Every DHA, DOH, MOHAP and SHA licensing decision in the UAE traces back to one document. Whether you qualify as a General Practitioner or a Specialist, whether you sit the Prometric exam or skip it, whether your degree counts at all – it is all decided against the same rulebook, applied identically by all four authorities. That document is the PQR UAE: the Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements.

In short: PQR UAE stands for the Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements, now in its third edition, issued jointly by the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP), the Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH), the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and the Sharjah Health Authority (SHA). It sets the educational, experience and licensure standards every healthcare professional must meet, defines which qualifications and exams exempt you from the Prometric exam, and applies the same way whichever of the four authorities eventually issues your licence.

Why This Matters Before You Touch Sheryan

Most applicants open a Sheryan account and start uploading documents before they know what they are actually being measured against. The PQR is that measure. It sets the entry standard for your specific profession and title, decides whether your exam route is required or waived, and governs what a Good Standing Certificate and Primary Source Verification report need to show before an authority will act on them. Reading it first, rather than discovering its rules mid-application, is what separates a smooth eligibility assessment from a rejected one. Our step-by-step DHA licensing guide covers the application itself; this article covers the rulebook behind it.

What PQR UAE Actually Is

The Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements is a single 150-page document, jointly published by all four UAE health authorities, that standardises how they assess every applicant’s credentials. Before this unification, a professional could face different requirements depending on which emirate they applied to. Under the current, third edition, a Consultant Physician, a Registered Nurse or a Physiotherapist is assessed against the same qualification and experience thresholds no matter whether the licence ends up being a DHA, DOH, MOHAP or SHA one.

The document is organised by profession, in six chapters: Physicians, Dentists, Nurses and Midwives, Allied Healthcare Professionals (39 separate titles, from Anesthesia to Toxicology), Traditional Complementary and Integrative Medicine Practitioners, and a final chapter of Exam Equivalency Criteria that lists exactly which international exams and registrations exempt each title from sitting the Prometric exam.

How PQR UAE Decides Your Title

Every applicant is assessed on the same three pillars, set out in the PQR’s general requirements chapter:

• Educational qualifications – your degree must come from a nationally accredited programme. Correspondence, distance-learning and honorary qualifications do not count, and hybrid certificates are rejected outside recognised exceptional periods. A General Practitioner qualification specifically must reflect a medical degree of at least five years, excluding the internship year.
• Professional experience – internship and training requirements are set per profession, and experience must be continuous and verifiable, not simply claimed.
• Licence and Good Standing status – you need an active, unrestricted licence or registration at home, backed by a Good Standing Certificate that is valid and not older than six months at the time you apply.

If your qualification is not explicitly listed, the PQR Committee reviews it directly and can still grant an appropriate title – so an unusual degree pathway is not automatically a dead end, but it is a step worth planning for rather than discovering during Primary Source Verification. Our Good Standing Certificate guide covers what your home regulator needs to confirm.

The Exam Exemption Only Covers the Exam

This is the single most common misunderstanding we see. The PQR states plainly that where an exemption applies, the scope of the exemption is limited to the licensure examination itself – it does not extend to credentialing, experience requirements or Primary Source Verification. A physician exempt from the Prometric exam under their country’s recognised qualifications still has to clear DataFlow, still needs a valid Good Standing Certificate, and still has to meet the experience threshold for their title. Our DataFlow verification guide covers that step in detail.

The PQR also ties exemption to continuity of practice. A gap in clinical practice beyond three years generally requires CME/CPD credits and, for surgical specialties, a logbook, before the authorities will proceed – even for an applicant who would otherwise qualify for exemption. Our exemption countries guide and our article on what a DHA exam exemption actually covers both go deeper on this than we can here.

What Trips Up Applicants Most Often

• Assuming exemption is automatic by country – the PQR assesses exemption by profession, title and specific qualification, not by nationality alone. Two doctors from the same country, in different specialties, can sit under different rules.
• Treating exemption as a full pass – it removes the exam requirement only. Credentialing, experience and PSV still apply in full.
• Requesting a Good Standing Certificate too early – it must be valid and issued within six months of your application, so timing it against your Sheryan submission matters.
• Overlooking a career gap – more than three years out of clinical practice can trigger CME/CPD and logbook requirements before your application proceeds, regardless of your exemption status.

What to Check Before You Start on Sheryan

Expected Timeline

Frequently Asked Questions

What does PQR UAE stand for?

PQR UAE refers to the Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements, the joint standard used by the Ministry of Health and Prevention, the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, the Dubai Health Authority and the Sharjah Health Authority to assess every healthcare professional’s licence application.

Does PQR UAE apply the same way in every emirate?

Yes. It is a unified document, so the educational, experience and exam-exemption standards are identical whether your licence is ultimately issued by DHA, DOH, MOHAP or SHA.

If I am exempt from the exam under PQR UAE, what else do I still need?

Exemption only removes the licensure exam requirement. You still need DataFlow primary source verification, a valid Good Standing Certificate, and to meet the experience threshold for your specific title.

Can a career break affect my PQR UAE assessment?

Yes. A gap in clinical practice exceeding three years generally triggers CME/CPD requirements and, for surgical specialties, a logbook, before your application can proceed.

What happens if my qualification is not listed in the PQR?

It goes to the PQR Committee for direct review, which can still grant an appropriate title. It is not an automatic rejection, but it is worth raising early rather than discovering it during verification.

Where can I check the current PQR UAE requirements for my title?

The full document is published on the Department of Health Abu Dhabi’s PQR page, and your specific category is confirmed when you register your profession on Sheryan.