CGCOM Spain: Medical Colleges, Homologation and MIR Guide 2026

Spain regulates its doctors through a combination of government ministries and a strong system of professional colleges. The Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Médicos (CGCOM) sits at the top of the college system, grouping and representing the 52 provincial Colegios Oficiales de Médicos. Together they are known as the Organización Médica Colegial (OMC).

For an international medical graduate, the colleges are not the first stop. Your degree must first be recognised by the state. Only then can you join the college of the province where you will work.

Key facts

What the CGCOM and the colleges do

The CGCOM coordinates the colleges at national level, represents the profession nationally and internationally, and maintains the code of medical ethics through its ethics and deontology commission. It also runs national services such as the public register of members and the electronic certificate of professional good standing.

The provincial colleges handle membership. They admit doctors, issue the college number, verify documents, collect dues and handle complaints and ethical matters in their province.

Validación Periódica de la Colegiación

The VPC is the colleges' periodic check, run in six-year cycles, that a doctor remains fit to practise. It covers good professional practice, health fitness supported by a medical certificate, and information on the doctor's professional activity. The CGCOM describes it as non-punitive. A related programme with scientific societies, VPC-R, links it with recertification of specialist competence. Each doctor's VPC status appears in the public register.

Recognising a non-EU medical degree

Degree recognition is a state matter, not a college matter. For a medical degree from outside the EU, the route is homologación to the Spanish degree in medicine.

Requirements

• A university medical degree that allows you to practise in the issuing country.
• Training comparable to the Spanish degree. ANECA's criteria include, for example, five years of study and a minimum amount of clinical practice.
• Training that meets the competencies of the Spanish medical degree.
• Spanish at B2 level, unless you are a national of a country where Spanish is an official language, studied at least most of your degree in Spanish, or completed pre-university education in Spanish.

Steps

1. Collect documents: identity document, degree certificate and full transcript showing subjects and hours or credits, official Spanish translations, proof of payment and language evidence.
2. Legalise or apostille your degree and transcript (not required for EU, EEA and Swiss degrees).
3. Apply online through the ministry's electronic office, which is the only channel for this procedure, and track progress there.
4. Evaluation. If ANECA has published general measures for your degree or university, processing is faster. Otherwise ANECA evaluates your training individually.
5. Respond to requests. If the ministry asks for missing documents, you have a set period of working days to provide them.

What homologation gives you

A homologated degree on its own allows you to work as a doctor with basic medical training in the private sector. To work in the public health system or practise a specialty, you must either:

• complete the MIR, Spain's national entry exam and specialist residency system, or
• obtain recognition of your foreign specialty from the Ministry of Health, which is a separate procedure.

EU, EEA and Swiss degrees

Degrees covered by the EU professional qualifications directive are recognised through the Ministry of Health rather than by homologation. Once recognised, you join a provincial college in the same way as a Spanish graduate.

Joining a provincial college

After recognition, membership of the college in the province where you practise is required. Typical items include:

• the recognised or homologated degree;
• identity and residence documents;
• for doctors coming from another country, a certificate of good standing from previous regulators;
• the college's own forms and fees.

Each college sets its own document list and fees. Check the website of the college for your province.

Working abroad from Spain

If you are already registered in Spain and plan to work elsewhere in the EU, the CGCOM issues an electronic certificate of professional good standing that other regulators often request.

The MIR in brief

The MIR is Spain's annual national exam for entry to specialist residency. Your score and ranking determine which specialty and hospital you can choose. It is a long multiple-choice exam that covers the whole of clinical medicine, with a strong emphasis on clinical reasoning and images. Rules for each year are set in the official call published by the Ministry of Health, so read it in full.

Preparing for the MIR is a long project. Daily timed questions across all specialties, for example with MediFlow Exam Prep, help build the breadth and speed the exam demands.

The route at a glance

Costs (as of October 2026)

The homologation fee is paid with the ministry's official form or online, and the ministry publishes the current amount. Provincial colleges set their own registration fees and dues. Translations, apostilles and the B2 exam are extra. Amounts are not listed here because they change; check the official pages before you apply.

Typical mistakes

• Going to the college first. The college cannot register you until your degree is recognised.
• Expecting homologation to cover specialist practice. It covers basic training only.
• Submitting incomplete transcripts. Subjects and hours must be clear for ANECA's evaluation.
• Using unofficial translations. Translations must be official.
• Forgetting B2 evidence. Without it the file stalls, unless you are exempt.
• Assuming one college covers all of Spain. Membership is provincial.

Checklist

• Degree and full transcript with hours or credits.
• Apostille or legalisation where required.
• Official Spanish translations.
• Spanish B2 certificate or proof of exemption.
• Application in the ministry's electronic office.
• Decision on MIR or specialty recognition for public or specialist work.
• Province chosen and college requirements read.

Related pages

See the Ordem dos Médicos in Portugal, the Ordre des médecins in France and the CFM in Brazil to compare neighbouring systems.

Next steps

1. Read the ministry's homologation page and gather documents.
2. Book a B2 exam if you are not exempt.
3. Decide between private practice, MIR or specialty recognition.
4. Contact the college of the province where you will work.

Contact and official links

• Website: cgcom.es
• Provincial colleges: listed in the "Colegios" section of the CGCOM website
• Homologation: the ministry's electronic office

Contact details are published on the CGCOM and college websites.