Doctorado
Doctorate
The following must be presented when applying for recognition of a foreign doctorate:
a.- The formal request for recognition following the model provided below.
b.- Certification of nationality issued by the proper authorities in the country of the foreign applicant's origin or, if residing in Spain when petitioning for recognition of a foreign doctorate degree, one may present certification from her/his embassy or consulate verifying the applicant's registration there, according to the data appearing on her/his passport, all of which should be indicated on the accrediting certificate; for Spanish citizens, a certified copy of the DNI or passport, or a birth certificate from the Civil Register is acceptable.
c.- The original doctorate degree for which recognition is sought, and if not the original degree, an official certification accrediting its expedition.
d.- A certified copy of a Spanish second-cycle degree, for example a Licenciatura or, credentials accrediting official approval of a foreign undergraduate degree's correspondence to a Spanish second-cycle degree.
e.- The academic record of doctoral courses taken by the applicant in partial fulfilment of the foreign doctorate degree for which recognition is being solicited.
f.- An explanatory summary of doctoral thesis, written in Spanish.
g.- A copy of the doctoral thesis, indicating the examiners and the mark received (no translation is necessary). Legalisation y Translation.-
All presented documents must be properly legalised and officially translated by designated authorities.
Legalisation and Translation
Degrees or diplomas issued by any one of the fifteen EU member states [2] or the three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states [3], signatories to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, do not require additional legalisation. If the country where the applicant studied and received a diploma or degree for which recognition is sought has signed the Hague Convention (XII), the required documents may be legalised by affixing the Apostille[4] to each one. Steps preceding the final Apostille vary slightly from country to country but, no matter the details, affixing the Apostille is the swiftest method when legal authentication of documents is required. Otherwise, in countries outside the previous descriptors, the documents must be legalised through a different but equally valid process, referred to as the diplomatic route (por vía diplomática). With the latter method, two different state institutions of the country where a required document was issued and two Spanish authorities, abroad in one instance and in Spain in the second, must authenticate its legality; the relevant documents have to be presented at the following:
1.- The Ministry of Education of the country in which the diploma or degree itself was bestowed and of the country (or countries if applicable) in which any studies leading to the diploma or degree, for which recognition is being solicited, were undertaken;
2.- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country in which the diploma or degree itself was bestowed and of the country (or countries if applicable) in which any studies leading to the diploma or degree, for which recognition is being solicited, were undertaken;
3.- The Spanish embassy, consulate, or any other official diplomatic representation authorised by the Spanish government in the country where any particular document was issued;
4.- The Section for Legalisation in the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (C/ Padilla, 46. Madrid).
Translation
Any one of the following can carry into effect a translation of the documents:
1.- The Office for Interpretation of Languages in the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
2.- The Office of Ibero-American Education in UNESCO or any other official organisation recognised by Spain;
3.- A Spanish embassy, consulate, or any other official representation authorised by the Spanish government abroad;
4.- An embassy, consulate, or other official representation of the applicant's country in Spain;
5.- Any legal, sworn translator, properly authorised or registered, who is aware of and able to carry out all the necessary administration with the proper civil servant for comparing and verifying the original with the translation, accrediting the latter and guaranteeing corresponding rights.
If an original document, with the exception of that mentioned in section c.- above, is presented at MEC with a photocopy, it will, once compared and verified, be returned. If a photocopy is already legalised by an official diplomatic representation of the Spanish government in the country where the document was issued, no original need be presented; this does not apply to that mentioned in section c.- in which case only the original foreign diploma/degree or the official certification accrediting its expedition is acceptable.
After official approval of a foreign diploma or degree's equivalency with a corresponding Spanish diploma or degree but before issuance of the credentials accrediting that recognition, legally established fees must be paid.
