Homologación in Spain: Requirements and Process

• Doctor (Médico/a): homologación to the Spanish Grado en Medicina.
• Nurse (Enfermero/a): homologación to the Grado en Enfermería.
• Dentist (Dentista): homologación to the Grado en Odontología, with a published protocol and bibliography for its complementary tests.
• Pharmacist (Farmacéutico/a), physiotherapist (Fisioterapeuta), dietitian-nutritionist, speech therapist (Logopeda), optician-optometrist, podiatrist (Podólogo), general health psychologist and occupational therapist.
• Veterinarian (Veterinario/a), also a health profession in the annex of Real Decreto 889/2022.
• The ministry does not keep a public register of practitioners. It issues the credential; registration to practise is with the provincial professional college.

• A completed foreign degree with official validity in its country. Own-title diplomas, unfinished studies and degrees below grado or máster level are not accepted.
• Your degree must meet the requirements to practise in the country that issued it; where registration is needed there, you attach proof such as a registration certificate or certificate of good standing.
• Training that meets ANECA's minimums. Medicine: at least 5 years and 360 ECTS, or 5,500 face-to-face hours, including at least 1,350 hours of supervised clinical training. Nursing: at least three years and 4,600 face-to-face hours, at least 2,300 of them clinical.
• Spanish at B2 (DELE, SIELE or an EOI certificate) if you are not a national of a country where Spanish is official, unless 75% of your degree or your earlier education was in Spanish.
• Documents legalised by apostille or the diplomatic route if they come from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland, including the UK and the US, with official translations into Spanish.
• No more than 15% of your degree credits obtained through recognition of work experience or unofficial study; above that the application is inadmissible and the fee is kept.
• No final decision already given on an identical application, and no parallel convalidación of the same degree at a Spanish university.
• Payment of the €166.50 fee.

Check your route with the route finder

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   1. Read the profession page and the checklist

   Start on Valida-TE: the profession page lists the ANECA criteria and documents for your degree, and the homologación checklist covers identity, fee, degree, transcript, legalisation, translation, language and professional authorisation. Check the general measures (medidas) list to see whether your university and degree already have one, which speeds up the file.
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   2. Get the transcript right

   The official academic transcript must show the official length of the programme in academic years and every subject passed with its hours or ECTS. If more than 15% of your credits were recognised from elsewhere, add a certificate from the institution where you earned them. Missing hours, especially clinical hours, are the most common reason ANECA cannot confirm equivalence.
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   3. Legalise the right document

   Apostille or diplomatic legalisation must sit on the original or on a signature recognition by the competent authority. The ministry warns that an apostilled compulsa (certified copy) is not valid. Electronic apostilles are accepted if their QR code or verification code works.
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   4. Translate and certify your Spanish level

   Use a sworn translator appointed by Spain's foreign ministry, an official translator in another EU country, or a non-EU official translator whose signature is legalised. Translations must cover the whole document including the legalisations, and they do not expire. Add your DELE, SIELE or EOI certificate unless an exemption applies.
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   5. Apply online and pay

   Apply through the electronic office of the Secretariat General for Universities with Cl@ve or a digital certificate, entering the degree and university names exactly as on the certificate. Pay €166.50 by card, form 790-107 or international transfer, quoting the applicant's name and ID number if someone else pays.
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   6. Request priority if you have a job offer

   Since 10 September 2025, applicants with a firm offer of highly qualified employment that depends on the decision get priority. Attach a contract or pre-contract and a signed employer's declaration describing the post and committing to hire you once the decision is issued, then email [email protected]. Existing applicants can add these documents to their file.
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   7. Answer requests on time

   If the ministry asks for missing documents, Real Decreto 889/2022 gives 10 working days, after which the application is treated as withdrawn. The time limit for a decision is suspended while you respond. For homologación the ministry must also ask the national professional council for a non-binding report, which it has 10 working days to give.
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   8. Respond to a provisional decision

   A proposed unfavourable or conditional decision is provisional, and you have 10 working days to submit arguments and documents. If you do not respond, the proposal becomes final.
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   9. Complete complementary training if required

   A conditional homologación lists what you must do: a practical placement, an aptitude test, an academic project or courses, at one or more Spanish universities of your choice that teach the degree. The credential is only issued once you pass. You have four years from notification, and a 2025 resolution added two years for files in progress at the time.
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    10. Collect your credential and register with a college

    With the credential you can register with the provincial college, which will usually ask for the credential and the documents you submitted for it. Doctors who want public sector or specialist work then go on to the Ministry of Health's procedures.

• No standard entry exam

  Homologación is a document-based assessment. There is no single licensing exam that every applicant sits; tests arise only as complementary training in a conditional decision.

• Aptitude test (prueba de aptitud)

  One of the forms of complementary training under article 19 of Real Decreto 889/2022, taken at a Spanish university that teaches the degree, to cover gaps the assessment found.

• Practical placement, academic project or courses

  The other forms of complementary training: a period of academic practice, a project or academic work, or specific university courses. You choose the university, and costs are set by it.

• Complementary tests for dentistry

  The ministry has published a new protocol for the complementary academic training tests for homologación to the Grado en Odontología, with a bibliography of the subjects, on its dentist page.

• Spanish language certificate

  DELE or SIELE at B2 or above, or an EOI certificate at B2 or above, unless you are a national of a Spanish-speaking country or your studies were in Spanish.

• The ministry does not ask for English. It asks for Spanish at B2 from nationals of countries where Spanish is not an official language.
• Accepted proof: DELE (Instituto Cervantes) or SIELE at B2 or higher; an Official School of Languages (EOI) certificate at B2 or higher; a certificate that at least 75% of the degree was taught in Spanish; or a certificate that the earlier education was in Spanish.
• The requirement follows nationality. Working in the Gulf or studying in English does not exempt you.
• Later steps can ask for more: the Ministry of Health's language page lists C1 certificates for applicants from non-Spanish-speaking countries.

Estimate your total cost

• Correcting documents: 10 working days from a request, with 35 extra working days available if you ask for an extension through the electronic office.
• Decision: Real Decreto 889/2022 sets a maximum of six months from registration, suspended while you respond to requests; if no decision is notified, the application can be treated as refused.
• Responding to a provisional decision: 10 working days.
• Complementary training: up to four years from notification, extended by two years for files in progress when the 2025 resolution took effect.
• The ministry does not publish average processing times; priority handling is available with a qualifying job offer.