DHA exam 2026: pass marks, fees and format

Everyone applying for a DHA licence must pass DHA's assessment unless the Unified PQR exempts them. The PQR (clause 1.5.1) exempts UAE nationals and Children of Emirati Women, and its Exam Equivalency chapter exempts some professionals who hold a recognised international exam pass or a licence from a listed country.

For physicians, a recognised Tier 1 specialty certificate from one of 22 listed countries (including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Germany, France and South Africa) can exempt a Specialist or Consultant. A Tier 2 certificate can also qualify, but only with sub-specialty training, more than 10 years in the specialty (at least 2 in a senior teaching-hospital post), academic-programme experience and publications or research. For General Practitioners the PQR names the AMC (both parts), LMCC, PRES, NZREX, EMREE, PLAB I and II (or the GMC routes it describes) and USMLE Part III. Other professions have their own lists in the same chapter.

Three limits catch people out. The title on your certificate must match the title you request (PQR 21.5). An exemption covers the exam only, not credentialing, experience or DataFlow (PQR 1.6.2; DHA manual 4.14). And the exemption does not apply if you have a practice gap of more than 3 years (PQR 21.4).

A valid licence from MOHAP, DOH or SHA can also exempt you for the same title, provided you did not exceed the permitted attempts, you hold a valid good standing certificate and PSV report, and any expired or cancelled licence lapsed no more than 6 months ago (PQR chapter 3). DHA's licensing manual adds that a pass in the same title within 5 years of your registration date, with no gap in practice, is also accepted.

A gap in practice affects it directly. If you have been out of clinical practice for more than 3 years, the PQR (clause 1.7) requires CME/CPD credits and supervised clinical training, and it then requires you to pass the exam even if you would otherwise be exempt (1.7.5). UAE nationals are the exception to the exam requirement.

For physicians and dentists the PQR table sets 80 CME/CPD credits and 6 months of training for a gap of 3 to under 4 years, and 120 credits and 8 months for 4 to under 5 years. Nurses need 40 and 60 credits, and allied health professionals and pharmacists 20 and 30, with the same training periods. As a rule, non-UAE nationals with a gap of more than 5 years cannot apply at all (1.7.6). Surgeons must also supply a surgical logbook.

Our gap-in-practice guide and career-break guide cover what counts as practice and how to document it.

Not sure which side of the line you are on? Run the Prometric exam checker or ask for a free eligibility assessment. Our exemptions guide goes through the PQR tables in more detail.

The DHA exam is a computer-based multiple-choice test set separately for each profession and title, so a Registered Nurse, a Pharmacist and a Specialist Cardiologist each sit a different paper with its own code. DHA states that every exam's content is developed and validated by subject matter experts and updated frequently.

Your title decides the exam, and pass marks differ within a profession. Pharmacy Technician is 55%, Pharmacist 60% and Clinical Pharmacy 70%. Anesthesia Technician is 55% against Anesthesia Technologist 60%, Radiography Technician 50% against Radiographer 55%, and Respiratory Technician 55% against Respiratory Therapist 60%.

For doctors, the General Practitioner exam is 150 questions at 60%. Specialist exams are mostly 60% or 65%, with Pediatrics and Neurosurgery at 70% and Sports Medicine at 55%. Six Consultant titles (Dermatology, Endocrinology, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Ophthalmology and Pediatrics) sit a 100-question exam at 70%. Other Consultant titles are assessed by an oral assessment instead.

Your title comes from the PQR, so check it with the professional title classifier first. Our question-bank pages set out each blueprint domain by domain.

You start with Sheryan's free self-assessment tool, which needs no uploads and gives a preliminary eligibility result. If it says you are not eligible, you can pay for a DHA review of your documents instead. Either way, DHA must then confirm your documents through primary source verification (PSV), which DataFlow carries out.

The PSV documents are your qualifications, experience letters, licences or registrations, a good standing certificate issued within 6 months of submission, exam exemption proof if you rely on one, a surgical logbook for surgical specialties, and anything else DHA asks for. For registration itself you upload a recent passport-size photo and a valid passport copy.

DHA says a new PSV report takes 15 working days from the payment date, and an existing report takes 5 working days to transfer from another UAE authority (DOH, SHA or MOHAP). DataFlow's own guidance says the process can take 20 to 30 days or longer if there are discrepancies or incomplete files. Treat 15 working days as DHA's stated best case, not a promise.

Neither DHA nor DataFlow publishes a DataFlow price on its public pages. The cost is quoted per case, so use our DataFlow cost calculator for an estimate and read the DataFlow fees guide. DHA says PSV reports have no validity period and new documents are added to your existing report.

You book through two systems: Sheryan, where you get your DHA Unique ID and Eligibility ID, and Prometric, where you choose the date and pay. The CBT guideline lists five steps: check your mode of exam, create a Sheryan account, copy your DHA Unique ID, generate your Eligibility ID and schedule the exam.

DHA's service description says you can run DataFlow and the CBT in parallel, so start both early. Your Get Registered application cannot be processed until the PSV report is complete and, where required, you have passed the CBT.

A realistic order is: self-assessment, DataFlow submission, Eligibility ID, Prometric booking, exam, result, Get Registered, registration. The only DHA-published timings are 15 working days for a new PSV report, a CBT result within 2 working days, and 5 working days for DHA to process Get Registered. How long Prometric appointments take to become available depends on the centre and is not published, so use the licensing timeline calculator for planning and book as soon as your Eligibility ID is issued.

Prometric takes payment by American Express, MasterCard or Visa credit card at www.prometric.com/DHA. Use one DHA Unique ID for both DataFlow and Prometric so that your results sit in one account. Our Prometric booking guide has screenshots of each screen.

Arrive 30 minutes before your appointment and bring your valid passport. The passport must match the details you registered, and your name must also match your Sheryan account. If it does not, contact DHA at least 5 days before the exam, because DHA is not responsible for extra charges on a rebooked exam.

At check-in Prometric staff ask you to show your arms and ankles, empty your pockets and pass a handheld metal detector, and they capture your image (and fingerprints where the centre uses a scanner). Anyone wearing a mask must lower it briefly for the photo. If you have a technical problem during the exam, tell the centre staff straight away.

The 3 hours (2 hours for Laser Hair Reduction and TCIM titles) include registration, the process introduction and the exam content, so your net testing time is shorter than the headline figure. DHA's documents do not describe scheduled breaks or the list of permitted items, so follow the Prometric test-centre regulations for your centre.

You can reschedule or cancel on Prometric's site up to 5 calendar days before the exam, and the centre charges a centre-specific fee. DHA's manual states that exam fees are non-refundable, including for rescheduling, cancellation and no-shows. A no-show is not counted as a failed attempt, but you lose the fee. Our Prometric centres guide covers locations.

DHA posts a Pass or Fail to your Sheryan account and does not share your score. DHA's manual says CBT results are uploaded within 2 working days, while the Sheryan FAQ says Prometric results are shared instantly, so allow up to 2 working days. You will also receive a Prometric Learning Outcome letter that describes general strengths and weaknesses but does not state your result.

DHA calculates the result from the number of correct answers and the weighting of each domain, and it can change an exam's format or pass score without updating the guideline. Confirm your exam details on Sheryan before you book, and email [email protected] with result queries.

Because you never see a score, you will not know whether you missed by one question or thirty. Our free mock tests score you against your exam's published pass mark and break your result down by blueprint domain.

A pass lets DHA issue your registration once your PSV is positive. The registration is valid for one year from issue and is not a permit to practise: a licensed health facility must activate it into a licence through its own Sheryan account, and you must have medical malpractice insurance.

If nobody activates the registration within the year you must renew it, and you can apply within 90 days before expiry. Otherwise it is cancelled and you may have to start again. Activation is for one, two or three years, and a facility can only activate a registration for a title and specialty it is licensed to offer.

DHA's CBT guideline does not publish an expiry for the exam pass itself. The licensing manual says a pass in the same title within 5 years of your registration date still counts if you have no gap in practice, but if you passed more than 2 years ago after a practice gap you must sit a new assessment.

Our guide to what to do after passing the DHA exam covers activation and the job search. DHA publishes no processing time for activation, so confirm timing with your employer. The DHA licence requirements page covers the full process.

You get 3 attempts in total across the UAE authorities, not 3 per authority (Unified PQR 1.5.4, DHA manual 4.9). You must declare your earlier attempts (PQR 1.5.6). If you fail the third attempt at DHA you cannot reapply for a DHA licence for two years.

There is a fourth-attempt route. After three failures you may get one final attempt with a different UAE authority, or a fourth DHA attempt if you submit a declaration letter that you have not failed with any other UAE authority (PQR 1.5.5; DHA manual 4.11). The fourth attempt does not apply to Tier 3 applicants upgrading to Consultant. To use it with DHA you submit an online request with a signed letter of your total attempts, and DHA reviews it.

There is no minimum wait between attempts. DHA says you may reapply as soon as the previous attempt is complete, subject to appointment availability. You book and pay for each attempt again.

Other ways back in: three new attempts if you gain an additional recognised qualification or at least 2 years of licensed clinical experience after your last attempt (PQR 1.5.8), or one extra attempt for a lower title if you meet that title's requirements (1.5.7). DHA can also re-examine professionals when it considers it necessary.

Since DHA gives no score, plan your retake by domain. Take a timed mock, rank your weakest blueprint areas and rework them from rationales. Our failed-exam retake guide and comeback guide go through this step by step.

DHA assesses any title that is not on its CBT list by oral assessment. The CBT guideline says this applies to "certain Consultant titles for Physicians and Dentists". Six physician Consultant specialties and seven dental Consultant specialties sit an MCQ instead, so "all consultants take an oral" is wrong.

DHA publishes no positive list of oral titles, so for most consultant specialties the oral route is inferred from the title's absence from the CBT list. Examples that are absent from the Consultant CBT list include Cardiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery and Psychiatry. Confirm your own route on Sheryan's mode-of-exam check before you plan.

The format is published in DHA's manual. The session is virtual on a DHA-approved platform, although DHA can require you to attend in person. A panel of at least two members asks at least 5 different clinical scenarios in your specialty, covering knowledge and problem solving, clinical skills and best practice, and ethics, professionalism and communication. It lasts at least 20 to 30 minutes, can be extended, and CV questions and introductions are capped at 5 minutes. It is in English with no translator.

The panel must agree on one result, and a disagreement is recorded as a fail. It cannot move you down to a Specialist title. You get Pass or Fail via Sheryan, within 3 to 5 working days, with no score or feedback. Candidates must join 15 minutes early, sit alone in a closed room, show the room by turning the camera 360 degrees on request, keep face and hands visible, and have no phone, smart watch, notes or recording. Masks are not allowed.

You can reschedule once, free, if you ask more than 5 working days ahead. Later requests count as a no-show and you pay a new fee. DHA's licensing manual allows two further attempts after an oral fail, each with a new application and fee. DHA does not publish the oral fee, a numeric pass mark or a maximum panel size. Practise with our consultant oral preparation.

Whether a Tier 1-exempt consultant in an oral-only specialty still has to sit the oral is not settled by DHA's published documents, because they exempt you from the licensure examination without saying whether the oral counts. Check with DHA before you assume either way.

DHA publishes two fees and the rest are quoted per case. The Prometric exam fee is USD 280 for physicians and dentists, USD 240 for most nursing and allied titles, and USD 180 for TCIM, Laser Hair Reduction and a few allied titles. At the AED 3.6725 peg that is about AED 1,028, AED 881 and AED 661. The Sheryan credentialing fee is AED 200 for every category, plus knowledge and innovation fees added at checkout whose amounts DHA does not state on the service page.

DataFlow's price depends on the number of documents and the countries of issue, and neither DHA nor DataFlow publishes it. The oral assessment fee is also unpublished, and so is the fee for the Review Eligibility service. The reschedule charge at Prometric is centre-specific. Fees for licence activation are paid through the facility, and I could not verify an amount from DHA's sources.

Add costs outside DHA's control, such as good standing certificates, attestations, translations, English tests where required and travel to a test centre. Our UAE licensing cost breakdown and the DataFlow cost calculator help you build a full budget. Be wary of AED totals on other sites: DHA sets its exam fee in USD, so any AED figure is someone's conversion.

Most delays come from paperwork, not the exam. Typical ones are a passport name that does not match Sheryan (DHA will not cover the cost of rebooking), a good standing certificate older than 6 months, and splitting your DataFlow and Prometric bookings across two DHA Unique IDs so that results sit in different accounts.

Other common errors are assuming an exemption covers DataFlow, experience or credentialing (it covers the exam only), requesting a title that does not match your exempting certificate, and assuming the MRCP or another membership exam exempts you. The PQR exemption chapter does not name the MRCP, and the title on the certificate must match.

Scheduling errors cost money. Reschedule less than 5 calendar days before a CBT, or less than 5 working days before an oral, and you lose the fee. Leave an oral application pending for more than 3 months and DHA may cancel it without a refund. Draft Sheryan applications inactive for 6 months are cleared. An unactivated registration expires after one year.

The last one is a strategy error: sitting a first attempt without a timed practice paper, when you only have 3 attempts across the whole UAE. Our licence rejection mistakes guide and the document checklist help you avoid the paperwork ones.

Plan around the format: most DHA exams give you 3 hours for 150 questions including registration, so practise full-length papers under time pressure rather than untimed question sets. Aim to score comfortably above your exam's pass mark on those papers. A margin of 10 to 15 points allows for the fact that any practice test is only a sample.

Work through the blueprint domain by domain, spend most of your time on questions rather than textbooks, and review every rationale, including for the questions you got right. Start from the DHA question banks for your title, then use the free sample questions and timed mock tests to check readiness before you book.

Our first-attempt study plan sets out a week-by-week approach. Avoid "recalled" papers: DHA's manual prohibits sharing assessment questions and treats detected cheating as a fail that may lead to blacklisting.