Checked 25 September 2026. From DHA's Manual for Licensing Healthcare Professionals (v1.1, Nov 2024), Manual for Professional Assessment (v1.1, May 2025) and the Sheryan service pages as read on 25 Sep 2026. Fees change; the Sheryan page for each service is the authority.
A DHA nursing licence is reached in stages, and money is due at several of them. The order matters because some steps can run side by side — verification and the exam, for instance — and one stage, registration, starts a clock. Everything here is from DHA's own licensing and assessment manuals and its Sheryan service pages.
Where other pages get this wrong
Passing the DHA exam does not give you a licence — it leads to a registration, which a licensed employer must activate.
Commonly published instead: "DHA eligibility letter valid for one year" and "DHA pass valid for five years" used interchangeably.
DHA's licensing manual separates the steps: pass the assessment, receive a Professional Registration certificate, and have it activated into a licence by a DHA-licensed facility. The registration is valid for one year — "from the date of issuance" in the licensing manual, "from the date of result" in the assessment manual. The five-year figure is something else: an earlier DHA pass for the same title can be reused within five years from the date the registration was obtained, provided there is no gap in practice.
DHA licensing and assessment manuals; Sheryan service pages.
The steps
| Step | What | Cost | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create a Sheryan account; run the free Self-Assessment Tool | Free | Immediate |
| 1a | If assessed "not eligible": Review Registration Eligibility with documents (optional) | AED 200 + knowledge and innovation fee | 10 working days |
| 2 | Primary-source verification of qualifications, experience, licence and good standing (a third-party agency; Sheryan names DataFlow) | The agency's fee | Runs alongside step 3 |
| 3 | Generate an Eligibility ID in Sheryan; book and sit the Prometric CBT | USD 240 | Result in Sheryan within 2 working days |
| 4 | Get Registered — once verification is positive and the exam passed | AED 200 + knowledge and innovation fee | 5 working days |
| 5 | A DHA-licensed facility activates the licence for 1, 2 or 3 years | AED 1,000 / 1,500 / 2,500 (nurses, full-time) | Instant (1 working day if personal records change) |
Two points in DHA's manuals make the order practical. Verification and the exam can run in parallel (the Sheryan Get Registered page says so), but Get Registered cannot be processed until verification is positive and the exam passed. And the review can return with conditions — a changed title, or a trainee restriction "based on lack of required experience or discontinuity of practice".
What each stage costs
Your DHA licensing costs
DHA's published fees are filled in. Add your verification agency's fee and the knowledge and innovation fees shown at payment, then today's exchange rates.
| Prometric CBT (one attempt) | 240 USD |
| Get Registered | 200 AED |
| Review Eligibility (only if needed) | AED |
| Knowledge and innovation fees (as charged) | AED |
| Primary-source verification (as quoted to you) | USD |
Licence activation (AED 1,000 for one year, full-time) is applied for by the employing facility.
| Fee (Sheryan pages) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Review Registration Eligibility | AED 200 + knowledge and innovation fee |
| Get Registered | AED 200 + knowledge and innovation fee |
| Licence activation, full-time, nurses and midwives | 1 year AED 1,000 · 2 years AED 1,500 · 3 years AED 2,500 |
| Licence activation, part-time or trainee | AED 1,000 |
| Convert to full-time | AED 200 |
| Prometric CBT | USD 240 (DHA guideline) |
Documents to gather first
| Document | Why (PQR / DHA) |
|---|---|
| Nursing degree or diploma certificate | Decides the title; provisional certificates listed in the PQR are accepted if issued or accredited by the body that issues final certificates (PQR 1.1.3) |
| Academic transcript | Required for credentialing — "determination of disciplines" (PQR 13.1.12) |
| Nursing council registration (home country or last country of work) | A valid licence or registration is required (PQR 13.1.8) |
| Good-standing certificate | From the regulator of your last country of work; no older than six months at application (PQR 1.3) |
| Experience letters with dates and duties | Only paid clinical experience counts; needed for any title that requires experience and for the gap-of-practice check |
| BLS or equivalent life-support certificate | BLS "or others according to the scope of practice" (PQR 13.1.11); DHA asks for CPR, BLS or ACLS as it deems fit |
| Passport and photograph | For Sheryan registration and as exam-day ID; the name must match Sheryan — contact DHA at least five days before the exam if it does not |
Documents not in English or Arabic need a certified legal translation (licensing manual 5.7), and DHA may ask for a UAE Ministry of Education equivalency certificate for some qualifications (5.8). Every application goes through Sheryan; e-mailed or paper applications are not accepted (5.37).
An example timeline
| Week | Step |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sheryan account and self-assessment; start verification |
| 2–3 | Generate the Eligibility ID and book the exam when you are ready |
| Exam + 2 working days | Pass or fail appears in Sheryan |
| After verification is positive | Get Registered (5 working days) |
| Within the registration year | A DHA-licensed employer activates the licence |
An illustration built from DHA's published service times; verification is the variable part, and depends on how quickly your college, council and employers respond to the agency.
Verification
What DHA's licensing manual says about verification
- It is delegated to a third-party agency; outcomes are Positive, Unable to Verify or Discrepancy.
- An Unable to Verify result can be appealed twice; a Discrepancy once.
- DHA accepts verification reports transferred from DOH, SHA and MOHAP, but may ask for more.
- Documents verified typically include qualifications, experience certificates, licence/registration, good-standing certificates and any exam-exemption proof.
- The good-standing certificate must be no older than six months when you apply (PQR §1.3).
DHA Manual for Licensing Healthcare Professionals v1.1, chapter 2; Unified PQR §1.3.
The registration clock
The Professional Registration certificate is valid for one year and is "not considered a permit to practice". An employer turns it into a licence through its own Sheryan account. If no one activates it, the registration must be renewed in the 90 days before it expires, or it is cancelled. The practical advice follows: sit the exam when you are ready to job-hunt, not a year before.
| Rule | Source |
|---|---|
| Registration validity | One year "from the date of issuance" (licensing manual 10.12); one year "from the date of result" (assessment manual 4.7) |
| Renewing an unactivated registration | Within 90 days before expiry, or it is cancelled (licensing manual 12.2–12.3) |
| Licence activation period | One, two or three years (licensing manual 11.4) |
| Several job offers | The full-time licence activates at the facility that pays first (licensing manual 11.5) |
| Not practising | Six consecutive months without practising during a licence, without an accepted excuse, ends the entitlement to practise (licensing manual 5.11) |
The two DHA manuals word the registration start date differently; plan on the earlier of the two.
Checklist
DHA nursing licence checklist
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Practise it, don't just read it
Verification and the exam can run in parallel — which means the exam can be your first step as soon as you have an Eligibility ID.
The ProSyllabus DHA nursing library has topic quizzes for Fundamentals of Nursing, Medical-Surgical Nursing, Pharmacology for Nurses, Maternal and Newborn Nursing, Pediatric Nursing, Infection Prevention and Control, Mental Health Nursing and Professional Practice and UAE Health Regulations. Each question comes with an explanation.
What is the process for a DHA nursing licence?
Create a Sheryan account and run the self-assessment; complete primary-source verification and pass the Prometric exam (these can run in parallel); apply to Get Registered; then a DHA-licensed employer activates the licence.
How much does the DHA nursing licence cost?
The exam is USD 240, Get Registered AED 200 and Review Eligibility (if needed) AED 200, each plus knowledge and innovation fees; verification is the agency's fee; licence activation for a full-time nurse is AED 1,000 for one year, AED 1,500 for two or AED 2,500 for three.
How long is the DHA registration valid?
One year. DHA's licensing manual counts it from the date of issuance and its assessment manual from the date of the result; an employer must activate it into a licence within that time, or it must be renewed.
Can I take the DHA exam before verification is complete?
Yes. Sheryan says verification and the CBT can be done in parallel, but registration needs both a positive verification and a pass.
Does DHA accept a DataFlow report done for DOH or MOHAP?
DHA's licensing manual says it accepts verification reports transferred from DOH, SHA and MOHAP, but may request additional documents.
How long does the DHA nursing licence process take?
The published service times are 10 working days for Review Eligibility (if needed), results within 2 working days of the exam, 5 working days to Get Registered and instant activation; verification, which runs alongside the exam, depends on the agency and your documents.
Can I book the DHA exam without a Sheryan account?
No. You need a DHA unique ID from Sheryan to generate the Eligibility ID that Prometric asks for when you book.
What if my verification comes back "Unable to Verify"?
DHA's licensing manual allows an Unable to Verify result to be appealed for re-verification twice, and a Discrepancy result once.
Do I need a job offer before the DHA exam?
No. You can pass the exam and be registered first; an employer is needed only to activate the registration into a licence, within the registration's one-year validity.
Who pays for DHA licence activation?
Activation is applied for through the employing facility's Sheryan account; the published fee for a full-time nurse is AED 1,000 for one year. The pages do not say who bears it.
More in this series
- The DHA nursing exam: codes, format, pass mark, references
- Eligibility: GNM, B.Sc, Post-Basic, M.Sc — which DHA title
- Attempts, gaps in practice and exemptions
- DHA vs Kuwait vs Abu Dhabi and the Northern Emirates
- A 10-week study plan for the DHA nursing exam
- DHA nursing notice board — official updates
- Gulf nursing licences compared
Sources
- official — DHA Manual for Licensing Healthcare Professionals v1.1 (Nov 2024)
- official — DHA Manual for Professional Assessment v1.1 (May 2025)
- official — Sheryan — Get Registered service
- official — Sheryan — Review Registration Eligibility service
- official — Sheryan — Activate Professional License service
- official — DHA computer-based test guideline (updated Sep 2026)
- official — Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements (PQR), April 2025
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
