Recognition or equivalence procedure: what documents are required and where should they be submitted?
Recognition or equivalence procedures can be used to apply for the recognition or equivalence of higher education qualifications awarded by foreign institutions to official Spanish university qualifications at degree or Masters level which permit regulated professions to be pursued in Spain in the same conditions as the holders of Spanish qualifications issued for this effect. The equivalence of higher education qualifications awarded by foreign institutions to an official university academic level may also be requested, indicating the area and field in which the different official qualifications of Spanish university studies are grouped.
For further information on the procedures for recognition and equivalence, and to review practical cases, please see the Guidelines to the procedures for recognition and equivalence regulated by Royal Decree 967/2014, drafted by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
The interested party sets the procedure in motion by completing the application form and submitting it together with the following documentation (do not hand over original documents):
Certified copy of the document that proves the identity and nationality of the applicant.
Certified copy of the degree the applicant seeks to validate or the corresponding certificate of issue.
Certified copy of the academic certification of the studies completed by the applicant to obtain the degree and which includes the official duration of the course in academic years, the course curriculum, subjects and number of hours devoted to each, among other information.
Proof of payment of the tax.
In the event of recognition applications, accreditation of the linguistic competence necessary to pursue the corresponding regulated profession in Spain.
DOCUMENT ISSUED ABROAD must fulfil the following requirements:
They must be official documents that have been issued by the authorities responsible for doing so in accordance with the legislation of the country in question.
Before being submitted, documents must be authenticated either by the applicant’s embassy or, when applicable, by the Hague Convention Apostille. This will not be required for documents issued by authorities in European Union Member States, countries that have signed the European Economic Area Agreement or Switzerland.
Documents must be accompanied by an official translationinto Spanish.
The application form can be submitted and printed in two ways:
In the section "Procedures and Services" of the online site of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
By downloading the corresponding form from the web page of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
All the above may be submitted at any of the following official registries:
At the registry offices of any administrative body belonging to the AGE, to the administrations of the Autonomous Regions, to the entities forming the local Administration or to the institutional public sector.
At post offices, as established by law.
At Spanish embassies and consular offices abroad.
At the help desks for registry matters.
At any other registry office established under the current provisions.
The resolutions of applications for the recognition of higher education qualifications are made official by credentials and the resolutions under which the equivalence is awarded, through certificate of equivalence, and will be, in both cases, issued by the General Sub Directorate of Qualifications and Recognition of Qualifications under the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
A decision on the application must be made and communicated within a maximum of six months from the date the application is registered at any of the offices of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, to which a three-month period is added for the issue of the corresponding technical report.