EIR exam (Enfermero Interno Residente)

EIR stands for enfermero or enfermera interno residente, a registered nurse employed as a resident to train in one of Spain's nursing specialties. The Ministry of Health holds one selective test a year for these places within formación sanitaria especializada (FSE). Your rank decides the order in which you choose a specialty and a teaching unit.

Residents are employed while they train, on a contract governed by Royal Decree 1146/2006, and the call publishes the number of funded places for each specialty, region and teaching unit. The EIR is not needed to work as a general nurse: for that, a non-EU nurse needs homologación of the nursing degree and colegiación. The EIR is the route to an official specialist title.

Royal Decree 183/2008 lists seven nursing specialties:

• Enfermería Obstétrico-Ginecológica (Matrona), the Spanish midwife route
• Enfermería de Salud Mental
• Enfermería Pediátrica
• Enfermería Familiar y Comunitaria
• Enfermería Geriátrica
• Enfermería del Trabajo
• Enfermería de Cuidados Médico-Quirúrgicos

For the 2026 call, for training starting in 2027 (Orden SND/854/2026), there are 2,341 nursing places. Of these, 23 can be filled by people who do not hold a Spanish residence authorisation.

• A recognised degree. A Spanish nursing degree or homologación of your foreign degree, obtained before the application window closes.
• Nationality or status. Spanish and EU nationals and others covered by the public employment statute, plus nationals of countries with a cooperation agreement in force with Spain.
• Documents on time. Every admission requirement must be met and proved within the application period, and kept until you join your post.
• Spanish at C1 from candidates whose country does not have Spanish as an official language, unless the degree was taught in Spanish or they have completed two years of specialist training in Spain.

1. Apply between 1 and 14 September 2026 on form 790 and pay the nursing fee of €23.33.
2. Upload your degree recognition, language certificate and transcript, with the ministry's declaration of equivalence for a foreign average mark (otherwise 5.00 is applied).
3. Sit the exam on 23 January 2027: 200 questions plus 10 reserve, four options each, four and a half hours.
4. Correct answers score 3 and wrong answers lose 1; the exam is scaled to 90 points and your academic record adds up to 10.
5. A final exam score above zero lets you take part in choosing places.

Provisional answers are published within five working days of the exam and can be challenged online before the final template is approved.

Common problems are the same as for the MIR: recognition or the C1 certificate not ready by the deadline, and very few places for candidates without a residence authorisation. Once you start, you will also need a TIE if you are not an EU national.