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Work shadowing as a physician or approbation
To whom does this leaflet apply
- Physicians who would like to do a work shadowing in Germany, e.g. in a hospital, in order to prepare for the technical language test or for taking up work in Germany.
- Doctors who wish to obtain approbation in order to practice medicine in Germany and thus prepare for a specialised language or specialist examination.
Unlike an internship, a work shadowing is not an employment, but characterized by the gathering of knowledge and experience in a field of activity without a time and content definition or legal and actual integration into the place of work.
You may not carry out medical activities in the context of work shadowing and approbations. Moreover, carrying out medical activities (including routine activities such as taking blood, closing wounds, assisting during operations or examining patients) without a professional license or license to practice medicine is punishable.
For internships, please see our separate leaflet. To carry out a medical internship, it is already required to have a professional license.
What kind of documents need to be submitted
These documents depend on the type of visa you are applying for and must be submitted in addition to the standard proofs:
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signed work shadowing agreement (original document with one non-certified copy) |
The agreement must contain information on the nature of the intended activity:
In addition, the agreement should particularly exclude the exercise of medical activities and/or contain a brief description of the work shadowing. |
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Interim notice / notice of deficit from the recognition office / approbation authority (not just the confirmation of receipt) (original document with one non-certified copy) |
| ☐ | Confirmation of the adaptation measure or knowledge test or language course registration (the necessity of this/these measure(s) must result from the interim notification/deficiency notice) (original document with one non-certified copy) |
| ☐ | Complete curriculum vitae in tabular form in German or English | In your CV, please summarize all previous activities, trainings and qualifications up to the current application date in one table. |
| ☐ |
University diploma AND notarized translation (Diploma in the English language do not require translation). (original document with a non-certified copy) |
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AND Proof of comparability of your degree (Information on degree’s recognition and ways of proving, you can find in our leaflet „Information on degree’s recognition“) |
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Certified B1 language certificate (original document with one non-certified copy) |
To find out which certificates are currently recognized, please visit https://www.alte.org/Our-Full-Members. |
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- minimum 1,090 Euros per month (incl. contractual services) - Proof for the entire stay |
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| Payment of the required amount (minus the contractually agreed services) to a blocked account in Germany | You can find information on opening a blocked account on the website of the Federal Foreign Office. |
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OR Formal obligation of the parents (or other persons) according to §§ 66-68 AufenthG (Residence Act) (original document with one non-certified copy)
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Marked „intended for work shadowing“ and „proven creditworthiness“. Please contact the immigration office responsible for your place of residence. The Embassy can only accept a declaration of commitment in exceptional cases.[1] |
[1] The German Embassy in Riga can only accept a declaration of commitment if there is no other way to prove that you can secure your livelihood. Furthermore, we must assume that a credit check would be positive and the declaration of commitment would be enforceable in Germany. The obligor must have assets in Germany, e.g. a German bank account, so that the obligor's creditworthiness is „proven“.
General information
- Please note:
- Due to the high workload and in order to ensure equal treatment of all applicants, the visa section can only accept applications in the requested form for processing.
- Submitting incomplete documents may lead to the rejection of the application.
- Unsolicited documents cannot be assigned to your application.
- All documents, leaflets and application forms provided by the Embassy are free of charge.
- All information on the application procedure is available on our website.
- Please refrain from submitting status requests. Status requests do not speed up the visa process.
- Processing time: Approximately between six and twelve weeks, in individual cases shorter or longer.
- If the Embassy has questions during the course of the visa procedure or if additional documents need to be submitted, we will contact you directly.