Nursing In Spain?

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Hi!!! Im just new hear in allnurses. Just want to ask anyone who has knowledge in how to apply as a nurse in Spain. It seems all of the threads here concerns working in the USA. My initial information is that EU countries are now actively hiring nurses. maybe someone can enlighten us on the options.

Thanks in advance.

Do you have an idea how much one(nurse) makes it in Spain? I hope they also have pretty decent price tag on that kind of job.

Sorry, but the job pay there is not what you think that it would be to start off, and it will be difficult to get a job as an actual RN in a facility. The agreement that PI has with Spain, is more in the role of the caregiver in someone's home, just like they have with Japan and what we see happening in Canada.

The pay in Canada for the care-giver is just about $8 per hour, where the RN role is three times that. EU RN jobs first must go to the citizens of the European Union after the citizens of Spain, so very hard to get a permit to work there, other than as a caregiver, essentially a maid. Not something that you would aspire to with a four year degree in nursing. Your country has a tendency to enter into these agreements that do nothing to help the nurse in the role of nursing, even look at Japan. The Japanese government will not license a Japaneses national that did their training in the US or another country such as Thailand, so why in the world are they going to grant an actual nursing license to a foreigner to their country, just is not going to happen. Your government is wishing to send you there as caregivers or maids, and nothing more.

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Sorry, but the job pay there is not what you think that it would be to start off, and it will be difficult to get a job as an actual RN in a facility. The agreement that PI has with Spain, is more in the role of the caregiver in someone's home, just like they have with Japan and what we see happening in Canada.

The pay in Canada for the care-giver is just about $8 per hour, where the RN role is three times that. EU RN jobs first must go to the citizens of the European Union after the citizens of Spain, so very hard to get a permit to work there, other than as a caregiver, essentially a maid. Not something that you would aspire to with a four year degree in nursing. Your country has a tendency to enter into these agreements that do nothing to help the nurse in the role of nursing, even look at Japan. The Japanese government will not license a Japaneses national that did their training in the US or another country such as Thailand, so why in the world are they going to grant an actual nursing license to a foreigner to their country, just is not going to happen. Your government is wishing to send you there as caregivers or maids, and nothing more.

tnx for the reply. i really appreciate it

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You are quite welcome.

I just wish that more government officials there would be more honest when they try to make arrangements for you to go to other countries to work. It is usually not in the best interest of the nurse by any means. A full four year degree and they want you to work as a caregiver in someone's home and the experience is not credited anywhere towards being actual nursing experience when that contract is over with.

But they fail to tell you anything about that.:madface:

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Spanish used to be a college requirement in the Philippines and when I was a student there they teach the Castillan form (so there's no problem there). If you are not fluent, there's a lot of colleges that teaches the subject or you can go to Instituto de Cervantes.

As for Nursing jobs in Spain, some of my wife's friends who are still in the Philippines are going but as suzanne pointed out (and as I have suspected) these are caregiving positions. Pay is not great, some source say about a thousand Euro. I would not suggest it unless you have no other choice.

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Thank you very much suzanne for that very awakening reply. Yes I do agree with you that our government here in the Philippines has been into several agreements already with some countries to send us work abroad as OFW but the reality is most available jobs are Domestic helpers and caregivers.....MANY OF OUR GOOD TEACHERS here are DOMESTIC HELPERS abroad! What a sad plight!!!!!

In the POEA website, the POEA people are boastful of the PROYECTO PILOTO, an agreement between Phil and Spain for nurses who wants to work in that country....

You know what??? I emailed these agencies and sent them my CV...Oh how frustrating....either no reply from them or they would say Spain has no demand for nurses!!!! How sad!!!

Our government is all PRESS RELEASE!!!! (Pa-pogi lang!!!) to make themselves look as if they have a lot of projects...

Wake up leaders!!!!!

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In the POEA website, the POEA people are boastful of the PROYECTO PILOTO, an agreement between Phil and Spain for nurses who wants to work in that country....

You know what??? I emailed these agencies and sent them my CV...Oh how frustrating....either no reply from them or they would say Spain has no demand for nurses!!!! How sad!!!

Our government is all PRESS RELEASE!!!! (Pa-pogi lang!!!) to make themselves look as if they have a lot of projects...

Wake up leaders!!!!!

That's sad. :o In fairness, there is at least 1 batch (the 1st one) that they claim to have successfully been given contracts and they have made it clear from the start that it is just a pilot program.

No news on how they are doing if there was indeed a batch that ever went through.

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That's sad. :o In fairness, there is at least 1 batch (the 1st one) that they claim to have successfully been given contracts and they have made it clear from the start that it is just a pilot program.

No news on how they are doing if there was indeed a batch that ever went through.

Doubt if you will see anything, as they went over as domestic care givers, not in the role of the RN in a health care facility. Spain is part of the EU, and jobs have to go to the citizens there first, and next to those from the EU.

For someone to actually go over there in the role of an RN, would take more thaty 18 months to get thru the testing and immigration; and if we take into account when this pilot program was started, there is no way that anyone has gone thru the needed requirements to work as an RN there with a visa that will permit that.

That is why there is no news on it, just like the care givers that have been sent to other countries like Canada, they get paid 25% to 33% of what RNs do. So much for the government officials truly looking out for their citizens. They are just selling them like the agencies do so that they will try to send home money to their families.

Shame on the government for doing this in the first place. A four year BSN is not needed to do this work at all.

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Hello butchoy,

I am actualy a Spanish nurse. I was born in Spain and grew up there, and did my nursing degree there, therefore, I consider myself pretty qualified to give you some information regarding my country of origin.

If after my information, you still have unanswered questions, please, feel free to ask. I might not answer straight away but I'll do my best to be as quick as possible.

Now, it so happens that my asawa comes from the Philippines as well. We stayed in Spain for a while last year, and I went to my nursing school to talk to the nursing director and find out if she knew what the requirements for obtaining a spanish education equivalency were.

Spain seems to be in the stone ages when it comes to legal paperwork, and are not very welcoming to anything foreign, hence the information that I obtained from the nursing director didn't surprise me a bit. To obtain an equivalency and despite the fact that you guys hold a bsn in nursing as opposed to the Spanish diploma in nursing, I was told you would have to study a couple of subjects before you were given the all clear. On top of that, you would have to translate all your documents into Spanish, very few people speak english in there...

Once you get that sorted, luckily for you, you wouldn't have to take any state exams, they do not exist. It is however recommended to join the school of nursing of whichever county you are at.

I am sorry to put a damp on things, but even after doing all this, you won't have a permanent job waiting for you. Nursing jobs in Spain are few and infrequent. THe problem comes from the fact that patient to nursing ratio is ridiculously high, and, therefore, do not require that many nurses. Most nurses are burnt out and tired despite the fact that the pay is great and that nurses are very well considered socially..Every two years or so, there are statewide exams for job openings in the county of residence. Everybody takes those exams and it is necessary to take them so that your name appears on the employment list in the hospitals. Here is a picture for you: they offer approximately 300 jobs but you get 4000 people applying for them, therefore, only those with the highest grade on the exam, plus working experience,plus language knowledge end up high enough on the list to get a permanent job. Once you get the job, you do not have to take the exam ever again and will have that job for as long as you want, which normally means until you retire. People hold on to those jobs as if their lives depended on it. If, however, you do not get any of the 300 jobs, you are in trouble, my friend, because you will have to take the exam again and again and again until you succeed, and sometimes, that is never. Which means that most nurses in Spain have to study every 2 years...at least it keeps your mind fresh, right? But, even if you don't get the job, if you are lucky enough to fall on a relatively good position within the list, you will be working all the time, because you will be taking the jobs of those who go on maternity leave, sick leave, etc... you will be changing jobs and specialties, but at least you will be working.

Now, take into account the fact that some counties within spain work as an autonomy.One of them my county, the beautiful basque country. That means that some counties like mine not only have spanish as their official language but another one. In my case that's the basque language, in others, you have catalan, gallego... what that means is that if you were to work in any of those places, learning spanish wouldn't be enough. You would have to learn spanish plus their other official language and take an exam to proof knowledge ( Like ielts).

So, to put it simply, I left Spain because i knew i wouldn't have the luxury of a permanent and secure job, and I have never regretted my decision. If I were you, I would look for another alternative, Spain sounds way too complicated for the time being. Who knows, if things change in the future, I would definitely reccommend it. It is a beautiful country to live in after all, but not unless things start changing.

I apologize for my ramblings, but I find our system differs from the rest of the countries, and it is very difficult to explain it unless you've experienced it yourself. I do however hope that my explanation is clear enough for you to get a picture into spanish nursing.

Good luck in whatever decision you take.

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Hello butchoy,

I am actualy a Spanish nurse. I was born in Spain and grew up there, and did my nursing degree there, therefore, I consider myself pretty qualified to give you some information regarding my country of origin.

If after my information, you still have unanswered questions, please, feel free to ask. I might not answer straight away but I'll do my best to be as quick as possible.

Now, it so happens that my asawa comes from the Philippines as well. We stayed in Spain for a while last year, and I went to my nursing school to talk to the nursing director and find out if she knew what the requirements for obtaining a spanish education equivalency were.

Spain seems to be in the stone ages when it comes to legal paperwork, and are not very welcoming to anything foreign, hence the information that I obtained from the nursing director didn't surprise me a bit. To obtain an equivalency and despite the fact that you guys hold a bsn in nursing as opposed to the Spanish diploma in nursing, I was told you would have to study a couple of subjects before you were given the all clear. On top of that, you would have to translate all your documents into Spanish, very few people speak english in there...

Once you get that sorted, luckily for you, you wouldn't have to take any state exams, they do not exist. It is however recommended to join the school of nursing of whichever county you are at.

I am sorry to put a damp on things, but even after doing all this, you won't have a permanent job waiting for you. Nursing jobs in Spain are few and infrequent. THe problem comes from the fact that patient to nursing ratio is ridiculously high, and, therefore, do not require that many nurses. Most nurses are burnt out and tired despite the fact that the pay is great and that nurses are very well considered socially..Every two years or so, there are statewide exams for job openings in the county of residence. Everybody takes those exams and it is necessary to take them so that your name appears on the employment list in the hospitals. Here is a picture for you: they offer approximately 300 jobs but you get 4000 people applying for them, therefore, only those with the highest grade on the exam, plus working experience,plus language knowledge end up high enough on the list to get a permanent job. Once you get the job, you do not have to take the exam ever again and will have that job for as long as you want, which normally means until you retire. People hold on to those jobs as if their lives depended on it. If, however, you do not get any of the 300 jobs, you are in trouble, my friend, because you will have to take the exam again and again and again until you succeed, and sometimes, that is never. Which means that most nurses in Spain have to study every 2 years...at least it keeps your mind fresh, right? But, even if you don't get the job, if you are lucky enough to fall on a relatively good position within the list, you will be working all the time, because you will be taking the jobs of those who go on maternity leave, sick leave, etc... you will be changing jobs and specialties, but at least you will be working.

Now, take into account the fact that some counties within spain work as an autonomy.One of them my county, the beautiful basque country. That means that some counties like mine not only have spanish as their official language but another one. In my case that's the basque language, in others, you have catalan, gallego... what that means is that if you were to work in any of those places, learning spanish wouldn't be enough. You would have to learn spanish plus their other official language and take an exam to proof knowledge ( Like ielts).

So, to put it simply, I left Spain because i knew i wouldn't have the luxury of a permanent and secure job, and I have never regretted my decision. If I were you, I would look for another alternative, Spain sounds way too complicated for the time being. Who knows, if things change in the future, I would definitely reccommend it. It is a beautiful country to live in after all, but not unless things start changing.

I apologize for my ramblings, but I find our system differs from the rest of the countries, and it is very difficult to explain it unless you've experienced it yourself. I do however hope that my explanation is clear enough for you to get a picture into spanish nursing.

Good luck in whatever decision you take.

I find this very informative. Thank you. My parents are residents of SPAIN but i feel i don't have the guts to work there. :-)

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