Work visa for doctors with a hospital job offer in Spain

Who applies for the work permit, the doctor or the hospital?

The hospital does. Under RD 1155/2024, the employer files the application for a residence and work authorisation as an employee at the Oficina de Extranjería of the province where you will work. You cannot start it from abroad: your part begins once the authorisation is granted and it is time to apply for the visa at the consulate.

This changes the conversation with the hospital. A verbal yes is not enough: human resources must sign a contract conditional on the authorisation, pay the employer fee (form 790, code 062) and prove the national employment situation (situación nacional de empleo). Bookahospi prepares the file with the hospital and Booka processes it, so neither side has to learn immigration law on the fly.

• Hospital or clinic: application at the Oficina de Extranjería, contract, fee 062 and proof of the national employment situation.
• You: degree recognition already resolved, apostilled criminal record certificates, medical certificate, passport and, once the authorisation is granted, the visa at the consulate.
• Booka: collects, checks and files both parties' documents and tracks the case through to the TIE residence card.

Do I need my degree recognised before the hospital hires me?

Yes. Medicine is a regulated profession: to sign a contract as a doctor you need recognition of your degree (homologación) by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and then registration with the provincial medical college (colegiación). Without those two steps the hospital cannot show you are qualified for the post, and the Oficina de Extranjería will not authorise an activity you cannot legally perform.

These are three separate tracks and it pays not to mix them: degree recognition is decided by the Ministry of Science; recognition of a specialty is handled by the Ministry of Health (RD 459/2010); the residence and work authorisation is granted by the Ministry of Inclusion through the Oficina de Extranjería; and college registration depends on the provincial college, which asks for the recognised degree and a certificate of good standing from your country, apostilled and under 3 months old.

The practical order we follow with clients is: degree recognition with Bookahospi while you look for an offer, conditional contract with the hospital, immigration authorisation with Booka, visa, arrival, college registration and Social Security registration. If you already have the offer but not the recognition, the sequence can partly overlap, but the final decision depends on the degree being resolved.

What is the national employment situation and does it affect doctors?

The national employment situation is the prior filter: the hospital must show there are no available jobseekers in Spain for the post, unless the occupation appears in the Catalogue of Hard-to-Fill Occupations (Catálogo de Ocupaciones de Difícil Cobertura), published every quarter.

Precision matters here, because a lot of inaccurate information circulates. The catalogue for the first quarter of 2026 (Resolution of 28-01-2026, BOE 02-03-2026) does not include doctors or nurses, according to Laboral-Social's analysis of March 2026. Unless a later catalogue changes that, the hospital must register the vacancy with the public employment service and obtain a certificate of insufficient candidates before filing. Booka checks the catalogue in force when preparing the file and organises that prior step with the hospital.

Two routes bypass the labour market test: the EU Blue Card (Law 11/2023) and the highly qualified professional authorisation under Law 14/2013, processed by the Large Companies Unit (UGE). Both depend on the salary the hospital offers and are explained in the next section.

Employee permit, EU Blue Card or highly qualified: which suits you?

If the gross annual salary in the contract reaches 41,356.36 € in 2026, the EU Blue Card or the UGE route is usually faster than the ordinary authorisation. Below that threshold, the residence and work authorisation as an employee is the standard route.

The EU Blue Card also requires a higher education degree of at least 3 years (or 5 years of comparable experience) and, as medicine is regulated, a recognised degree. The reduced threshold of 33,085.09 € applies to occupations in groups 1 and 2 of the CNO-2011 listed on the hard-to-fill catalogue or to those who obtained their qualification in the previous 3 years; for a recently graduated doctor it can be the entry door.

Steps and timelines: from the offer to the TIE card

The full process has seven steps. Adding up the legal periods (3 months at the Oficina de Extranjería, about 1 month at the consulate and 1 month to apply for the TIE) gives roughly 5 months from the hospital's filing, always subject to the decisions of the Oficina de Extranjería and the consulate; busy offices may take longer. Here is the sequence with who does what.

1. 1

   Degree recognition and document preparation (you, with Bookahospi)

   Recognition by the Ministry of Science; criminal record certificates from every country you lived in over the last 5 years, apostilled and sworn-translated, under 3 months old; medical certificate with the International Health Regulations 2005 wording, also under 3 months old; passport valid for at least 1 year. Timing: depends on the Ministry; start before you have the offer.

2. 2

   Conditional contract and national employment situation (hospital, with Booka)

   The hospital signs the contract conditional on the authorisation and registers the vacancy with the public employment service if the occupation is not on the catalogue in force. Timing: set by the regional employment service.

3. 3

   Application at the Oficina de Extranjería (hospital, with Booka)

   Filing of form EX-03, contract, proof of the hospital's solvency, your documents and fee 790 code 062. Legal decision period: 3 months; silence means refusal. Busy offices may take longer.

4. 4

   Visa at the consulate (you, with Booka)

   After notification to the hospital you have 1 month to apply for the visa at the consulate of your country of residence, presenting the granted authorisation, passport, criminal record certificates and medical certificate. The consulate decides in about 1 month, according to the Consulate in Washington.

5. 5

   Entry into Spain (you)

   The visa is valid for the length of the authorised contract, 1 year in the general case. You must enter Spain while the visa is valid.

6. 6

   Social Security registration and college registration (hospital and you)

   The hospital registers you with Social Security before you start work. In parallel, you register with the provincial medical college with your recognised degree, the apostilled certificate of good standing under 3 months old and your passport or NIE. Timing: set by each college.

7. 7

   TIE card at the police station (you, with Booka)

   Application for the Foreigner Identity Card within 1 month of Social Security registration, with fee 790 code 012 of 16.08 €. Timing: appointment and card collection depend on the station.

Which fees does the hospital pay and which do you pay?

Official fees are modest: the initial authorisation costs 10.94 € (fee 052) and the TIE card 16.08 € (fee 012). The employer fee (062) depends on salary, according to Legal Fournier and Taxdown, and is paid by the hospital. The consular visa fee varies by country and currency, so we do not publish a single figure.

Booka's service prices and Bookahospi's degree recognition fees are professional fees, not official charges: they always appear separately in your quote.

How long does the first permit last, how is it renewed and can I bring my family?

The initial authorisation lasts 1 year and the renewal is granted for 4 years, one of the improvements of RD 1155/2024 over the previous 2 years. Renewal is requested in the 60 calendar days before expiry or up to 90 days after, and filing in time extends the authorisation while the decision is pending. After 5 years of continuous legal residence you can apply for long-term residence.

To renew, the rule described by Cohen y Aguirre and Abogada de Extranjería in their 2026 guides is to show at least 9 months of Social Security registration per year of authorisation, or 6 months plus a new contract, with adjustments for family dependants. A stable hospital contract covers this comfortably.

On family: under Instruction SEM 2/2025 you no longer need to wait a year of residence or have renewed before applying for family reunification, according to Machelin Díaz's analysis. To reunify a family member you need income of 150 % of the IPREM (900 € per month with the 2026 IPREM of 600 €) plus 300 € for each additional member, according to Abogada de Extranjería under the new Regulation. Children can be reunified up to age 26 and a reunified spouse may work from the moment of approval with no extra procedure.

By country of origin

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

With a hospital offer, the visa is applied for at the Spanish Consulate for your district once the permit is granted. Bring your country's criminal record certificate apostilled (or legalised, if you come from Cuba) and less than 3 months old: it is the document that delays most files.

• 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).