The DHA Exam is the licensing test the Dubai Health Authority requires from every doctor, nurse, pharmacist, dentist, and allied health professional who wants to practice legally in Dubai. It is a computer based test delivered through Prometric, and passing it, alongside DataFlow verification, is what stands between you and a licensed healthcare career in the UAE. Below, every part of the process is broken down clearly, including what most other guides leave out: what you can realistically expect to earn once you are licensed.
What Exactly Is the DHA Exam?
The DHA Exam is a profession specific licensing assessment run by the Dubai Health Authority to confirm that a healthcare professional meets the clinical knowledge standard required to practice safely in Dubai.
The Dubai Health Authority was established in 2007 to regulate healthcare across the emirate, and checking professional competence through this exam is one of its core functions. Depending on your category, the test is either a computer based exam (CBT) taken at a Prometric center, or an oral assessment for certain specialties. The exam itself is specialty specific. A general practitioner, a radiographer, and a registered nurse are not answering the same set of questions, since each profession has its own blueprint covering the clinical knowledge expected at that level.
Passing the exam is not the finish line. It earns you an eligibility letter, not a license. The actual DHA license only gets issued once a Dubai healthcare facility hires you and activates it on your behalf.
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Who Needs to Take the DHA Exam?
Any healthcare professional applying for a new DHA registration needs to sit the exam for their category, with limited exceptions for certain senior specialists and professionals covered under mutual recognition agreements.
Categories that commonly go through this route include physicians and specialist doctors, dentists, registered nurses and midwives, pharmacists, radiographers, lab technicians and other allied health roles, and physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Each category has its own exam code, question count, and passing threshold, so the experience differs meaningfully depending on your profession.
DHA Exam for GPs, Specialists, and Consultants: Understanding the Levels
Within the physician category specifically, the DHA does not treat every doctor the same way. Your classification, general practitioner, specialist, or consultant, determines both your exam content and the experience you need to qualify.
General Practitioners typically need around 2 years of post-qualification clinical experience and are tested on broad primary care knowledge across common presentations, diagnosis, and management.
Specialists generally require closer to 3 years of experience within their specific specialty, following recognized postgraduate training (such as MD, MS, or an equivalent board certification), and are tested on deeper, specialty specific clinical scenarios.
Consultants usually need the longest experience track record, often several years beyond specialist level, along with evidence of advanced clinical responsibility, and are assessed accordingly.
This distinction matters because applying under the wrong classification, say, applying as a specialist when your experience only supports general practitioner status, is one of the more common and entirely avoidable reasons applications get delayed or rejected outright.
DHA Exam Eligibility Requirements
To qualify for the DHA Exam, you generally need a recognized healthcare degree matching DHA’s Professional Qualification Requirements, the minimum post-qualification experience for your category, a valid professional license, a recent Good Standing Certificate, and completed DataFlow verification.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Educational qualification | Must match the DHA’s Professional Qualification Requirements (PQR) for your category |
| Work experience | Generally 2 years post-qualification for general practitioners and most allied health roles; 3 years for specialists |
| Professional license | A valid license from your home country or last place of employment |
| Good Standing Certificate | Issued within the last 6 months |
| Primary Source Verification | Completed through DataFlow before or alongside your exam booking |
A few details trip people up here. Internship or house job years usually do not count toward your experience requirement, only time worked after you are fully qualified does. And if a single document is missing, the DHA does not simply skip it. You are expected to upload a justification letter explaining why, or your application stalls until you do.
The DHA’s official Self-Assessment Tool, available through the Sheryan portal, is the fastest way to confirm where you personally stand before spending money on DataFlow or exam fees.
DHA Exam Syllabus and Format
The DHA Exam is a multiple choice, computer based test with no negative marking, typically running 70 to 150 questions depending on your category, with a time limit of roughly 90 to 165 minutes.
The syllabus is built around what a competent professional in your category should already know on day one of practice in Dubai. It is not designed to test obscure or rarely used knowledge. For physicians and specialists, that generally means core clinical topics: diagnosis, management, pharmacology, emergency care, and ethics relevant to the specialty. Nurses are tested on fundamentals, patient safety, adult and maternal child care, and unit management. Allied health categories are tested on the technical and clinical skills specific to their role.
The exact number of questions, topic weightings, and time allowed for your specific profession are published on the DHA’s Mode of Exam per Specialty page, and it is worth checking that directly rather than relying on secondhand numbers, since these details are periodically revised.
The DHA does not publicly release an exact passing score for every category, and Prometric has been explicit that it does not sell or endorse any third party practice content claiming to be official. That does not mean preparation does not matter. It means the effective approach is structured study aligned to the published exam blueprint, not memorizing leaked question banks from unverified sources.
How to Apply for the DHA Exam: Step by Step
Applying for the DHA Exam involves seven stages: self assessment, Sheryan registration, DataFlow verification, exam booking and payment, sitting the exam, receiving your eligibility letter, and finally license activation once you are hired.
Step 1: Run the Self-Assessment. Use the DHA’s Self-Assessment Tool on the Sheryan portal to confirm you meet the eligibility bar for your category before spending anything further.
Step 2: Create your Sheryan account. Sheryan is the DHA’s official online licensing platform. Every application, registration, exam booking, and license activation, happens through this one portal.
Step 3: Submit documents for DataFlow verification. This is Primary Source Verification, where DataFlow confirms your degree, license, and experience directly with the institutions that issued them. It typically takes several weeks, and can run in parallel with scheduling your exam rather than waiting for it to finish first. For the complete step by step process specific to Dubai, see our DHA DataFlow guide.
Step 4: Pay the fees and book your exam. Once your documents are in order, pay the required fees on Sheryan and schedule your exam through Prometric, choosing a test center and date that works for you.
Step 5: Sit the exam. Arrive early, bring your passport and exam confirmation, and follow the test center’s identification procedures. Prometric’s biometric requirements mean you will need fingerprint verification in most countries.
Step 6: Receive your eligibility letter. A pass unlocks an eligibility letter on your Sheryan account. This is not a license yet. It is what you use to apply for jobs at Dubai healthcare facilities.
Step 7: Get hired and activate your license. Once a facility offers you a position, they submit the paperwork to activate your DHA license, along with your malpractice insurance and labor card. This step is handled by the employer, not by you directly.
DHA Exam Fees: What to Budget For
Total costs for the DHA licensing process typically fall between roughly USD 300 and USD 600, spread across DataFlow verification, the registration fee, the Prometric exam fee, and the eventual license issuance fee.
| Stage | Approximate Cost |
|---|---|
| DataFlow verification | USD 160 to 210 |
| DHA registration or credentialing fee | Around AED 200, plus applicable Knowledge and Innovation fees |
| Prometric exam fee | USD 140 to 190 per attempt |
| License issuance fee | AED 400 to 4,000 depending on your professional category |
Two things are worth knowing before you budget. First, you get a maximum of three attempts across authorities to pass. Fail beyond that and your application can be rejected outright, so it pays to prepare properly rather than treat the first attempt as a trial run. Second, Prometric and the DHA operate a strict no refund policy. Rescheduling has some flexibility under specific conditions, but a missed exam or a change of heart will not get your money back.
DHA Exam Result and License Validity
DHA exam results are reported as pass or fail, and the eligibility letter you receive is generally valid for one year, during which you need to secure employment and activate your license.
Once you pass, your eligibility letter becomes visible on your Sheryan account, and that is your proof for job applications. If you do not secure a job offer and activate your license within that one year window, you may need to go through parts of the process again, so treat the eligibility letter as time sensitive rather than something to sit on. Since the DHA does periodically update its terms, confirming the current validity period on your own Sheryan dashboard once you register is still the safest way to know exactly where you stand.
DHA License Requirements: Getting From Eligibility to Practice
Passing the exam gets you registered in the Dubai Medical Registry, but you still need a confirmed job offer before your actual license can be activated.
Once you have secured a position with a licensed Dubai healthcare facility, the employer submits your job offer and malpractice insurance details through Sheryan. The DHA’s Health Regulation Department reviews this, and if everything checks out, a task appears in your account to pay the license issuance fee, unless you fall under a specific exemption policy. After payment, you typically visit the Health Regulation Department in person to collect your license within a couple of days. Depending on your professional category, the DHA may also require an oral assessment before final registration is approved, particularly for specialist positions.
Salary After Your DHA License: What You Can Realistically Expect
Salaries for DHA licensed professionals in Dubai vary widely by role, specialty, and experience, but a licensed nurse typically earns somewhere between AED 6,000 and AED 25,000 per month, while a licensed doctor’s salary can range anywhere from roughly AED 15,000 to well over AED 100,000 per month at the consultant level.
For nurses: Entry level, newly DHA eligible nurses generally start around AED 6,000 to AED 8,000 per month. With three to six years of experience, that typically rises to AED 9,000 to AED 14,000. Senior and specialist nurses, particularly in high acuity areas like ICU, emergency, or operating theatre, often earn AED 18,000 to AED 25,000 or more.
For doctors: General practitioners with DHA licensing generally start in the AED 15,000 to AED 40,000 range. Specialists typically earn between AED 30,000 and AED 80,000, depending on their field and years of experience. Consultants, particularly in high demand specialties like cardiology, orthopedics, or oncology, can earn well over AED 100,000 per month at senior private hospitals.
A few factors consistently push these numbers higher across every category: holding a DHA license specifically (rather than MOH or DOH) tends to command a premium given Dubai’s competitive private healthcare market, specialization in high acuity or high demand fields adds a meaningful percentage, and employer type matters, with major private hospitals like American Hospital Dubai or Mediclinic often paying more than smaller public health centers. Since UAE income is tax free, take home pay tends to run noticeably higher than the headline figure would suggest compared to an equivalent salary elsewhere.
Salary by Specialty: Where the Real Range Comes From
Physician salary varies enormously by specialty, and lumping every doctor into one number hides the part that actually matters for planning your career move. Here is a general breakdown by specialty area, based on current demand patterns in Dubai’s private healthcare market.
| Specialty | Typical Monthly Range (AED) |
|---|---|
| General Practice / Family Medicine | 15,000 to 35,000 |
| Internal Medicine | 20,000 to 45,000 |
| Emergency Medicine | 22,000 to 50,000 |
| Pediatrics | 20,000 to 45,000 |
| Obstetrics and Gynecology | 25,000 to 60,000 |
| General Surgery | 25,000 to 65,000 |
| Orthopedic Surgery | 30,000 to 80,000 |
| Cardiology | 35,000 to 90,000 |
| Anesthesiology | 25,000 to 60,000 |
| Radiology | 25,000 to 60,000 |
| Dermatology | 25,000 to 55,000 |
| Psychiatry | 20,000 to 45,000 |
| Ophthalmology | 25,000 to 55,000 |
| ENT (Otolaryngology) | 25,000 to 55,000 |
| Nephrology | 25,000 to 55,000 |
| Oncology | 30,000 to 75,000 |
| Urology | 25,000 to 55,000 |
Surgical and procedure heavy specialties, particularly orthopedics, cardiology, and oncology, consistently sit at the higher end because Dubai’s private hospitals compete aggressively for consultants who can bring in complex, high value cases. Primary care and psychiatry roles sit lower on average, though demand for both has been rising steadily as Dubai’s population grows, which has started to push starting offers up in these fields as well.
These figures are drawn from current recruiter and healthcare staffing data as of 2026, and actual offers will vary by employer, so treat them as a planning benchmark rather than a guarantee.
DHA vs. MOH vs. DOH: Why the Difference Matters
DHA licenses are valid for practicing in Dubai Emirate only, and this distinction determines which exam you should actually be preparing for.
This trips up a lot of applicants, so it is worth being direct about it. DOH, formerly HAAD, covers Abu Dhabi. MOH covers the Northern Emirates. These are three separate regulatory bodies, and a license from one does not automatically let you work under another. You would need a formal endorsement process to move between them. If your job offer is specifically in Dubai, the DHA Exam is the one that matters to you. If you are unsure which emirate your target employer falls under, confirm this before you invest time and money into the wrong application track. For a broader look at licensing across the region, see our Gulf healthcare licensing guide.
Getting Ready: How to Actually Prepare
Since the DHA syllabus is specialty specific and no outside company sells genuinely official practice content, the most effective preparation combines structured study of the published exam blueprint with realistic practice under timed conditions.
That is the gap most self study candidates struggle to close on their own, not because the material is impossible, but because it is hard to gauge your own readiness without something to benchmark against. This is exactly where a structured prep course and a solid MCQ bank make a real difference, especially if you are studying while working full time or juggling the DataFlow process at the same time. Working through timed practice questions built around your specific category, rather than a generic question set, is usually what separates a first attempt pass from a costly second try.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is the DHA exam the same as the DHA license?
No. Passing the exam gets you an eligibility letter and entry into the Dubai Medical Registry. The actual license only gets activated once a Dubai healthcare facility hires you and submits your job offer and insurance details through Sheryan.
What is the DHA exam syllabus based on?
It’s built around the clinical knowledge and skills the DHA expects from a competent professional in your category, published as a Mode of Exam per Specialty document covering topics, question counts, and duration for each profession.
How much are the DHA exam fees in total?
Costs vary by category but generally include DataFlow verification (around USD 160–210), a DHA registration fee, the Prometric exam fee (roughly USD 140–190), and a license issuance fee once you’re hired.
How do I check the official DHA exam website?
All official applications go through the Sheryan portal at services.dha.gov.ae. Exam scheduling itself happens through Prometric’s official DHA page. Avoid any third-party site claiming to sell official DHA content – Prometric has publicly warned against these.
Can I apply for the DHA exam without work experience?
Generally no. Most categories require at least two years of post-qualification experience, with internship or house job time typically excluded. Specialists usually need three years post-specialization.
How many attempts do I get for the DHA exam?
You’re allowed a maximum of three attempts across authorities. Failing to meet document or passing requirements within those attempts can result in your application being rejected.
What happens after I pass the DHA exam?
You receive an eligibility letter through Sheryan, which you then use to apply for jobs at Dubai healthcare facilities. Your employer activates your actual license once you’re hired. You can prepare for this using Rahat Health Care Consultancy And Training Center’s DHA Preparation Course.
What salary can I expect after getting my DHA license?
It depends heavily on your role and experience. Licensed nurses typically earn AED 6,000 to AED 25,000 per month, while licensed doctors range from around AED 15,000 for entry level general practitioners to over AED 100,000 for senior consultants in high demand specialties.
Is the DHA exam different for a general practitioner versus a specialist?
Yes. General practitioners are tested on broad primary care knowledge with roughly 2 years of experience required, while specialists face deeper, specialty specific content and generally need closer to 3 years of relevant experience.
How long is the DHA eligibility letter valid?
Generally one year from the date you pass, during which you need to secure a job offer and activate your license. Confirm the current validity period on your Sheryan account, since terms are periodically updated.
Final Thoughts
The DHA exam process has a lot of moving parts, but none of them are actually complicated on their own. They just need to happen in the right order, with the right documents ready at each stage, and a realistic understanding of what the license is actually worth to your career once you have it. Start with the self assessment, get your DataFlow verification moving early since it takes the longest, and give yourself real preparation time against the actual exam blueprint for your category rather than guessing at what might come up. If you would rather have an account manager handle your application, DataFlow, and exam prep alongside you, get in touch with our team to get started.
About the Author
This guide was written by the team at Rahat Health Care Professionals Consultancy & Training Center, led by founder Rahat Zaman, a medical licensing consultant since 2018 with hands-on experience guiding healthcare professionals through DHA, MOH, DOH, and wider Gulf licensing processes. Our team has supported over 21000 healthcare professionals through DataFlow verification, exam registration, and license activation across the UAE and internationally.
Last updated: July 2026
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