DHA License from Kenya 2026: NCK, KMPDC Verification, DataFlow & Exam Guide

Kenyan nurses, midwives, doctors, pharmacists, laboratory technologists and physiotherapists follow the same Dubai Health Authority (DHA) process as every other nationality: eligibility under the Unified PQR, DataFlow primary source verification, a Prometric exam for most titles, and an application on DHA's Sheryan portal. The Kenyan part of the process is your council paperwork. That means the Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK) outmigration verification, a KMPDC Certificate of Status, and letters from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, KMLTTB or your own council.

Everything below is taken from DHA's Manual for Licensing Healthcare Professionals (v1.3), the Unified PQR (April 2025), the DHA CBT Guideline (updated September 2026) and Kenyan council sources. For the general process for every nationality, read our DHA licence requirements guide.

The five stages in order

1. Match your qualification to a DHA title in the PQR.
2. Get council paperwork: a current practising licence plus a good standing certificate or verification.
3. Open a Sheryan account, complete the self-assessment and get your DHA Unique ID.
4. Run DataFlow and the Prometric exam in parallel. DHA's manual allows both at the same time.
5. Submit Get Registered, then have a Dubai employer activate your registration into a licence.

Who this guide is for

• Nurses and midwives registered with the Nursing Council of Kenya
• Doctors and dentists registered with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC)
• Pharmacists registered with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB)
• Laboratory technologists registered with the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board (KMLTTB)
• Physiotherapists and other allied health professionals registered with their Kenyan councils

The Unified PQR sets the minimum qualification and experience for every title, and DHA, DOH, MOHAP and SHA all apply it. These are the titles Kenyans apply for most often.

Fees come from the DHA CBT Guideline; our DHA exam fees page lists every title.

Nurses: BScN versus diploma

Kenya trains nurses at both diploma level (for example KRCHN) and degree level (BScN), as the NCK registration page shows. The PQR lists a Bachelor's degree in nursing for Registered Nurse and a Diploma of Nursing of at least 18 months for Assistant Nurse. On that wording, a diploma-only nurse may be offered Assistant Nurse rather than Registered Nurse. If your qualification is borderline, use Sheryan's paid Review Eligibility service before paying DataFlow. If you are aiming for Registered Nurse, you can start practising now with the Registered Nurse question bank.

Upgrade degrees, BLS and other nursing rules

• The PQR does not count qualifications gained through correspondence or distance learning, so check how your BScN upgrade was delivered before you rely on it for the Registered Nurse title.
• Hybrid certificates are not accepted, except those issued during exceptional periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Nurses and midwives must hold at least a valid Basic Life Support (BLS) certificate.
• Your academic transcript is required for credentialing.

Doctors and specialists

The PQR requires a one-year internship and then two years of clinical experience for the General Practitioner title. The PQR's specialist tables do not list Kenyan specialty qualifications by name, but the PQR says qualifications not mentioned can be evaluated by the PQR Committee. Kenyan MMed holders should expect an individual review.

Clinical officers: the PQR has no Clinical Officer title. DHA decides whether any other title fits your qualification, so get an eligibility review before you spend money on verification.

Gap in practice

• A gap over 3 years triggers CPD and supervised training requirements.
• Non-UAE nationals generally cannot apply with a gap of more than 5 years.
• Only paid, hands-on clinical experience counts.

DHA needs a valid home-country licence and proof of good standing. In Kenya these come from your statutory council or board, mostly through online portals.

Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK)

NCK registers and licenses nurses and midwives through its Online Services Portal, which includes an Outmigration section for verification when you go to work abroad. NCK's service charter also lists annual licence retention (KES 1,500, processed in a day) and certification of professional certificates (KES 1,000 per document, 3 days).

Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC)

KMPDC issues a Professional Certificate of Status, generally called a good standing certificate, to doctors and dentists going abroad. Its practitioners' information page explains that the certificate confirms all required documents and fees are in and no disciplinary issue is pending.

Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB)

PPB keeps the register of pharmacists and pharmaceutical technologists and handles registration and licensing online. Ask PPB for a letter of good standing or verification addressed to DHA, and confirm the current fee with them. We could not find a published fee.

KMLTTB

The Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board offers its services through eCitizen. Keep your practising licence current and request a good standing letter for DHA through the board.

Other councils

• Physiotherapists: Physiotherapy Council of Kenya, which handles registration and licensing
• Clinical officers: Clinical Officers Council
• Radiographers, nutritionists and others: your own statutory body

The PQR requires a good standing certificate (GSC) that is no older than six months when you apply, issued by the regulator in your country of last employment. DHA's licensing manual applies the same six-month rule to the Get Registered application.

NCK outmigration verification

As NCK set out in April 2024 (reported by Kenyans.co.ke), the process runs through the Outmigration page of the NCK portal:

1. Log in to osp.nckenya.com and open Outmigration, then Apply for Outmigration.
2. Fill in the verification application, including the destination authority.
3. Upload your ID or passport, your active practising licence and your NCK professional certificates.
4. Generate the invoice, pay the prescribed fee and download your receipt.

NCK lists extra documents for Canada and the UK, but none specific to the Gulf in what we could verify. The fee is shown on the portal when you generate the invoice.

KMPDC Certificate of Status

The KMPDC application form lists these requirements:

• A recommendation from a registered practitioner of good standing (the referee section of the form)
• A copy of your current retention certificate or practice licence
• Evidence that you are not under investigation by the Council
• An application fee of KES 20,000, paid to KMPDC's KCB account as stated on the form

The form states that processing takes a maximum of two weeks.

PPB, KMLTTB and other boards

• Request a letter of good standing or verification addressed to the Dubai Health Authority.
• Ask whether it goes directly to DHA or DataFlow, or is issued to you.
• Confirm the fee and turnaround with the board, because none is published in the sources we checked.

If you have worked outside Kenya: if your last job was in Uganda, Saudi Arabia or the UK, for example, you will also need a GSC from that country's regulator, because the PQR asks for good standing from the country of last employment.

DHA delegates primary source verification to the DataFlow Group. You apply at dha.dfgateway.com with your Sheryan Unique ID, as DataFlow's DHA FAQ explains. For a full walkthrough, see our DataFlow verification guide.

What DataFlow verifies

• Qualifications: your degree or diploma from a Kenyan university, KMTC campus or private college, with transcripts
• Licences: NCK, KMPDC, PPB, KMLTTB or council registration and current licence
• Experience certificates from each facility you list
• Good standing certificate(s)
• Exam exemption proof if you claim one, and a logbook for surgical specialties

Timeline and process

1. DHA's credentialing team decides which documents need verification. DataFlow says this takes five working days.
2. Upload clear scans and pay. You can only edit documents before payment.
3. DataFlow contacts each source. Its standard timeframe is about 15 working days from payment, longer when an institution is slow or records are archived.
4. The report is linked to your Sheryan file.

DataFlow does not require embassy attestation for PSV. Fees depend on the number of documents; estimate yours with our DataFlow cost calculator.

Common Kenyan delays

• Colleges and county or mission hospitals that take weeks to answer verification emails
• Experience letters from county facilities that lack dates, titles or an HR contact
• Expired annual licences at the moment DataFlow checks them
• Name order or spelling differences between your ID, passport and certificates

Already verified for another regulator?

If DataFlow has already verified your documents for another authority, its FAQ says you can apply under the Report Transfer category with your Unique ID instead of starting again, as long as you have not yet submitted your Sheryan application. If you have, you request the transfer from DataFlow with a copy of the earlier report.

Negative or "Unable to Verify" results

DHA's manual allows two re-verification appeals for "Unable to Verify" and one for a discrepancy. Fix the cause first, for example by chasing the college or supplying name-change evidence.

Not sure where you stand? Get a free eligibility assessment - we check your documents and route before you pay DataFlow.

Sheryan, DHA's licensing portal at services.dha.gov.ae, is where everything comes together. The sequence below follows DHA's licensing manual.

Step 1: Account and self-assessment

• Register and save your DHA Unique ID for DataFlow and Prometric.
• Complete the free self-assessment. You do not upload documents at this stage.
• If the tool says "not eligible", you can request a paid Review Eligibility decision.

Step 2: PSV and the exam

The Get Registered application cannot be processed until your PSV report is complete and you have passed the exam where one is required. Both can run at the same time.

Step 3: Get Registered

1. Complete the online form and link your DataFlow report.
2. Upload a passport photo and a valid passport copy.
3. Pay the review fee. DHA's service page lists the credentialing fee as AED 200.
4. DHA approves the file, rejects it, or returns it asking for more documents, a different title or a trainee restriction.

Step 4: Registration and activation

Approval gives you a registration certificate and a listing on the Dubai Medical Registry. The registration is valid for one year, and a DHA-licensed facility must activate it before you can practise. If any personal details change in the meantime, such as your name after marriage, the manual says you must supply supporting documents with the application.

DHA's computer-based tests are delivered by Prometric through its worldwide network, according to the DHA CBT Guideline. The result appears in Sheryan as Pass or Fail, without a score.

See every title on our DHA exam overview.

Booking

1. Generate your Eligibility ID in Sheryan.
2. Book through Prometric's DHA page (www.prometric.com/DHA) and pay by card, as DHA's assessment manual sets out.
3. Check that the name in Sheryan matches your passport. If it does not, contact DHA at least five days before the exam.

Test centres in Kenya

Prometric's published international test centre list includes Nairobi. DHA exams use fingerprint capture at check-in, so Prometric's DHA page limits them to biometric-enabled centres. Search for DHA in the Prometric locator to confirm that Nairobi offers your exam on the dates you want. If it does not, look at nearby countries or sit the exam in the UAE.

Exam day and attempts

• Arrive 30 minutes early with your valid passport.
• Expect fingerprint scanning, a pocket check and a metal-detector scan.
• Reschedule or cancel at least five calendar days before the exam. DHA says exam fees are non-refundable.
• You have 3 attempts in total across all UAE authorities under the Unified PQR.

After the exam

DHA's assessment manual says Prometric gives you a Learning Outcome letter showing general strengths and weaknesses, but not your result. DHA calculates the result from your correct answers and the weighting of each domain, and uploads Pass or Fail to Sheryan within two working days.

Prepare with our free DHA exam questions and a timed Registered Nurse mock test.

Most of the Kenyan costs are council fees paid in shillings. DHA and Prometric charges are paid by card in dirhams or dollars. Where a council does not publish a fee, we say so rather than guess.

Realistic timeline

Saving time

• Request council letters, start DataFlow and begin exam preparation in the same week.
• Warn your college and previous employers that DataFlow will contact them.
• If you would rather hand over the paperwork, compare our licensing packages.

Most Kenyan files that stall do so because of paperwork rather than the exam. DHA can reject an application, or return it asking for more documents, a different title or a trainee restriction. These are the problems that cause it most often.

Title and qualification problems

• Applying for Registered Nurse with a diploma when the PQR lists a bachelor's degree
• Applying as a Pharmacist, Midwife or Physiotherapist without the two years of experience the PQR requires
• Applying under a title the PQR does not have, such as Clinical Officer
• Relying on a distance-learning upgrade that the PQR does not count

Document problems

• A good standing certificate older than six months at submission
• Name differences across documents without supporting evidence
• Experience letters without dates, title or full-time status
• Documents not in English or Arabic without a certified legal translation (DHA's manual requires one)

Verification and declarations

• A negative or "Unable to Verify" DataFlow report that was never appealed
• Undeclared earlier exam attempts at DOH, MOHAP or SHA, which the PQR requires you to declare
• Undeclared disciplinary matters, proven or pending

Take a negative PSV result seriously. DHA's licensing manual lists a negative PSV report among the conditions for adding a name to its blacklist, alongside submitting falsified documents.

The PQR is shared across the UAE, so your eligibility does not change. The portal and exam provider do.

DOH (Abu Dhabi)

• Apply through TAMM. After approval you pay the pre-booking fee and book with Pearson VUE, not Prometric.
• Some specialties add an oral, practical or OSCE stage. DOH's exam standard sets a 3-month wait before a re-sit.

MOHAP (Northern Emirates)

• Apply through MOHAP's health professional evaluation service.
• MOHAP's service card lets new nursing graduates sit the evaluation exam within two years of graduation without the old six-month training period.

Shared rules: DHA accepts transferred PSV reports from DOH, SHA and MOHAP, and exam attempts are pooled across all four authorities.

• Renew your annual licence first. NCK retention is processed within a day according to its charter, and DataFlow checks that your licence is current.
• Line up a KMPDC referee. The Certificate of Status form needs a registered practitioner in good standing to vouch for you.
• Get certified copies from NCK if a document needs certifying; the charter lists a 3-day turnaround.
• Collect experience letters on letterhead with dates, title, full-time status and an HR email that someone actually reads.
• Book Nairobi early. Biometric-enabled seats can be limited, so check the Prometric locator as soon as you have your Eligibility ID.
• Declare every earlier UAE attempt. The PQR requires you to declare attempts at DOH, MOHAP or SHA, and DHA's manual lists failure to declare them among the conditions under which DHA may take action on your application.
• Start exam preparation on day one. Council letters and DataFlow take weeks, and that time is best spent on timed practice papers rather than waiting.
• Keep your DataFlow report. It can transfer if you later apply to DOH or MOHAP.

Indian applicants face a similar council-plus-DataFlow sequence; our India guide shows how state nursing council verification fits the same DHA process.