing to practise for six consecutive months during the validity of a DHA licence, without an excuse DHA accepts, leads to cancellation. Surgeons must keep logbooks, and professionals aged 65 or over need a medical fitness report to activate or renew.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

• A new legal framework. Resolution 49 replaced the 2012 regime. DHA circulated it on 28 March 2025 and again on 5 November 2025, when it announced an Arabic-language webinar, and on 11 August 2026 invited licensed facilities to an Arabic-language workshop on their obligations and the resolution’s penalties, scheduled for 14 August 2026.
• New manuals. Administrative Resolution No. (25) of 2025 approved DHA’s licensing manuals on 12 March 2025. Version 1.1 of the assessment manual took effect on 8 May 2025, and version 1.3 of the professional licensing manual, which replaced version 1.2 of May 2025, took effect on 18 July 2025. It added a rule that DHA may hold or reject an application where the professional has outstanding payments on their own account or that of a facility they own.
• Registration. DHA issued a circular on the Get Registered request on 21 February 2025.
• PQR amendments. DHA’s legislation page lists Ministerial Decision No. (51) of 2025 amending certain provisions of the unified PQR.
• A national platform. MOHAP announced on 1 February 2025 that it had launched a National Licensing Platform in collaboration with all health authorities, aimed at issuing a single professional practice licence valid across the UAE. Gulf News reported in August 2025 that the ministry had finished the design phase and expected the platform to go live in the second quarter of 2026, benefiting more than 200,000 practitioners a year.

As of November 2026, THD could not find an official notice confirming that the national platform has replaced Sheryan for Dubai applications. DHA’s current manuals and service pages still direct professionals and facilities to Sheryan.

Growth continued through the period. Dubai Media Office reported on 18 February 2026 that the emirate’s private sector healthcare workforce exceeded 69,400 professionals in 2025, up from 64,100 in 2024, while licensed facilities rose to about 5,800 from 5,340.

How a DHA licence compares with DoH and MOHAP

The PQR is shared, but each regulator still runs its own licensing system. A MOHAP official told Khaleej Times in January 2025 that each entity licenses health professionals on its own requirements, which is the gap the national platform is meant to close. The table compares the three routes using each regulator’s published material.

Feature	DHA (Dubai)	DoH (Abu Dhabi)	MOHAP (federal)
Online channel	Sheryan	TAMM, the Abu Dhabi government services platform	MOHAP website or smart app, using UAE PASS
Exam delivery	CBT with Prometric; oral assessments on a DHA platform	Pearson Professional Assessments (formerly Pearson VUE), booked through TAMM	Not covered by the pages cited
Licence validity	One, two or three years	Not stated on DoH’s public pages	Not stated on the service pages cited
Holders of another UAE licence	Transferred PSV reports accepted for an AED 300 fee	Exam exemption in the same title for holders of a valid licence from any UAE authority, under the PQR’s licence recognition rules	Evaluation service for active DHA or DoH licence holders: AED 3,000 for doctors and AED 1,000 for nurses and technicians at private facilities

For groups that move staff between emirates, the practical points are that verification can be reused and exam attempts are counted across authorities under the PQR. MOHAP’s evaluation service for professionals who already hold an active DHA or DoH licence has a published service time of two working days. On the Abu Dhabi side, DoH directs professional and facility services to TAMM, and Pearson’s DoH page explains that pre-booking fees are paid there.

What it means for employers and investors

For hospital groups and clinic operators, licensing is a gating item in workforce planning. Each new doctor or nurse passes through steps owned by DHA, DataFlow, Prometric and the employer, and apart from Resolution 49’s 30-day decision commitment no end-to-end standard is published. Recruitment teams that start PSV and the CBT in parallel, as DHA’s manual allows, remove one source of delay.

Part of the cost falls on facilities. Activation of a DHA licence is completed and paid by the hiring facility, and DHA’s published renewal fees for a full-time physician licence rise from AED 3,000 for one year to AED 7,500 for three. DHA’s oversight is also expanding: it carried out 5,378 inspection and monitoring visits in the first half of 2026, up 36.3 per cent, and facility compliance with regulatory standards rose to 80 per cent from 75 per cent, according to the figures reported by Emirates 24|7.

For investors assessing Dubai healthcare platforms, licensed headcount growth of 6.5 per cent in the year to mid-2026 and the fixed fines in Resolution 49 are both relevant to due diligence. A target’s licence register, renewal calendar and CPD records show whether it can staff new capacity on schedule. THD records openings, approvals and deals in the Tracker, and regulatory changes in its Policy and payers section.

What to watch next

• The national platform. Whether MOHAP’s single professional profile goes live for Dubai, and how DHA’s Sheryan services move across.
• PQR amendments. Further ministerial decisions on the unified PQR flow straight into DHA eligibility decisions.
• Enforcement of Resolution 49. DHA announced an Arabic-language webinar on the resolution in November 2025 and a facility workshop on its obligations and penalties for August 2026. How the Schedule 5 employer offences are applied is worth monitoring.
• Workforce data. DHA’s next half-year release will show whether licensed headcount keeps pace with facility growth.
• Fees. Any revision of DHA’s service fees, which are published service by service on its website.

Employers checking a specific title should read the current PQR and the relevant Sheryan service page before making an offer, and put any remaining questions to the Dubai Health Authority directly.