Practicing Medicine in spain with a US degree

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Information MIR for foreigners.​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]INTRODUCTION.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Before the alluvium of Latin American doctors who have gone to AEMIR demanding information on the possibility of forming like residents in Spain, we have elaborated the following news article having treated to give answer more to the raised questions..​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If you want more information on the requirements and steps to follow for presentarte the MIR it asks for our report.​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]At the present time a single annual Call exists to accede to the formation specialized, after the unification of the tests of access for Medicine formation of Communitarian Family and and access to the rest of Specialties (Real Decree 127/1984)..
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1. Can a foreigner appear to the General Call of tests of access for Specialized Formation? To this Call for specialized formation they can choose all the citizen members of the European Union in which the free circulation of professionals or people including in the scope of application of International Treaties celebrated by the European Community and ratified by Spain exists, in that is of application the free circulation of workers. Also they will be able to choose the spouses last, whenever they are not separated of right, as well as its descendants and those of its spouses, whenever they are not separated of right. Also they can choose “exceptionally” the nationals of countries that are not members of the European Union, but that they have signed and in vigor an Agreement of Cultural Cooperation with Spain. The total number of seats that will be able to adjudge to these aspirings, if obtains score sufficient to ask for it, will not be able to surpass a number prefixed before becoming the call public (5% of the seats supplied in 1998/99, 8% of the seats supplied in 1999/00, 2000/01 and 2001/02). It counts to say that until now never the case of a foreigner has occurred who, having removed sufficient score, has remained outside this fitted. The Andorran citizens will be able to choose in equality of conditions that the Spanish citizens whenever they have obtained the title of lawyer in a Spanish university..

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2. Hay for the foreigners some other way to obtain a title of specialist in Spain different from system MIR? Until 1999 Resident Foreigner existed the Medical system. In this modality, the foreign subject could occupy, with no need to pass the examination, one of the seats selective that were left vacancies after the distribution of System MIR. Unlike this last one, the access to seat did not give right to exert later the profession in Spain nor to receive a pay during the period of specialization. Then, this “alternative” system is disappear, and now an equal system MIR for all only exists..
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]3. What interest can have a foreigner in forming like specialist in Spain?.In Spain more seats of formation specialized in hospitals are supplied annually that in most of the Latin American countries and many European. Formation MIR, once pass hard, requires less years and it equips with a with no need recognized title of homologation in all the countries members to you of the European Community, in addition to being particularly very appreciated valued anywhere in the world. The scientific and welfare quality of the Spanish medicine has been located between first of the world thanks to the implantation of system MIR from the Seventies. This does not have to make you think that it is easy to find a job like doctor in Spain: due to the bad forecast of the last years, now many Spanish specialists do not find an agreed use with their formation, and the labor conditions of public the specialistic doctor (the majority) have been deteriorated; it is more, the excess of manual labor in the sanitary sector even repels in the labor precariedad in the private sector. Nevertheless, every time they are plus the foreigners who think that he is worth the trouble to take advantage of the great number of offered remunerated seats of specialization in Spain, unlike his countries of origin, and that once acquired the title they return to the mother country or continue their trip by other European countries.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]4. What kind of problems is going away to him to raise the foreigner who decides to make examination MIR? In general, the foreigner is going away to face four different problems but closely related: I) The requirements to participate in Selective Tests MIR, employees of the Ministry of Health and Consumption of Spain. II) The necessity of homologation of the title of lawyer, doctorate if it had it and the academic, dependent certificate of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Spain. III) The necessity to prepare examination MIR in a specialized academy, which it requires a stay of more than six months in Spain, which sometimes always means to solve questions of “extranjería” proceedings of visa and permission of residence, employees of the Ministry of Outer Subjects and the Ministry of Interior of Spain. IV) If after the examination you obtain sufficient number like choosing a seat in a hospital, you must make two types of bureaucratic proceedings for integrarte like legal worker in Spain: the common ones with the specific Spaniards, and proceedings that, like foreigner, you must solve in several ministries, including the Ministry of Work to obtain the work permission..
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]What happens if you appear to the examination MIR, you obtain a result that allows you to choose seat and not yet have solved the homologation? That you lose the seat. Despite you must know that if already has been opened the close term of request of participation in tests MIR (that it begins four weeks after its announcement in the Government reporter of the State, lasts about ten days and it finishes nine weeks before the celebration of the examination) and not yet has the homologation, will admit to you conditionally for presentarte to the examination if you present/display you contribute to photocopy of a certificate sustitutorio of homologation request; in the provisional relation of results (that usually becomes five weeks public after the examination) you would appear like “excluded”; then a term of five days would be opened so that you presented/displayed the documents that you need. However, it is not enough with presenting/displaying documents within that term: the definitive of the homologation, although not materialized concession, must be dated before the accomplishment of the examination, because on the contrary you will follow “excluded” definitively..
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Which are the terms of document presentation? In what it dates will celebrate next General Call MIR?.It is impossible to know a ahead year the exact date of the call. The Ministry announces the annual call of examination MIR approximately three months and means before its celebration. And this date changes every year. The experience of the three last calls says to us that in 2ª December fortnight usually publishes the call in the BOE with the exact dates of the examination, and the terms of presentation of requests, relation of admitted, presentation of claims, relation of results and awarding of seats. But these tendencies can vary. Always watching he is pending and it informs precise to his students and to whoever it goes to us, without demanding contraprestación some (to see Call him 2000-2001 MIR specialties) To the margin of precise dates, which must quedarte clear is that the homologation process must begin at least 12 months before the call is published And plantéate also about 12 months of intensive study like minimum! What type of course adapts better to the necessities of the foreigner? Most important it is to consider examination MIR like a long term test that it demands many months of intensive, ranging of maneuverses MIR and oriented study with materials and a style of teaching designed specifically for the test, which has little to do with the study system which you used in the University. Most of that they obtain seat in the first attempt has made the three returns in which our courses are distributed. This requires a minimum permanence of 10 months in Spain, in case the first return is developed in an Intensive Course (4 months); to do it in a course of test or a course of sixth would demand between 12 and 18 months. Since you already think, this means to solve questions of visa and permission of residence. Conscious of the diverse problems of prolongation of the stay which the foreign student faces, exceptionally also we let it register himself to half of course, and even in the Second Return only.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]HOMOLOGATION.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Is complicated the homologation of the title in Spain? How much can be delayed? In principle she is not complicated, since the Medicine degree is very similar in almost all the countries. If you want to know all the details, we recommended to you to consult following documents:.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1) The “informative leaf” that the Ministry of Education offers to the general public on “homologation and convalidación of foreign titles”: www.mec.es.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2) The homologation form, with all the applied legislation on the matter, including in the back. Also serte of utility can consult:.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A) The page Web of the Ministry of Education and Culture: www.mec.es.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]B) The places where you can receive information personally:.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]C.1) In Spain: Ministry of Education and Culture. Information center and Attention to the Citizen. Section of Educative Information. C/Alcalá, nº 36. 28014 MADRID. Tfnos: 915215511 and 917018000. Fax: 915213775. Also in the provincial directions of the Ministry or in the provincial Delegations of the Government..
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]C.2) In Spain, the unit in charge of the transaction: General subdivision of Titles, Convalidaciones and Homologaciones. Service of Homologation of University Foreign Titles. Stroll of the Prado, nº 28. 28014 MADRID..
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]C.3) Abroad: all the Consular Offices of the Embassies of Spain. How long is delayed the homologation process? In the best one of the cases it will take 6 months. The habitual thing is that it is delayed 9 months. In the worse one of the cases it can last more than 12 months or not be granted; this last one happens if there has been an incomplete and defective contribution of documentation, or if doubts exist on the quality of the skilled studies. The important thing is to know well clearly the terms of document presentation to participate in tests MIR… We recommended that you initiate the proceedings like minimum 12 months before the examination, that is 9 months to you before the publication of the call..




[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]EXTRANJERÍA QUESTIONS. TRANSACT OF VISA AND PERMISSION OF RESIDENCE.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]How affects the New Law of Extranjería from Spain to the foreign Medicine lawyers who wish to make the MIR?.In case not yet you knew it, in Spain an intense political debate around the massive arrival of immigrants coming from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Countries of the European East exists at the moment. The authorities, overflowed by the phenomenon of immigration, approved in the middle of the year a 2000 New Law of Extranjería (Statutory law 4/00 of 11-01-00, B.O.E of 12-01-00), but the present team of government, with greater being able in the Congress after the elections, is preparing another restrictive text still more that the present one. So that the information which you obtain until the definitive approval of the “Reformation of the New Law”, is always provisional. The participation of foreigners in the MIR is contemplated in the norm of the Ministry of Health; the problem is that “the ideal” character of the MIR (to select the best ones to form them as specialistic) does not adjust to “real” character (the MIR, for a short time the only way to specialize, is in fact an examination that demands months of intensive preparation: it is not one more an alternative, but the only one via). This explains so that more of 90% of the candidates they are prepared during months with the method of some specialized private academy in this test. To study for the MIR for more than 8-10 months in a private academy is de facto essential for the foreigners, who need time and training to become familiar with the type of Medicine distributed in the Spanish universities, in addition to the peculiarities of the own examination (not to mention the difficulties of the language…). In addition it is necessary to add the time that takes the publication of results, the oppositions to such and the awarding of seats and the company/signature of the labor contract with the adjudged hospital, which delays the stay in the country 2 either 3 months the more. Altogether it is precise to remain between 10 and 13 months followed in Spain. Then: in general, the New Law of Extranjería puts ties to the stays of foreign citizen students by for more than 6 months if they only contribute tourist visa. You can consult this Law in the page Web of the Department of the Interior
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]What options have a Medicine lawyer to prolong their stay in Spain? If you obtain a visa and a residence permission, you can remain in Spain during a sufficient number of months. For example, the permission of residence “because of studies” lasts what the course lasts in which you are registered. The problem is that to prepare itself for the MIR a “reason of studies” for reasons is not considered officially that next you will know. In principle these two situations ten in account:.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A) If you are of the European Community, or come from nonemitting a country very developed of massive immigration (p.ej.: Japan), or you adjust to some of the assumptions of concession of contemplated residence different from the one from “being student” in Statutory law 4/00 of 11-01-00 (B.O.E of 12-01-00), you will not have too many ties to obtain the residence permission..
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]B) If you have only been able to allege “reason of studies” to reside in Spain (since until for a year did without problem most of the foreign students), you are going away to find whereupon Law 4/00 establishes in its article 41: “The admission authorization will be granted and calls to account in Spain for reasons from study the foreigners who have been admitted in a teaching institution, public or prevailed officially recognized” Then, from his publication all foreigner whom he has tried to travel to Spain to prepare itself the MIR with the necessary advance and the private academy has seen how they even denied the residence permission to him and the visa. According to the confused information provided by the implied ministries (Outer, Inner and Education), we have reached these conclusions:.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1º) call MIR of every year does not become public up to 3 months before the examination, so that the foreigner cannot contribute the defense of the Request of Participation if he wishes to travel with more advance.



You must also check the Ministry of Education website ( to get to know how to validate your US degree in Spain, and the Ministry of Health website to learn the steps you have to follow to apply for the MIR Exam.

--> Ministry of Education: Validating Foreign Titles (in Spanish, please use Google Translate or similar) http://www.mec.es/univ/jsp/plantilla.jsp?id=621

--> Ministry of Health: Health Sciences' Specialized Education: (in Spanish, please use Google Translate or similar) http://www.msc.es/profesionales/formacion/home.htm​