Coming home to practise after medicine in Romania: the real path (specialty exam, residency, registration)

You are leaving to study medicine in Romania — or you are already there. And you have a clear plan: come home to practise. That is the plan for the large majority of international students who choose Romania.

But between “I have my degree” and “I am seeing patients at home” there is a path. No competitor explains that path in detail, because it is more nuanced than “your degree is recognised, end of story”.

This guide describes the real path, step by step, for the two big scenarios: practising as a GP, or specialising.

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The two routes home

At the end of your six years in Romania, two paths open up:

Route A: General practice (the direct one)

Romanian degree → sworn translation → registration with the medical council → practice (GP)

Estimated duration: 3 to 6 months after graduating.

You practise straight away as a general practitioner. No extra exam. No residency. Your Romanian Doctor-Medic degree, recognised under Directive 2005/36/EC, is worth the domestic medical degree for the purposes of general practice.

Route B: A specialty (the one with a competition)

Romanian degree → EDN preparation → EDN → ranking → residency (3–5 years) → specialist → practice

Estimated duration: 1 to 2 years of preparation plus 3 to 5 years of residency.

You sit the national specialty competition to access a specialty. Same exam, same ranking, same posts as domestic final-year students.

Both routes are set out below.

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Route A: Becoming a GP, step by step

1. Obtain the Romanian Doctor-Medic degree

Six years of study, clinical placements, a thesis (licență). You receive the Doctor-Medic title awarded by an accredited Romanian university listed in Annex V.1 of Directive 2005/36/EC.

2. Sworn translation of the degree

Your degree and transcripts are in Romanian. The administration will require a sworn translation — by a translator approved by a Court of Appeal, or by a sworn Romanian translator with an apostille.

Cost: €50 to €150. Time: 1 to 3 weeks.

3. Registration with the medical council

You lodge a file with the departmental council (CDOM) of the department where you intend to practise. The file includes your translated degree, identity documents, a criminal record extract, proof of indemnity insurance and proof of address.

You attend an interview before the council’s members. They check your identity, your good standing, your command of the language and your knowledge of the Code of Ethics.

Statutory deadline: 3 months from the filing of a complete application. In practice: 2 to 4 months.

4. Registration with the health insurance fund

Once on the roll you have to make yourself known to the local health insurance fund (CPAM). You receive the credentials — treatment forms, professional card — that let you bill for your work and be reimbursed.

5. You practise. That’s it.

You are a general practitioner. You can:

• Locum for colleagues (the most common first-year route).
• Set up in private practice (once the conditions for being under contract with the health insurance system are met).
• Take a salaried post in a hospital, a clinic, a health centre or a social care structure.

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Route B: Specialising through the national competition

1. Understanding the EDN

The Épreuves Dématérialisées Nationales (EDN) replaced the ECN in 2023. It is no longer a single national ranking but 13 rankings, by specialty group. In practice you can rank well in general practice and less well in surgery — each group has its own ranking.

Format:

• Multiple choice (three half-days in October): clinical knowledge.
• OSCEs (objective structured clinical examinations) and oral papers in the spring.
• Up to 80 preferences (specialty + city).

2. Check that you are eligible

EU graduates are eligible on the same terms as domestic students. For the 2026–2027 round the conditions were:

• Holding a recognised basic medical degree (Doctor-Medic).
• Registering through the Centre National de Gestion (CNG) platform.
• Providing a translated attestation of training.

Indicative 2026–2027 calendar (exact dates are confirmed by ministerial order each year):

• Registration: July 2026
• Written papers: October 2026
• Oral papers: spring 2027
• Results and allocation: summer 2027

3. Preparing: the real challenge

This is the step competing guides play down. The EDN is not a qualifying exam — it is a ranking competition. You are competing with every domestic final-year student, people who have been preparing for years inside that system’s mould.

Preparing for it after a Romanian course means:

• 6 to 12 months of intensive work. The format (progressive clinical cases, critical appraisal of papers, annotated imaging) differs appreciably from Romanian examinations.
• Mastering the host country’s consensus guidance. National guideline bodies’ recommendations can differ from the European or Romanian guidelines you learned.
• Signing up to a preparation course. Several online platforms run programmes with question banks, past papers with worked answers, and consensus guidance.

Our advice: start getting familiar with the format in your fifth Romanian year. A little regular preparation beats a last-minute scramble.

4. Sitting the exam

The written papers take place at examination centres in the host country. You have to travel. The orals follow in the spring. The final ranking determines which specialties are open to you.

5. Residency

If you are ranked, you begin residency. Duration is 3 to 5 years depending on the specialty:

• General practice: 3 years.
• Other medical specialties: 4 years.
• Surgical specialties: 5 years.

You are paid during residency (€1,800 to €2,500 net a month). At the end you are a specialist, registered with the council, and free to practise.

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Traps to avoid

Trap 1: Believing “degree recognised” means “no residency needed”

Your degree is recognised. But recognition does not exempt you from residency in order to reach a specialty. If you want to be a cardiologist, a surgeon or a paediatrician, you sit the competition like everybody else. Directive 2005/36/EC recognises your basic degree — not a right to enter specialties without competition.

Trap 2: Underestimating the preparation

Plenty of students think “I got through medicine in Romania, I’ll get through the EDN”. It is not a question of level, it is a question of format. The exam tests clinical reasoning with a set of local codes. A brilliant Cluj graduate can come unstuck if they have not adapted their preparation.

Trap 3: Ignoring the Romanian rezidențiat as an alternative

If the competition does not go your way, the Romanian rezidențiat remains an option. And if your Romanian specialty is listed in Annex V.1 of Directive 2005/36/EC, you can come home as a specialist without sitting the competition at all. Keep that door open.

Trap 4: Neglecting the paperwork

Sworn translation, council registration, health insurance fund, indemnity cover… it all takes time. Start before you actually move home. An administrative delay can block you for months.

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A graduate’s account

“I finished at UMF Târgu Mureș in 2022. I wanted to be a cardiologist. I prepared for the EDN for eight months with an online platform while finishing my sixth year. I ranked mid-table — enough for a cardiology residency in Lille. The first year of residency was hard: I had to adapt to a new system while covering on-call. But now, in my third year, I regret nothing. The Romanian degree was never the obstacle — my preparation for the competition is what made the difference.”

— Dr K., UMFST Târgu Mureș 2022, cardiology resident, Lille.

⚠️ This account is a placeholder pending named verification.

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A typical plan: from the sixth Romanian year to practice at home

On the GP route the plan is simpler: degree → translation → council → practice, in 3 to 6 months after finishing.

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FAQ

“Can I practise as a GP and sit the competition later?”

Yes. Nothing stops you practising as a GP for a year or two and then registering for the competition. It is arguably a smart strategy: you earn a living, you learn the system from the inside, and you prepare at your own pace.

“Does my Romanian degree let me go straight into private practice?”

Yes, once registered with the council. But to be under contract with the health insurance system — so that your patients are reimbursed — you have to meet the contracting conditions, which are the same for every doctor whatever country awarded the degree.

“If I specialise in Romania, can I practise as a specialist at home?”

Yes, if the specialty is listed in Annex V.1 of Directive 2005/36/EC. Recognition of the specialty is then automatic. Otherwise an individual recognition procedure is required.

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Going further

• Specialising after Romania: stay, or sit the competition at home?
• Summer placements to do at home while studying in Romania
• Registering with the medical council after a Romanian degree
• Your Romanian medical degree in the European Union
• Is a Romanian medical degree recognised back home?

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Last verified: July 2026 — Sources: Directive 2005/36/EC Annex V.1; French Public Health Code (Art. L.4111-1 and following); order of 18 April 2025 (EDN 2026); the CNG (www.cng.sante.fr); the Code of Medical Ethics.

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