Qatar DHP Circular 2025/24: Complete Guide to the New Licensing Rules

On 30 December 2025, Qatar's Department of Healthcare Professions (DHP) - operating under the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) - issued Circular DHP/2025/24. Its subject is an "Update on Circular No. (13/2023) on the Registration and Licensing Policy of Healthcare Practitioners in the State of Qatar". It is addressed to all healthcare practitioners and facilities in Qatar and took effect on its date of issue.

The circular is narrower than many summaries suggest. It deals with two things: the work experience required before licensing, and who is exempt from the qualifying exam. Its rules are written for specific groups - graduates of public, private and higher education institutions in Qatar, Qatari nationals, offspring of Qatari women, offspring of residents, spouses of residents and spouses of residents' offspring. It does not replace all previous circulars: it annuls six named circulars - 01/2016, 11/2018, 19/2020, 24/2020, 15/2022 and 13/2023 - and other DHP circulars remain in force.

It also says nothing about DataFlow, primary source verification, document attestation or a January 2026 start date. Several changes that are often attributed to it came from separate circulars issued around the same time: the second primary source verification provider (DHP/2025/20), the list of exempting international exams (DHP/2025/19), the new allied health scopes (DHP/2025/23), and earlier updates to the pharmacy and dental exams. Each is covered below with its correct source.

It is also worth noting the institutional context: QCHP (Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners) is now the DHP (Department of Healthcare Professions) under MOPH. References to QCHP in older guidance, online forums, and employer documents should be understood as referring to DHP. The regulatory functions remain the same; only the name and structure have changed.

Circular DHP/2025/24 does not mention DataFlow or Primary Source Verification (PSV), and it did not make PSV mandatory from January 2026. PSV was already compulsory: DHP's primary source verification page describes it as one of the mandatory requirements for registration and licensing for all healthcare practitioners, and asks you to apply for verification before submitting your evaluation application and to attach the verification report.

What has changed is the choice of provider and one specific verification deadline:

• QuadraBay as a second provider - Circular DHP/2025/20 (2 December 2025) endorsed QuadraBay as the second approved PSV provider. From 30 November 2025, practitioners can submit verification requests through DataFlow or QuadraBay.
• AVS as a third provider - Circular DHP/2026/36 (3 September 2026) approved Approved Verification Services (AVS) as a third PSV provider.
• Exempting exams must be verified from 1 January 2026 - Circular DHP/2025/19 says any exam used to claim exemption from the Qatar qualifying exam must be verified by a verification company, and that no exam will be accepted without a verification report after 1 January 2026.

What Primary Source Verification Covers

• Primary medical/nursing/pharmacy degree - verified directly with the awarding institution
• Postgraduate qualifications - specialist degrees, diplomas, and fellowships where applicable
• Professional registration certificates - current registration with the home country regulator
• Employment history - verification of clinical experience with previous employers
• Good Standing Certificates - confirming no disciplinary record with the professional regulator

Verification typically takes 4 to 12 weeks depending on the responsiveness of the institutions being contacted, the country of origin, and the volume of applications. Professionals planning to apply for a Qatar DHP license should start PSV at the earliest opportunity, as verification delay is the most common bottleneck in the licensing timeline.

For a detailed walkthrough of the DataFlow process and how to optimise your submission, see our complete guide to DataFlow verification. Our team at Neelim can manage the entire verification submission on your behalf, including institution contact, document preparation, and status tracking.

Circular DHP/2025/24 does mention degree durations for medicine and dentistry, but not as a blanket rule for every applicant. The durations appear in the section on graduates of universities outside Qatar who are Qataris, offspring of Qatari women, offspring of residents, spouses of residents or spouses of residents' offspring, and they set when the internship year counts.

Medicine: At Least 6 Years Before the Internship

For general practitioners in these groups, the circular requires a one-year internship after a bachelor's degree in medicine and surgery of at least 6 years of study, excluding the internship year. Qataris, offspring of Qatari women, offspring of residents and spouses of residents' offspring need the internship year; spouses of residents need the internship year plus one year of work experience. Physicians who cannot prove an internship must instead show one year of clinical experience.

Graduates of medical programmes in Qatar follow a separate rule: they need a one-year internship after obtaining the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree to be licensed in the public or private sector.

Dentistry: At Least 5 Years Before the Internship

For general dentists in the same groups who graduated outside Qatar, the dental degree must be at least 5 years of study, excluding the internship year, with the same internship and experience rules as physicians. Graduates of dentistry programmes in Qatar are exempt from the experience requirement.

Completing Experience in Qatar

The circular allows Qatari nationals, offspring of Qatari women, offspring of residents and spouses of residents' offspring to complete the required experience by obtaining a licence to practise as a general practitioner under supervision in Qatar. In pharmacy, nursing and allied health, offspring and spouses of residents need one year of experience and can complete it through DHP-approved supervised training in Qatar; for nurses it must be direct clinical nursing in a recognised facility under a valid licence.

If you are recruited from overseas and do not fall into one of these groups, these duration rules are not the test applied to you; your degree is assessed under DHP's registration requirements for your profession. Neelim's credential assessment service can tell you which rules apply before you invest time and fees in a formal application.

The two new allied health scopes often linked to DHP/2025/24 were actually added by a separate circular, Circular DHP/2025/23, dated 17 December 2025. Based on a decision of DHP's Permanent Licensing Committee, it added three scopes to the Allied Health Practitioners list: Cardiovascular Technologist Non-Invasive, Osteopath Practitioner and Infection Prevention and Control Practitioner, each with its own scope of practice and registration requirements. This expansion reflects the growth of Qatar's healthcare infrastructure, including the HMC expansion programme discussed below.

Osteopaths

Osteopathy previously occupied an uncertain regulatory status in Qatar, with practitioners often working under adjacent physiotherapy or manual therapy categories. The formal recognition of osteopathy as a distinct scope provides clarity for qualified osteopaths. The circular's registration criteria include:

• A recognised osteopathy qualification - for example a Doctor of Osteopathy, a master's in osteopathy, or a bachelor's degree with a postgraduate osteopathy qualification
• 2 years of experience as an osteopath (graduates of accredited programmes in Qatar may be exempt)
• Verification of educational qualifications and relevant clinical experience
• The DHP licensing examination if applicable, unless exempted

Cardiovascular Technologists

The new scope covers non-invasive cardiac and vascular diagnostics: echocardiography, ECGs and stress tests, Holter and event monitoring, and vascular ultrasound such as carotid duplex. The education requirement is a bachelor's degree in cardiovascular technology, cardiac science or a related field, or a 2-year associate degree, and overseas candidates need at least 2 years of experience in cardiovascular technology. With Qatar's HMC expanding its cardiac services (see the expansion section), this creates a timely licensing pathway for a profession in high demand.

Applicants with credentials from countries with established certification pathways - such as the US (CCI/ARDMS certification) or the UK (SCST accreditation) - can present those as part of their DHP application, alongside the verification of their qualifications and experience.

For the current list of recognised GCC exam structures and how Qatar compares, see our DHA vs SCFHS vs QCHP exam comparison.

Circular DHP/2025/24 contains only one exam exemption rule: everyone must take the qualifying exam for their specialty except Qatari nationals, offspring of Qatari women, and graduates of public universities, private universities and higher education institutions in Qatar. It does not mention USMLE, PLAB or NCLEX.

The international exam exemptions come from Circular DHP/2025/19, dated 26 November 2025, which lists the exams that can exempt applicants from Qatar's qualifying (Prometric) exam:

• Physicians (general practitioners) - IFOM Clinical Science Exam, USMLE Step 2, PLAB Part 1, MCCQE Part 1, AMC MCQ, MRCGP Part 1 (AKT) and PRES-MCQ Part 2
• General dentists - NJCE-II, the National Dental Examining Board of Canada exam, the Irish Dental Council exam, NZDREX, the UK ORE (not older than 5 years), or registration with the Australian, Irish, New Zealand or UK dental boards for graduates of accredited programmes there
• Pharmacists - NAPLEX, PEBC, OSPAP, OPRA and CAOP
• Nurses - NCLEX-RN
• Allied health - NBDHE (dental hygiene)

Several of these exams were already accepted as equivalents under DHP's earlier Qualifying Examination Policy, so this is a consolidated list rather than a brand-new route. It brings Qatar's framework into line with the GCC exam exemption standards used across the region.

Conditions and Limitations

Exemptions are not automatic. DHP/2025/19 states that the exempting exam must be valid and must be verified by a verification company, and that no exam will be accepted without a verification report after 1 January 2026. Note that the USMLE entry is Step 2, not all three steps, and the PLAB entry is Part 1.

Professionals planning to rely on an exemption should prepare their examination results and start verification as early as possible in the application process. Neelim can advise on whether your specific examination history is likely to qualify and how to document it for the best outcome.

A practical barrier for many internationally trained professionals targeting Qatar is not knowing whether they will qualify before they sign a contract. Some summaries claim that Circular DHP/2025/24 introduced a preliminary evaluation without a local employer sponsor. It does not: the circular contains no provision on evaluation, sponsorship or employers.

DHP's process does separate evaluation (registration) from licensing. You complete primary source verification, then apply for evaluation through DHP's online registration and licensing system, and a licence is issued once you have a Qatari employer. DHP publishes separate guidelines for applicants and employers on its registration guidelines page; check the current guidance for whether you can open an evaluation before you have a job offer.

Why This Matters

Whatever the route, confirming eligibility early has real value. A professional might accept a job offer, relocate to Qatar, and then discover during the licensing process that a qualification gap or documentation issue prevents timely registration. Checking your credentials early allows you to:

• Confirm eligibility before entering employment negotiations
• Identify and resolve documentation gaps in advance
• Start primary source verification while you look for a role
• Reduce time-to-registration once employment is confirmed

This is particularly valuable for allied health professionals and specialists, whose qualification profiles are more likely to require individual assessment against DHP's scope-specific requirements. Actual licence issuance still requires an employer and a full application.

For a complete overview of the documents typically required at each stage, see our GCC healthcare licensing document checklist.

For pharmacists, the relevant change came from Circular DHP/2025/03, dated 24 April 2025, not from DHP/2025/24. It implemented the National Pharmacy Qualifying Exam (NPQE) with updated content and a revised reference list, effective from 1 May 2025. The previous blueprint and references remained valid until 30 April 2025.

The NPQE is a mandatory requirement for pharmacist licensing in Qatar unless you are exempt. Key features:

• Computer-based, Prometric-administered - delivered at authorised Prometric test centres
• Updated blueprint - the content outline was revised for the May 2025 version
• Revised references - the reference list was updated in line with the new blueprint
• Exemptions - NAPLEX, PEBC, OSPAP, OPRA and CAOP can exempt pharmacists under DHP/2025/19, and Qataris, offspring of Qatari women and Qatar graduates are exempt under DHP/2025/24

Pharmacists who passed under the old blueprint and are progressing through an existing application may contact DHP to confirm whether their result remains valid for their pathway. New candidates should prepare for the current NPQE blueprint.

DHP/2025/24 does affect some pharmacists' experience requirements: pharmacy graduates from outside Qatar who are offspring of residents or spouses of residents need one year of experience, while Qataris and offspring of Qatari women are exempt from the experience requirement.

International pharmacists holding qualifications from other GCC countries should note that Qatar's NPQE is a separate assessment from Saudi Arabia's SPLE or the UAE's pharmacy examinations - there is no automatic cross-recognition. For a comparison of pharmacy licensing requirements across the GCC, see our GCC healthcare exam comparison guide.

For dentists, Circular DHP/2025/06, dated 15 June 2025, updated the content and references of the National General Dental Qualifying Exam (NGDQE). The updated exam took effect on 17 June 2025; the previous version and references remained valid until 16 June 2025. This was a separate circular, not part of DHP/2025/24.

The NGDQE is a mandatory requirement for licensing general dentists and general dentists (supervised) in Qatar, unless you are exempt. The circular attaches details of the exam content, structure and approved references, so use those rather than older preparation materials. The examination remains computer-based and Prometric-administered.

Implications for Dentists Currently Preparing

If you began preparing for the DHP dental examination using resources published before June 2025, compare them with the current DHP content outline and reference list. Key areas to verify include:

• Oral medicine and oral pathology content weighting
• Dental material science updates
• Digital dentistry and radiographic interpretation
• Infection control and sterilisation standards aligned with current MOPH guidelines

Check also whether you need the exam at all: DHP/2025/19 lists the dental exams and registrations that exempt you, and DHP/2025/24 exempts Qataris, offspring of Qatari women and graduates of Qatari institutions. Neelim works with examination preparation specialists who follow the current NGDQE framework and can advise on the areas most likely to reflect updated content.

Qatar's late-2025 regulatory updates - DHP/2025/24 and the related circulars above - are taking place against a backdrop of significant physical expansion in Qatar's healthcare infrastructure. Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) - Qatar's principal public healthcare provider - is expanding with 7 new hospitals and 1,100 new beds, representing one of the largest single expansions of healthcare capacity in the GCC region in recent years.

This expansion has direct implications for healthcare professional licensing demand. The recruitment pipeline for 7 new hospitals requires thousands of additional licensed practitioners across medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy. Combined with the newly defined allied health scopes and the wider choice of verification providers, this creates an environment in which the licensing pathway is both better defined and more actively used than before.

Professions in High Demand for HMC Expansion

• Specialist nurses - ICU, emergency, oncology, and cardiac care nursing are particularly sought after across new HMC facilities
• Cardiovascular Technologists - the newly regulated scope, well-timed given HMC's cardiac service expansion
• Allied health specialists - physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, and perfusionists
• Pharmacists - clinical pharmacy services are expanding in line with new hospital commissioning
• Specialist physicians - across surgical, medical, and diagnostic specialties

For professionals targeting HMC roles, checking your eligibility early (described above) is particularly useful - it lets you start verification and resolve gaps before accepting a contract and engaging with HMC's recruitment team.

Qatar's overall healthcare recruitment environment in 2026 is arguably the most active it has been since the post-FIFA World Cup 2022 infrastructure normalization period. The combination of HMC expansion, new licensing scopes, and more verification providers creates strong conditions for internationally trained practitioners considering Qatar as their next career destination.

Qatar's late-2025 and 2026 circulars changed several parts of the licensing framework at once - experience and exam exemption rules in DHP/2025/24, exempting exams in DHP/2025/19, new PSV providers in DHP/2025/20 and DHP/2026/36, and new allied health scopes in DHP/2025/23. For internationally trained professionals, the main risk is acting on a summary that attributes these to the wrong circular or applies a rule to the wrong applicant group.

At Neelim, Qatar DHP licensing is one of our core service areas. We read each circular against the official text and apply it to your profile - including how the experience rules in DHP/2025/24 apply to residents' family members, how the NPQE and NGDQE updates affect exam preparation, and which exempting exams can remove the qualifying exam step.

Our Qatar DHP Services

• Eligibility Assessment: We evaluate your qualifications, degree duration, examination history, and experience against DHP's current requirements before you invest in a formal application - including, where they apply to you, the internship and degree-duration rules in DHP/2025/24.
• Primary Source Verification Management: We manage your mandatory PSV submission end-to-end through an approved provider (DataFlow, QuadraBay or AVS), from institution contact to status tracking, ensuring your verification is complete and correctly formatted for DHP submission.
• Exam Exemption Applications: If you hold an exam listed in DHP/2025/19 - such as USMLE Step 2, PLAB Part 1 or NCLEX-RN - we advise on whether it qualifies and make sure it is verified, as required from 1 January 2026.
• Early Eligibility Checks: We help professionals confirm eligibility and start verification before securing a Qatari employer.
• NPQE and Dental Exam Preparation Guidance: We direct pharmacists and dentists to current preparation materials aligned with the updated examination content.
• End-to-End Application Management: From document compilation to submission, follow-up, and license collection - we handle the complete Qatar DHP application process on your behalf.

Qatar's framework is well documented, but it is detailed and the rules differ by applicant group. Getting professional guidance from the outset avoids the frustration and cost of rejected applications and delayed timelines. Contact Neelim today for a free initial consultation on your Qatar DHP licensing pathway.