Saudi Arabia Licensing

Which authority governs licensing in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) is the single regulator for healthcare practice in Saudi Arabia. The single regulator for every healthcare professional in Saudi Arabia - from student registration to consultant classification.

A licence issued by SCFHS covers practice within its jurisdiction only. Moving to another GCC country means a fresh application to that country's regulator, although the DataFlow report can usually be reused.

• SCFHS, Saudi Commission for Health Specialties: Kingdom-wide. Prometric exam, DataFlow required, 12-24 weeks on average.

Who needs a licence to practise in Saudi Arabia

Every healthcare professional who treats patients in Saudi Arabia must hold a current licence from the relevant authority before starting work: physicians, dentists, nurses and midwives, pharmacists, and the allied health professions including radiographers, laboratory technologists, physiotherapists and respiratory therapists.

The title you are licensed under, general practitioner, specialist or consultant, is decided by your qualification and the number of post-qualification years you can evidence, not by the title you held at home. That tier sets both the exam you sit and the salary band you are hired into, which is why it is worth confirming before you file anything.

• Qualification listed on SCFHS's recognised institutions register
• Post-qualification experience per classification (GP / Specialist / Consultant)
• Good Standing Certificate valid within 6 months
• Mumaris+ profile with verified documents

The exam required for a Saudi Arabia licence

Licensing exams for Saudi Arabia are delivered through Prometric. The paper is a computer-based multiple-choice assessment sat at a test centre in your home country, so no travel is needed to sit it.

SCFHS runs a 150 – 200 MCQs paper of 3 hours with a pass mark of 60% (classification-specific). The exam fee is $200 – $320, paid to the authority. Some candidates qualify for an exemption based on their specialty certificate, which is worth checking before booking anything.

Documents you will need

The file is assembled once and then reused across the process, so it is worth getting right the first time. A rejected document restarts the clock on the whole application, and document problems are the single most common reason a Saudi Arabia application stalls.

• Identity: Passport (bio page + valid Saudi entry visa or iqama if in-Kingdom)
• Identity: Recent passport-size photograph (white background, no glasses)
• Qualifications: Primary degree certificate (MBBS / BDS / BScN / equivalent)
• Qualifications: Full transcripts covering all years of study
• Qualifications: Internship completion certificate
• Experience: Continuous experience letters covering every month since qualification
• Experience: Each letter must state role, exact dates, full-time / part-time, and HR contact
• Experience: Log-book excerpts (for surgical and procedural specialties)
• Professional standing: Good Standing Certificate from your current licensing body (must be within 6 months at SCFHS review)
• Professional standing: Home-country practice licence (current, un-expired)
• Professional standing: BLS + ACLS / PALS / ATLS as applicable to your specialty
• Attestations: Degree attested by home country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Attestations: Saudi Cultural Attaché or Saudi Embassy attestation of the degree
• Attestations: Culture office endorsement (for degrees from certain countries)

DataFlow primary source verification

Every authority in Saudi Arabia requires DataFlow primary source verification. DataFlow writes directly to your university, your licensing council and each employer you have listed, and waits for them to confirm the documents are genuine.

This is the step that decides your timeline, because it depends on how quickly third parties reply. A verification usually clears in three to six weeks, and it can be reused when applying to a second GCC authority, which makes a second licence considerably faster than the first.

Typical timeline

Allow 12-24 weeks from a complete file to licence issued for Saudi Arabia, assuming documents are accepted first time and the exam is passed on the first attempt.

The parts you control are document collection and exam preparation. The parts you do not are DataFlow's third-party replies and the authority's own review queue, both of which run longer in the weeks after exam results are released. Candidates who prepare the file while waiting for verification, rather than sequentially, routinely finish a month ahead.

• Mumaris+ registration: Create your professional profile on Mumaris+ (SCFHS's unified system) and upload documents.
• Classification & Dataflow: SCFHS classifies your title tier; Dataflow PSV runs in parallel.
• Eligibility ID: Once classification + PSV clear, SCFHS issues an Eligibility ID to book Prometric.
• Prometric Saudi exam: Sit the SCFHS Prometric assessment (Riyadh, Jeddah, home country or Dubai).
• Professional registration: After passing, your Mumaris+ profile flips to 'Registered' - required for any Saudi employer's iqama.

Typical cost

Budget for four charges, all set by third parties: DataFlow verification, the authority's application and registration fees, the exam fee of $200 – $320, and document attestation where your country requires it. None of these is refundable if the application is rejected on a document error.

We quote our own consultancy fee after the eligibility check, once we know which pathway applies and how much of your file already exists. Government and DataFlow charges are billed at cost.

• Mumaris+ registration: Free
• Classification & evaluation: $100 – $270 (Tier-dependent - Consultant is highest)
• Dataflow PSV report: $220 – $340 (SCFHS-specific package)
• SCFHS Prometric exam: $200 – $320 (Higher for Specialist and Consultant tiers)
• Registration certificate issuance: $130 – $270
• Total out-of-pocket (indicative): $650 – $1,200 (Excludes attestation courier, translations and any re-exam fees)