Getting a foreign university degree recognised in Spain: homologation, equivalence and credit transfer

Three procedures, for three different purposes

Royal Decree 889/2022 sets out three ways of having foreign university studies recognised, and they are not interchangeable.

Homologation, homologación, recognises a foreign degree as equivalent to a specific Spanish Bachelor's or Master's degree that is required to practise a regulated profession. From the day the credential is issued it has the same effects as that Spanish degree throughout Spain, including the right to practise the profession on the same terms as holders of the Spanish degree — subject to whatever else the profession's own rules require, such as joining a professional body.

A declaration of equivalence, declaración de equivalencia, recognises a foreign degree as equivalent to the academic level of Bachelor's (Grado) or Master's (Máster Universitario), without any professional effect for degrees that could be homologated. It is what you need to apply for jobs, public posts or further study that ask for 'a degree' or 'a Master's' in general.

Credit transfer, convalidación, is decided by a Spanish university, not the Ministry. It recognises completed or partial foreign studies against a Spanish degree so that you can continue studying at that university.

Is your profession regulated?

A regulated profession, for this purpose, is one that can only be practised in Spain with a specific official university degree whose content is set by the government. The decree's annex lists the rules for each of them. The best-known include medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, physiotherapy, psychology in health settings, architecture, the regulated branches of engineering, law, and secondary-school teaching.

If your profession is on that list, you need homologation to practise it. If it is not — most business, IT, humanities and science degrees — there is nothing to homologate, and the declaration of equivalence is the procedure that applies.

What cannot be recognised

The decree excludes universities' own non-official qualifications, títulos propios, and continuing-education diplomas; degrees corresponding to Spanish qualifications that no longer exist or have not been introduced at any Spanish university; and levels other than Bachelor's and Master's — doctorates follow a separate procedure.

It also excludes foreign degrees studied wholly or partly in Spain at centres without the required authorisation; degrees obtained by recognising professional experience or non-official studies for more than 15% of the total credits; and degrees already decided in Spain on an identical application, unless the earlier application was withdrawn or the technical commission has since changed its criteria.

Applying

The procedure is electronic from start to finish. Applications, documents, communications and even appeals must go through the Ministry of Universities' electronic office, and notifications arrive at your single enabled electronic address and in the office itself. You will need a digital certificate or Cl@ve. If the Ministry asks to see original paper documents, they are digitised and returned to you.

Expect to provide the degree certificate and the academic transcript showing subjects, hours or credits and grades, legalised or apostilled and, where not in Spanish, with a sworn translation. Our guide to documents from abroad explains both.

The decision

The Minister must decide and notify within six months of the application entering the electronic register. If no decision has been notified by then, the application can be treated as refused by administrative silence.

There are four possible outcomes: homologation granted; equivalence granted; refusal; or homologation granted on condition that you complete additional training requirements. Those can be a period of academic placements, an aptitude test, a project, or specific courses, completed at one or more Spanish universities of your choice that teach the Spanish degree. You have four years from notification to complete them. If you do not, the conditional homologation loses its effect — and you cannot apply again for homologation of the same degree.

A favourable decision ends in a credential of homologation or a certificate of equivalence, delivered electronically and entered in the national register of official university graduates. The decision ends the administrative procedure: you can ask for reconsideration or go directly to the contentious-administrative courts.