Specialising after medicine in Romania: stay, or sit the competition back home?

You’re finishing six years of medicine in Romania. You have your Doctor-Medic degree. And now an existential question: where and how do you specialise?

Two main options are open to you:

• Stay in Romania and sit the rezidențiat (the Romanian specialisation competition).
• Go home and sit your own country’s specialty competition — in France, the EDN (Épreuves Dématérialisées Nationales).

This guide compares the two routes point by point, without taking sides. The aim isn’t to tell you which to choose, but to give you the facts so you can decide with your eyes open. France is used as the “home country” example throughout, because it’s the most documented; every member state runs an equivalent filter.

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Option 1: The Romanian rezidențiat

How it works

The rezidențiat is a single national competition organised each year by the Romanian Ministry of Health. Unlike the French EDN, which splits candidates into 13 rankings by specialty group, the rezidențiat runs on a single national ranking — like the older French system.

• Format: 200 multiple-choice questions, in Romanian, over 4 hours.
• Date: generally the third Sunday in November.
• Ranking: a single national ranking. Those at the top choose their specialty and their city.
• Length of specialisation: 3 to 6 years depending on the specialty (in line with European standards).

Who can sit it?

• EU/EEA/Swiss citizens: on the same terms as Romanians. You sit the national competition and, if you’re ranked, you get a state-funded place (no tuition fees, and you’re paid).
• Non-EU citizens: admission to fee-paying places only (€8,500 to €10,000/year depending on the university), with selection on application and interview.

Pay during the rezidențiat

A resident (the equivalent of a trainee doctor) earns between €800 and €1,200 net a month, depending on the year and specialty. That’s modest, but the cost of living in Romania is 40 to 50% lower than in Western Europe. Concretely, €1,000 in Cluj or Târgu Mureș lets you live decently — rent, food, going out — where €1,800 in Paris or Lyon demands tight management.

The most competitive specialties

The most competitive specialties in the Romanian rezidențiat are broadly the same as elsewhere: cardiology, dermatology, plastic surgery, ENT, ophthalmology. Less sought-after specialties — family medicine, psychiatry, geriatrics, occupational medicine — are more accessible.

Advantages of the rezidențiat

• No additional language barrier. After six years in Romania, you have working medical Romanian. The rezidențiat is entirely in Romanian, which is an asset for you — and an obstacle for candidates who didn’t study there.
• One competition, one ranking. No 13-ranking system. You know exactly where you stand.
• Low cost of living. Your resident’s salary lets you live decently without outside help.
• Surgical specialties are accessible. Competition is real, but the number of places in surgical specialties relative to candidates is often more favourable than in France.
• European recognition. If your specialty appears in Annex V.1 of Directive 2005/36/EC, your Romanian specialist title is automatically recognised across the EU. You can go home and practise as a specialist without sitting the domestic competition.

Drawbacks of the rezidențiat

• Lower pay than French specialty training (€800–1,200 vs €1,800–2,500 net/month).
• Variable training quality depending on specialty and university. Some specialties and hospitals offer excellent clinical training; others fall short of Western European standards in supervision and facilities.
• If you eventually want to practise back home, you’ll arrive with a recognised specialist title, certainly, but without knowledge of your own country’s health system (contracting, coding, relations with the national insurer). You’ll need an adjustment period.
• Specialties outside Annex V: if your Romanian specialty isn’t listed in Annex V.1, recognition won’t be automatic. You’ll have to go through an individual recognition procedure (longer, less certain).

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Option 2: The specialty competition at home

How the French EDN works since the reform

The EDN replaced the previous system in 2023. The new format is more complex but also more flexible:

• Written papers: multiple choice in October (3 half-days).
• Oral examinations: the following spring.
• 13 rankings by specialty group (rather than a single national ranking). For example: one ranking for general practice, one for surgery, one for paediatrics.
• Up to 80 preferences (specialty + city) through an allocation algorithm.

EU graduates are eligible on the same terms as French sixth-year students.

Registration conditions for an EU graduate

For the 2026–2027 round, the order of 18 April 2025 provides that EU-qualified candidates must:

• Hold a recognised basic medical degree (for a Romanian graduate: the Doctor-Medic).
• Register on the Centre National de Gestion (CNG) platform during the registration window (generally July).
• Supply a certificate from their home institution, translated into French by an accredited translator.

Indicative 2025–2026 calendar:

• Registration: 1 to 31 July 2025
• Written papers: 20, 21, 22 October 2025
• Orals: spring 2026

Pay during specialty training

A French trainee earns between €1,800 and €2,500 net a month depending on year, specialty and the number of on-call shifts. That’s appreciably more than the Romanian rezidențiat — but the cost of living is also higher.

Advantages

• Standardised, high-quality clinical training. French specialty training is demanding but offers structured supervision and high-level facilities.
• Direct integration into your own health system. You learn it from the inside: contracting, coding, relations with the national insurer, how hospitals run.
• Higher pay during specialisation.
• Professional network. You build a domestic address book during training, which makes setting up later far easier.

Drawbacks

• A very competitive examination. You’re competing against every sixth-year student in the country. It isn’t a qualifying exam, it’s a ranking competition.
• A different format from Romanian exams. These test clinical reasoning in the domestic style (structured diagnostic approach, progressive clinical cases, critical appraisal of papers). Don’t underestimate the preparation: most foreign-trained graduates devote 6 to 12 months of intensive work to it.
• Ranking uncertainty. You can be aiming for cardiology and end up ranked for general practice. Have a plan B.
• No recognition of a Romanian specialty started beforehand. If you begin a rezidențiat in Romania and then decide to sit the competition at home, your rezidențiat year won’t be automatically recognised.

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Side by side

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The hybrid strategy: keeping both doors open

An increasing number of international graduates adopt a two-track approach:

1. During your sixth Romanian year, prepare for both the home competition (remotely, via online preparation platforms) and the Romanian rezidențiat.
2. Sit both. The dates generally don’t clash: the rezidențiat is in November, the French written papers in October, the orals in spring.
3. Choose at the last moment based on your respective rankings and your ambitions.

This demands a heavy workload, but it maximises your options. And if you fail one of the two, the other remains a way through.

Practical advice: if you’re aiming for a highly sought-after specialty at home (surgery, cardiology, dermatology), the Romanian rezidențiat can be a more accessible route. You specialise in Romania, then return with a recognised specialist title. It’s a less direct path but statistically safer for specialties under pressure.

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Worked cases

Case 1: You want to be a GP at home

Sit the home competition. General practice is the most accessible specialty by ranking (the largest number of posts). You’ll be trained in your own system and ready to practise as soon as training ends.

Case 2: You want to be an orthopaedic surgeon

Both routes are possible. The Romanian rezidențiat offers orthopaedics places with competition that may be less ferocious (check for the year in question). If your Romanian specialty is listed in Annex V.1, you’ll be able to practise at home.

Case 3: You want to practise in Romania or elsewhere in Europe

The Romanian rezidențiat is the natural choice. You’ll be trained in the system where you’ll probably work, and your specialist title will be recognised across the EU.

Case 4: You still can’t decide

Hybrid strategy. Prepare for both, sit both, choose afterwards.

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Going further

• Coming back to practise after medicine in Romania
• Registering with the medical council with a Romanian degree
• The Romanian medical degree in the European Union
• Recognition in Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg

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Last verified: July 2026 — Sources: French order of 18 April 2025 (EDN 2026-2027), CNG website (www.cng.sante.fr), Romanian Ministry of Health (www.rezidentiat.ms.ro), Directive 2005/36/EC Annex V.1.

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