How to get a DHA license from India
A step-by-step guide to licensing in the UAE — eligibility, DataFlow verification, the Prometric exam, the Sheryan application, and how Abu Dhabi’s DOH route differs from Dubai’s.
What DHA licensing actually involves
In one paragraph
To practise in Dubai you need a licence from the Dubai Health Authority. The route has three substantive parts: DataFlow primary source verification, which confirms your degree and experience directly with the institutions that issued them; a computer-based Prometric exam, if your professional title requires one; and the Sheryan licence application itself. Your qualification and years of experience are measured against DHA’s category system for your profession before any of that begins.
Abu Dhabi runs a separate system under the Department of Health (DOH). The steps are the same in shape, but the two are independent registers — a DHA licence does not let you work in Abu Dhabi, and a DOH licence does not let you work in Dubai.
The five steps, in order
The order matters here more than in most registrations — DataFlow gates everything downstream, and it is the step that runs on someone else’s clock.
Check your eligibility category first
DHA does not license a job title in the abstract. Your qualification, your grade and your years of relevant clinical experience are measured against DHA’s category system for your profession, and that category determines what you are eligible to apply for.
This is worth settling before you spend anything. Requirements differ by profession, and finding out that you are one year short of a category is far cheaper now than after DataFlow fees are paid.
Gather your documents
You will typically need your passport, degree certificate, academic transcripts and marksheets, experience and good-standing certificates, your home-country licence or registration, a passport-size photograph and an updated CV.
The experience certificates are the ones to start early. They have to come from your employers, in the format the verification will accept, and chasing a former hospital’s HR department is the single most common reason a UAE application stalls before it has really begun.
DataFlow verification
DataFlow is the primary source verification DHA requires. It does not take your documents at face value — it contacts your university and your employers directly to confirm them. It is mandatory, and it typically takes a few weeks.
Because it depends on institutions responding, an incomplete or inaccurate DataFlow submission does not fail fast; it simply sits. Getting the application right the first time is most of what determines your overall timeline.
Prometric assessment, if your title requires one
Not every professional title requires an exam. Where one is required, it is a computer-based test through Prometric. For most nursing and allied health titles it is multiple choice, generally around 150 questions, with no negative marking — though the exact format depends on your title.
Confirm whether yours needs it before you start preparing, and confirm the current format rather than relying on what a colleague sat two years ago.
The Sheryan licence application
With verification complete and any exam passed, the licence application goes through DHA’s Sheryan system. When it completes you hold a DHA licence and can practise in Dubai.
One thing to plan around: an eligibility letter is valid only for a limited period after issue. Your exam and licensing timeline has to fit inside that window, which is another reason not to let DataFlow drift.
How the DOH route differs
Same shape, separate system
Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health runs the same three-part structure — DataFlow verification, an exam where the title requires it, then a licence application. The differences worth knowing:
The exam. DOH assessments run through Prometric or Pearson VUE, depending on the profession, where DHA uses Prometric.
The application system. DHA licensing runs through Sheryan; DOH runs through its own eLicensing, with renewals handled via TAMM.
Renewal. DOH licences need periodic renewal and generally require continuing professional development (CPD) hours.
They do not transfer. This is the one that catches people out. The two are independent — holding one does not entitle you to practise in the other emirate.
Four things that slow people down
Starting DataFlow with incomplete experience letters
Verification contacts your employers directly. A letter missing dates, designation or an authorised signature does not bounce back quickly — it stalls silently for weeks.
Letting the eligibility letter expire
It is valid for a limited window. Treating the exam as something to prepare for “whenever” is how people end up redoing steps they have already paid for.
Assuming an exam is required, or that it is not
It depends on your professional title. Both assumptions cost money — one in unnecessary preparation, the other in a surprise near the end.
Treating Dubai and Abu Dhabi as one application
They are separate authorities with separate licences. Deciding which emirate you are actually targeting before you start saves repeating the entire process.
Frequently asked questions
Does a DHA licence let me work in Abu Dhabi?▾
No. DHA licenses you to practise in Dubai and DOH licenses you to practise in Abu Dhabi. They are separate systems with separate applications, so holding one does not automatically permit you to work in the other emirate.
Do I have to sit the Prometric exam?▾
Only if your professional title requires one — it is not universal. Which titles require an assessment is decided by the authority and by your profession, so it is worth confirming for your specific case before you start preparing for a test you may not need.
Does DataFlow come before or after the exam?▾
Before. DataFlow verification is the step that gates the rest of the process, and the exam follows it where one is required. Because verification depends on your university and employers responding, it is the part of the timeline you have least control over — which is why it is worth starting properly rather than quickly.
Is an advisor’s fee included in these amounts?▾
No. Those are DataFlow, exam and licensing charges paid directly to those bodies. Any fee you pay an advisor for guidance is separate, as are document attestation and translation costs. The authority charges are also subject to change by DHA and DOH.
Do both DHA and DOH require DataFlow?▾
Yes — primary source verification through DataFlow is a mandatory step for both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the one part of the two routes that looks essentially the same from the applicant’s side.
What will I need from my current or previous employer?▾
Experience certificates and, where applicable, good-standing certificates covering the clinical experience you are claiming. They need to come from the employer rather than from you, and because verification contacts those employers directly, the details on them have to match what the employer will confirm.
Not sure which emirate, or which category?
A free session is the fastest way to find out which DHA or DOH category your qualification and experience actually place you in, and what your realistic timeline looks like.
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