Andalucia Opens Hiring to Foreign Doctors to Tackle Healthcare Shortages in 2025

Andalucia has confirmed a major change to its healthcare hiring rules, allowing the regional health service to bring in qualified doctors from outside the EU. The update comes as hospitals and primary care centres continue facing staffing shortages, long waiting lists, and increasing pressure on frontline services.

Why the Region Is Changing Its Hiring Rules

For several years, Andalucia has struggled to attract enough medical professionals, especially in primary care and rural areas. High demand, limited specialist availability, and ongoing retirements have stretched resources thin. The regional government now sees international recruitment as a necessary step to maintain basic healthcare performance.

Official figures in recent years show large numbers of vacancies across family medicine, paediatrics and hospital specialties, with a significant wave of retirements expected over the coming years. Even after offering more permanent posts and incentives, many positions in inland provinces and smaller towns remain unfilled, pushing the region to look abroad for extra staff.

What the New Decree Allows

Who Andalucia can now hire

The Junta de Andalucia has approved a decree enabling the health service to hire non-EU doctors even if they have not yet completed the MIR recognition process or obtained full Spanish homologation. Posts must be classified as difficult to fill, and applicants still need to demonstrate appropriate training, professional experience and good standing in their home system.

Contract conditions and safeguards

The decree also renews the exemption from the usual Spanish nationality requirement for certain temporary healthcare contracts, making it easier to recruit non-EU doctors and, in some cases, nurses. Contracts can include clauses allowing them to end early if a fully homologated, Spanish or EU-national specialist later becomes available for the same role.

The measure is officially framed as exceptional and temporary, although no specific end date has been set and similar exemptions have already been renewed several times.

Where the Shortages Are Most Severe

Primary care remains under the greatest strain, with some health centres experiencing long appointment delays and limited daily capacity. Rural hospitals and inland provinces are also expected to benefit from access to a wider set of candidates.

Medical associations in Andalucia have repeatedly warned about overloaded GP lists, fewer doctors per 1,000 residents in some districts, and difficulties covering summer and holiday periods. Smaller coastal and inland hospitals often struggle to attract specialists, making them prime targets for this new international hiring drive.

How Many Doctors Could Be Hired?

Past recruitment and new targets

The regional health service currently lists hundreds of vacancies across different specialties and care levels. By opening recruitment to qualified non-EU professionals, officials expect a noticeable increase in the number of posts they can keep filled year-round.

Since 2018, Andalucia has already used similar nationality exemptions to sign thousands of contracts with non-EU doctors to patch gaps in the public system. The latest decree is designed to continue and expand this approach, especially in specialties and locations where Spanish and EU candidates remain scarce or only accept very short-term contracts.

All recruited doctors will still undergo verification of their training and credentials and will be integrated under supervision into existing teams.

Reactions From Medical Associations

Professional bodies have responded with a mix of support and caution. Some welcome the opportunity to reinforce understaffed services and avoid closures of clinics, while others highlight concerns around differences in training pathways, working conditions and continuity of care.

Medical unions stress that bringing in non-EU staff cannot replace long‑term reforms, such as better pay, more stable contracts, clear career progression and lower patient loads for existing doctors. They also call for robust supervision, language support and transparent criteria when assessing overseas qualifications, to protect both patients and professionals.

Impact on Residents and the Expat Community

Residents, including foreign nationals living in the region, could benefit from shorter waiting times, more appointment slots and a more stable presence of doctors at local centres. However, the authorities stress that this is still a short-term fix, not a complete solution to deep structural problems in the regional health system.

In practical terms, the changes aim to keep more GP surgeries open, avoid temporary closures of local clinics and reduce delays for routine consultations, tests and follow-up care. For expats who rely heavily on public health centres, a more stable workforce should lead to more reliable access to both primary and specialist services.

A Move Toward a More Flexible Healthcare Model

The decision represents one of Andalucia’s most significant workforce policy shifts in recent years. By widening the recruitment pool beyond the EU, the region aims to relieve pressure on overstretched services and build a more resilient healthcare system for the future.

It also fits into a broader pattern seen in other parts of Spain and Europe, where health authorities are experimenting with more flexible hiring, mixed public–private provision and targeted incentives to keep essential services running despite ageing populations and training bottlenecks.

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