Visas for foreign doctors in Spain: how to sort out your legal status step by step

What does a foreign doctor need to work in Spain?

You need three things from three different administrations: the recognised degree (Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities), a residence and work permit or visa (Immigration Office and consulate) and registration with the Medical College of your province. An immigration law firm only does the second. Here all three run in one case file.

• Recognition (homologación) or equivalence of the medical degree. Without it you cannot sit the MIR or register. The Ministry resolved 30,303 favourable medical degree recognitions in 2025, up from 8,865 in 2024.
• A residence and work permit, student visa or arraigo, depending on your situation. This is what allows you to live and work legally in Spain.
• Mandatory professional registration with the recognised degree, an apostilled certificate of good standing from your home country (less than 3 months old) and your NIE or passport.

Which visa or permit applies to my situation?

The route depends on where you are today and what you have in hand: a hospital offer, a MIR post, a student stay or two years of presence in Spain. This table summarises the seven situations we see every day and the guide in this series that covers each one.

Fees are those in force since 16 June 2025 (Order PJC/617/2025). The consular visa has a separate fee that varies by country and currency: check with your consulate.

What comes first: degree recognition, the visa or registration?

Degree recognition first, because the consulate and the Medical College require it, and because a hospital cannot hire you as a doctor without it. Then the immigration permit, which depends on the route. Registration is the last step before practising and we do it for you.

1. 1

   Degree recognition

   Bookahospi handles it before the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Apostille, sworn translation, curriculum and follow-up. The legal deadline is 6 months (RD 889/2022); in practice it depends on the Ministry's workload.

2. 2

   Diagnosis of the immigration route

   Booka determines, from your real situation, which procedure applies. Three minutes, 19 EUR deducted if you hire the service.

3. 3

   Permit application

   Filed by the hospital (employee, Blue Card) or by you (studies, arraigo, change of status). The Immigration Office has 3 months to decide; for initial permits silence means refusal.

4. 4

   Visa at the consulate

   If you are outside Spain, you apply for the visa at the consulate within one month of the permit being granted. The consulate usually decides within a month, depending on the country.

5. 5

   Entry, registration and TIE

   You enter with the visa, the hospital registers you with Social Security and you apply for the Foreigner Identity Card within the following month (fee 790-012, 16.08 EUR).

6. 6

   Professional registration

   With the recognised degree, the apostilled certificate of good standing and the NIE, Booka registers you with the Medical College of your province. On the MIR route, registration is included at no cost.

7. 7

   Renewals and citizenship

   You renew 60 days before or up to 90 days after expiry. After 2 years of legal residence, if you are Ibero-American, you can apply for citizenship.

Can a Spanish hospital hire me from my home country?

Yes. The hospital or clinic files the application for a residence and work permit as an employee at the Immigration Office of its province with your recognised degree and the contract. It must prove the national employment situation, unless the occupation is on the Catalogue of Hard-to-Fill Occupations, which is reviewed every quarter.

If the salary reaches 41,356.36 EUR gross per year (the 2026 general threshold, 1.4 times the INE average wage), the route can be the EU Blue Card under Law 11/2023, designed for professionals with a higher degree and a contract of at least 6 months. The reduced threshold of 33,085.09 EUR applies to graduates from the previous 3 years or to catalogue occupations.

What permit does a foreign doctor doing the MIR have?

A student visa for specialised health training, which is a stay and not a residence (Law 44/2003). It allows you to earn the resident's salary without a separate work permit. The nuance matters: that time does not count towards citizenship by residence, and when you finish you must switch to residence and work through the change of student status.

To enrol in the MIR you need the recognised degree before the deadline closes. The 2026 call offered 9,276 posts, with a 10 % quota for non-EU candidates without a residence permit: 928 posts.

What if I am in Spain without a residence permit and I am a doctor?

You can apply for an arraigo. With 2 years of continuous presence (absences of no more than 90 days) and one or more contracts guaranteeing the minimum wage, arraigo sociolaboral grants 1 year of residence and work, extendable. Since RD 316/2026 you can work from the moment the application is admitted for processing.

The extraordinary regularisation of 2026 closed on 30 June with 1,174,978 applications. Today the ordinary route is the arraigos in the Regulation: sociolaboral, social, socio-training, family and second chance. Meanwhile, degree recognition can be processed while you are in an irregular situation.

Can I bring my family and how do I renew the permit?

You can reunite your spouse or partner, your children up to age 26 and dependent parents if you prove income of 150 % of the IPREM for two members (900 EUR per month in 2026, with the IPREM at 600 EUR) plus 300 EUR for each additional member, and adequate housing. The reunited family member can work from the date of approval.

Renewal of residence and work is requested 60 days before expiry or up to 90 days after, lasts 4 years and, if the Immigration Office does not reply within 3 months, silence means approval. After 5 years of continuous legal residence you qualify for long-term residence.

When can a Latin American doctor apply for Spanish citizenship?

After 2 years of legal, continuous residence immediately before the application, if you are a national of an Ibero-American country, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal (article 22 of the Civil Code). Residence permits count: work, arraigo, reunification, non-lucrative. Student stays and MIR years do not count.

You apply with the CCSE exam from the Instituto Cervantes (Spanish speakers are exempt from the DELE), apostilled criminal records and the 790-026 fee of 104.05 EUR. The legal deadline is 1 year; in March 2026 real processing times were between 12 and 24 months according to the Ministry of Justice. Ibero-Americans do not renounce their original nationality.

How long do immigration procedures take and what do they cost?

Legal deadlines run 3 months from registration; in overloaded offices they are exceeded. Approval always depends on the decision of the Immigration Office, the consulate or the Ministry of Justice. The fees in the table are the Administration's; Booka's service fees are shown on each procedure page, with the price in plain sight, before you hire.

What changes depending on my country of origin?

• Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and the rest of Ibero-America: citizenship after 2 years of legal residence, DELE exemption and dual nationality without renunciation.
• Hague Apostille for criminal records, degrees and certificates in most Latin American countries; documents must be less than 3 months old when submitted to the consulate.
• Criminal records from every country where you have lived in the last 5 years, apostilled and with a sworn translation if not in Spanish.
• Medical certificate less than 3 months old with the wording of the 2005 International Health Regulations, required by consulates for national visas.
• Degrees taught in a language other than Spanish: the MIR may require an accredited C1 level.

By country of origin

What changes if you come from Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, Peru or Cuba?

Wherever you come from, the order is the same: recognised degree, immigration permit and professional registration. What changes by country is who legalises your documents, which consulate you apply at and which criminal record certificate is accepted. Every country in this table is Ibero-American: citizenship after 2 years of legal residence and no DELE exam.

• All are Ibero-American countries: Spanish citizenship after 2 years of legal residence (art. 22 of the Civil Code) and exemption from the DELE exam as Spanish speakers.
• Documents must be filed less than 3 months old and with a sworn translation if not in Spanish.

Consular addresses and districts: exteriores.gob.es. Apostille authorities: Hague Conference (hcch.net).