Studying a Master's or PhD in Spain with a Foreign Degree: What You Need (and What You Don't)

Studying a Master's or PhD in Spain with a Foreign Degree: What You Need (and What You Don't)

If you already hold a university degree from your country and want to study a master's or a PhD in Spain, let's start with the good news: for admission you do not need to homologate your degree, except in very specific cases you will see shortly. Admission is decided directly by each university, and the process is four steps you can complete from your country:

1. Choose your master's and note down its deadlines.

2. Prepare your documents: correct transcript, apostille and sworn translation.

3. Obtain the grade average equivalence, if your university asks for it.

4. Submit your pre-enrolment and confirm your place.

In this guide we explain each step, exactly which document you need and which you don't, and the scholarships you can take advantage of.

Verified in July 2026.

Before we start, the necessary vocabulary

Almost every postgraduate mistake comes from mixing up similar procedures. Spend two minutes on this part and the rest reads itself.

Apostille (or legalisation): the official stamp issued by an authority in your country that certifies the authenticity of the document so it can have effects in Spain. It does not validate the academic content or recognise the degree: it only certifies that the signature, seal or authority issuing it are authentic. If your country signed the Hague Convention, the procedure is called an apostille and it is quick and local. If it didn't, it goes through diplomatic channels, which gets to the same place but takes longer.

Sworn translation: the official translation of your documents into Spanish, done by a recognised translator. You only need it if they are not already in Spanish.

Homologación: the recognition of your foreign degree as equivalent to a specific Spanish university degree. You only need it to practise a regulated profession in Spain (medicine, law, engineering...) or if a programme expressly requires it.

Equivalence declaration (declaración de equivalencia): it recognises your academic level (Bachelor or Master) but does not grant you a Spanish degree. And here is the key of this article: to study a master's you need neither homologación nor equivalencia.

Grade average equivalence declaration: don't confuse it with the previous one. It is the conversion of your grade average into the Spanish 5-to-10 scale, an independent online procedure that many universities require to rank admissions.

The key question: do I have to homologate my degree? Almost certainly not

If you come from researching undergraduate admission, forget what you learned. Postgraduate studies have their own, more agile rules: there is no UNEDasiss, no PCE and no mandatory homologación here. Each university has full authority to admit you with your foreign degree, and that is the normal route, not the exception.

It is true that foreign degrees, even if they come from a country of the European Higher Education Area, have no official effects in Spain without the Ministry's recognition. But you do not need it to study a master's. Many students start a months-long homologación every year that their plan never required. And if you ever need it, it can always be done later!

The exception, so nothing surprises you: some programmes expressly require a homologated degree or link admission to a regulated profession. These are very specific cases, common in qualifying master's degrees (másteres habilitantes), and they always appear in the programme's rules. If your programme's rules say nothing, your legalised degree is enough.

What you need exactly

The real list is short:

• The degree or, when the university accepts it, the official receipt of the degree application, as long as it grants access to master's studies in the country that issued it, with its apostille or legalisation.

• The official academic transcript (or European Diploma Supplement), also apostilled or legalised. Be careful when requesting it: not just any printout works, it must meet specific formal requirements (the exact list is in the FAQ).

• A sworn translation of everything not in Spanish.

• The grade average equivalence declaration, if your university asks for it (many public ones require it).

• Each master's own requirements: a CV, sometimes in the university's standard format, and extra documentation for high-demand programmes.

And the exemption that simplifies everything if you are European: documents from EU and EEA countries are exempt from legalisation and apostille, and so are Swiss ones.

First: choose your master's and note down its deadlines

Here is something that surprises almost everyone: Spain has no centralised application system for master's programmes. Each university runs its own pre-enrolment, with its own form, deadlines and criteria. That means your first job is not filling anything in, but building your own calendar.

Most pre-enrolments open between January and June, but with two important nuances. Many universities work in rounds or phases: those who apply in the first one compete for all the places, and those who arrive at the last one, for whatever is left. And high-demand programmes close early, sometimes without exhausting the planned phases.

Practical rule: get to December with your 2 or 3 master's programmes identified and a note with three dates for each: pre-enrolment opening, first-round closing and publication of results. Everything is on each university's admissions page, in the specific master's factsheet.

On that same factsheet you will find the language requirement, which depends on the programme and not on your nationality. For master's in Spanish, the usual is a B1 or B2 certified with the DELE from the Instituto Cervantes or with the SIELE. For programmes in English, certificates such as IELTS or TOEFL. These exams have their own sittings and their results take weeks, so book yours in parallel, not at the end.

Second: prepare your documents

This step is three tasks applied to your two documents: the degree and the transcript. The order matters, so follow it as is.

First task: request the correct transcript from your university. Not just any printout works. It must include the duration of the study plan, the subjects passed and the workload of each one, with the academic authority's signature and the university's stamp (the full list is in the FAQ). Getting it right on the first try saves you from repeating everything that comes after.

Second task: apostille (or legalise) both documents. The apostille is a local procedure in your country and is usually resolved in days. If your country did not sign the Hague Convention, validation goes through diplomatic channels: it gets to the same place but passes through three bodies, so start it as soon as possible.

Third task: sworn translation. Only if your documents are not in Spanish. With the right translator it is a matter of days, and doing it in Spain saves you an extra step (the reason why is in the FAQ).

How long does the whole step take? It can be resolved in a few weeks if the documents are obtained quickly, although in some countries the process can stretch to several months. That is why you start it as early as possible, and in order. The expensive mistake is the reverse: apostilling or translating a transcript that later turns out incomplete forces you to pay and wait for everything twice.

→ With Uniwords: we prepare your complete documentation file, with apostille or legalisation, sworn translation and verification against the requirements of your specific university, so you reach the pre-enrolment with everything closed on the first try. Book here

Third: the grade average equivalence

Your 8.7 from Chile or your 16 out of 20 from France mean nothing to the Spanish system, so the Ministry offers an online procedure to translate them into its scale. It is free as long as the Ministry keeps the procedure without a fee, and you can do it from your country.

It works like this: you go to the Ministry's official form, select the country and grading scale of your studies, and enter the grades from your transcript one by one. The system converts each grade and automatically calculates your average on the Spanish 5-to-10 scale. The result is an official document, the equivalence declaration, which you download and submit along with your pre-enrolment wherever it is required. If your transcript has many subjects, set aside a good stretch of time: grades go in one by one.

And here is why you should do it carefully: it is not a formality. At many universities, that grade is the one that ranks the admission list when there are more applications than places. In other words, you compete against other candidates with that number. On top of that, you fill in the declaration under your own responsibility, and the body receiving it verifies it afterwards against your transcript. A scale error or a mistyped grade ranks you below your real record, or triggers a request for correction that delays your admission.

Concrete tip: do it with your final transcript in front of you, not from memory, and check that the scale you choose matches exactly the one on your document. If your country has several scales (for example, out of 5, out of 10 or out of 100 depending on the period or the university), pick the one on your transcript, not the most common one.

Fourth: pre-enrolment and admission

The pre-enrolment is the act of formally applying for a place: an online form on each university's website where you attach your documents and, for some master's programmes, a motivation letter or a CV in their format. Some universities charge a small application fee.

After that, the waiting has a method: the usual pattern is that the university publishes provisional results, opens a claims period in case there is an error in how you were scored, and publishes the final ones according to its calendar. Each university organises its phases its own way, so write down the publication dates just like the closing ones.

If you are admitted, you will have a short window to confirm your place and enrol, sometimes with a deposit that is deducted from your tuition. Don't let it slip: an unconfirmed place is released to the waiting list. And if you end up on the list, don't consider it lost: lists move, and that is why it pays to have applied to 2 or 3 master's programmes in parallel.

Two useful notes. Many universities let you apply during the final year of your degree, conditional on proving the degree before enrolling (confirm it with each institution). And the admission letter is the piece that activates everything else, visa included: keep it safe.

If you are a non-EU citizen, that is where the path continues: admission triggers your immigration procedure, the student stay authorisation, with financial means, insurance and the other requirements (official page). It can take one to three months, so apply as soon as you confirm your place. Review it in full in the Spanish Student Visa Guide.

What about the PhD?

Same documentation logic (degree and transcripts validated and translated), with two particularities.

The first: admission requires having passed at least 300 ECTS credits across official university studies as a whole, of which at least 60 must be at master's level. Holding 300 credits without that master's component is not enough. Admission is formalised before each university's doctoral school.

The second is the one that really decides admissions: the backing of a thesis supervisor. Write to the research groups in your field beforehand. A PhD is won through research affinity, not through a form!

Funding is usually the real way in: FPU and FPI pre-doctoral contracts, the universities' own programmes and private scholarships such as La Caixa INPhINIT, the highest individual doctoral funding in Spain, at around €26,000 to €29,000 a year for three years (La Caixa Foundation). For lecturers at Latin American universities, the Fundación Carolina runs specific PhD scholarships aimed at faculty from its partner universities (Fundación Carolina).

How much it costs and who can fund it

Quick reference: a master's at a public university runs around €1,500 to €3,500 a year for EU students, and up to around €10,000 for non-EU students depending on the region. Private universities and business schools are well above that. The full breakdown by city, in the Spain Budget Guide.

As for scholarships, postgraduate is the best-covered level for internationals. The Fundación Carolina, the reference for Ibero-American students, offers more than 700 scholarships for the 2026-27 academic year, with applications open from 12 January to 2 March (Fundación Carolina). The MAEC-AECID scholarships cover Latin America, Africa and Asia depending on the programme, and require among other things not already residing in the EU, certifying Spanish and holding pre-admission when applying (AECID scholarships).

The golden rule that decides applications: the big calls require you to already hold pre-admission to your programme, so the scholarship is planned before, not in parallel. Every call and the fine print, in the Spain Scholarships Guide.

→ With Uniwords: if you are going for a scholarship, the calendar rules. We organise the full sequence for you (programme, documents, pre-enrolment and application) so no deadline leaves you out. Book here

Three important tips

1. January is your critical month. Pre-enrolment openings and the major scholarship calls coincide: get to December with your documents ready.

2. Don't homologate out of inertia. First decide whether you will practise a regulated profession in Spain or whether your programme expressly requires it. If not, homologación is time and money your plan doesn't need right now, and it can always be done later.

3. Request the correct transcript on the first try. Requesting it again, apostilling it and translating it because one detail was missing doubles the cost and the timeline. The list of what it must contain is in the FAQ.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to homologate my university degree to be admitted to a master's?
No, except in very specific cases: programmes that expressly require a homologated degree or whose admission is linked to a regulated profession, common in qualifying master's degrees. Admission is authorised by each university with your legalised degree. And it is worth distinguishing the two procedures: homologación recognises your foreign degree as equivalent to a specific Spanish university degree (https://universidades.sede.gob.es/procedimientos/choose-ambit/idp/1029), while the equivalence declaration recognises your Bachelor or Master academic level without granting you a Spanish degree (https://universidades.sede.gob.es/procedimientos/choose-ambit/idp/1030).

What exactly must my transcript contain?
The duration of the study plan in academic years, the subjects passed and the total workload of each one in hours or ECTS credits, with the signature of the academic authority and the university's stamp. And if more than 15% of your credits were transferred, an additional certificate from the institution of origin (official requirements: https://www.ciencia.gob.es/Universidades/validate/equivalencia.html). Request it like this from the start!

Does my European degree need an apostille?
No: documents from EU and EEA countries are exempt from legalisation and apostille, and so are Swiss ones. You will only need a sworn translation if they are not in Spanish.

What do I do if my country did not sign the Hague Convention?
Legalisation goes through diplomatic channels: the competent authority in your country, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Spanish consulate. It works the same, it just takes longer. The list of Convention countries is at https://www.hcch.net. And one nuance if you translate abroad: the official translator's signature must also be legalised or apostilled. Another reason to do the sworn translation in Spain or delegate the whole package.

Can I apply while in the final year of my degree?
At many universities yes, conditional on presenting the degree before enrolment. Confirm it in the rules of your specific master's.

What if I left my degree unfinished?
Then the master's is not your door: equivalencia and homologación require a completed degree, of at least three years or 180 ECTS in the case of the bachelor-level equivalencia (https://www.ciencia.gob.es/Universidades/validate/equivalencia.html). Your route is the partial credit transfer (convalidación), requested directly at the Spanish university where you want to continue your degree. Each institution decides which subjects it recognises.

Can I work while studying the master's?
Yes: the higher education authorisation entitles you to work as an employee or self-employed with no additional permit, as long as it is compatible with your studies and within the limits set by the rules, which are currently 30 hours per week (official page: https://www.inclusion.gob.es/web/migraciones/w/estancia-por-estudios). The detail, at https://uniwordstudents.com/blog/visado-de-estudios-espana

Can I stay in Spain when I finish?
Yes, and the master's is the most direct route. With a job offer, a switch to residence and work. Without one, a 12-month job-search residence permit for university graduates. One nuance for scholarship holders: the switch requires not having been funded by cooperation programmes with a return commitment, so check your scholarship rules (official requirements: https://www.inclusion.gob.es/web/migraciones/w/58.-modificaciones-desde-autorizaciones-de-estancia-por-estudios-superiores-ensenanza-secundaria-actividades-formativas-o-formacion-sanitaria-especializada). See how at https://uniwordstudents.com/blog/quedarse-en-espana-despues-de-estudiar

A short process, if you order it well

Well sequenced (programme in December, documents in January, pre-enrolment and scholarship in their window), getting into a Spanish postgraduate programme takes weeks of actual management. At UW we order it with you: programme guidance, complete documentation file, grade average equivalence, scholarship calendar and, when the time comes, visa and Arrival Kit. Plus a community of postgraduate students who are already where you want to be. Book here

The full map of the process, in the General Guide.