The Texas Medical Board issues a full unrestricted medical license to qualified physicians to practice medicine in Texas.  Applicants who do not qualify for a full medical license may qualify for a limited license or permit.  The Licensure Department of the Texas Medical Board is committed to furthering the mission of the Board by ensuring quality healthcare for the citizens of Texas by upholding the standards set in statute and Board Rule, and by efficiently processing licensure applications.

Before You Apply

Individuals considering applying for a full medical license should use the links to the left to for more information about eligibility, the application process, and the required documentation and fees before submitting their applications.  Please note that Texas has a two-step application process – screening and licensing.  During screening, the applicant’s documents are collected and the applicant will be updated as to which documents have been received and are missing through the Licensure Inquiry System of Texas (LIST).  Only after all the documents have been received is the application considered complete and the licensing step may begin.  During licensing, a licensure analyst will review and verify all the information contained in the application and the supporting documentation.  More information will be requested by a licensure analyst if the previously submitted documentation is not complete and/or contains errors. 

Apply

Apply online using the link to the left. Depending on your answers, some of the questions on the application will require you to download a supplemental form and submit it.  Some of the forms must be sent to a third party, such as your medical school or liability carrier.  Applicants must also take and pass the Jurisprudence Exam and submit their fingerprints for state and national criminal history background checks. More information can be found using the links under Apply at the left.

Your application will not be processed until all supplemental information is received.  

Although the TMB is legislatively mandated to process all physician licensure applications within an average of 51 days, individual application processing time will vary based on the complexity of the application. The processing time clock begins when the applicant has submitted all initial documents and has moved to the second step.  Factors that increase the processing time are answering “yes” to any of the Professionalism questions on the application, or graduation from a medical school not listed on the Substantial Equivalence List. Currently staff issues licenses twice a month.  The schedule can be found using the License Issue Dates link to the left.

Licensure Inquiry System of Texas (LIST)

LIST is an online communication system for messages to and from the Board and physician applicants regarding application requirements.  Applicants should receive an email with their LIST username and password the first working day after they apply.  The link to the left can be used to access LIST.  LIST will provide the list of supplemental forms or other items an applicant is expected to submit or complete based on their application as well as tracks when those items have been received by the Board.

*New- Applicants can now upload certain documents required for their licensure application through their LIST account.  This feature can be found  under the “Forms” tab in LIST, along with details on the document formats that can be uploaded.  Applicants should log into their LIST account and review each specific lacking item to determine which documents are acceptable by upload.  Currently this option is limited to non-third party documents that are not required to be submitted directly to the Board.  Standard processing times apply to uploaded documents and your LIST account will be updated once an item has been reviewed/accepted.  

Want to get your application processed quickly?

Submit your questions one time, using LIST. Applicants who both call and submit LIST messages, or submit multiple LIST messages when they don’t get an immediate response, delay staff response time and increase application processing time. All LIST questions will be answered by staff in the order received. Please allow 3-5 business days for a response.