DOH to SHA license transfer, explained

SHA's own portal states it plainly: there is no license transfer between DHA, DOH and SHA. Each is a separate authority with its own license. What you are actually doing is a new SHA application — your DOH credentials support it, they do not carry over automatically.

SHA does run a service it also calls a "license transfer" — but that one moves an existing SHA license between two SHA-licensed facilities, for someone changing jobs within Sharjah without switching authority. It has nothing to do with converting a DOH license, and applying through it by mistake wastes a submission on the wrong service. If you currently hold a DOH license, the new-application route covered in this guide is the one you need.

SHA reviews your qualifications against its own professional requirements, and a practice gap of more than three years can trigger extra conditions. A DataFlow primary source verification and a Good Standing certificate from your current authority are both part of the file — if either is missing or stale, that is what stalls the application, not the SHA review itself.

Two conditions apply less often but catch people off guard when they do: anyone over 60 needs a health report as part of the file, and a temporary or visiting license needs a pledge letter explaining why that category — not a standard full-time or part-time one — is the right fit.

SHA prices its license fee in tiers, not a single flat rate: full-time nursing, pharmacy and allied-health licenses sit at the lower end; full-time physician, dentist and TCIM licenses cost more; a part-time license runs a single higher rate across every category; and a visiting physician or dentist license sits between the two. These are SHA's own fees, paid directly to SHA — separate from whatever it costs to get your file complete before you submit. Check the current figures on SHA's own portal before you budget, since a government fee schedule can change without much notice.

Once issued, the license itself has a shelf life that varies by category: a full-time or part-time license runs a year before renewal, a visiting license two months, a temporary license three months. Which category you apply under decides how soon you're back at this again.

SHA states 8 working days for the license step itself, once your application is complete and correct. That number does not include DataFlow verification, which runs on your universities' and employers' own timelines — see our DataFlow guide for why that stage is the real variable. A complete first submission to SHA is what makes the 8 days real instead of theoretical.

Passport, Emirates ID, your academic qualifications and transcripts, your current DOH license, a recent experience certificate, a Good Standing certificate from DOH, your DataFlow/PSV report, a BLS/CPR certificate, and — for a full-time license — malpractice insurance and a job offer from an SHA-licensed facility. A temporary or visiting application adds the pledge letter mentioned above; anyone over 60 adds a health report. Profession-specific extras, such as surgical logbooks or residency documents, apply where relevant.

We file the SHA application itself, track it against SHA's own stated timeline, and coordinate the DataFlow and Good Standing pieces so they land ready rather than being requested mid-review. If your DOH DataFlow report is still valid, we check whether SHA will accept it directly before you pay for a fresh one — and we confirm upfront that you're on the new-application route, not SHA's unrelated facility-to-facility transfer service, so the submission counts the first time.