Dreaming of working in Spain as an SLP?

I can remember the first time another SLP contacted me on the ASHA portal with questions about working abroad, or getting ASHA observation hours.

Since quite a few SLPs and prospective clinicians have been contacting me with questions about working in Spain in particular, I thought I’d create a post describing my own journey, and also include links and other general information about this process.

1. Do you have the right to live and work in Spain?

Americans are able to come to Spain as students or on a non-lucrative visa (neither of which, as I understand, gives you the ability to work there). However, there are actually a few options for others who are interested in actually working in Spain, as described on the Housing Anywhere website, and include

• Job Search Visa: following studies that have been completed in Spain, this Visa allows one to look for a job for a 12-month period

• Work Visa: available to those who have been offered a job with a Spanish company

• Highly Skilled Visa: for managers, senior leadership roles, government jobs or university lecturers.

  • It’s important to bear in mind that civil service jobs in government, public universities or even public primary and secondary schools, are highly competitive in Spain, and only Spanish nationals can apply. The Ministerio de Hacienda can explain in greater detail.

• Self-employed Visa: for small business owners or freelancers, but there are requirements for funding and a business plan in public interest

• Golden Visa: with sufficient investment (e.g. purchasing property), one can even obtain a work visa

Personally, I married a Spanish citizen and was able to apply for my permanent residency and Foreigner Identity Number based on that. And no, I didn’t marry him just to obtain permanent residency!

2. Will you be given equivalency, or homologation, for your U.S. University degrees?

This can be a complicated and slow, but necessary, process. I began the application in the early 2000s and received my degree equivalency in 2006. The Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades handles the applications. Back when I did it, I needed to not only provide official University transcripts for my B.S. and M.A., but also apostilled-copies of course descriptions from the official course catalogs for all of the courses on my transcripts. It was a good thing I was still living in Texas at the time, doing the homologation at the advice of my wise mother in law, because I was able to drive to the cities where I studied my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees to obtain what I needed. I would also advise anyone to be ready for errors in your application, additional information or documents requested, etc. Also, take into account that you will need to pay Spanish Ministry application fee as well as fees to Universities for the official transcripts, and any official translations required.

Finally, American applicants should manage expectations about the equivalency that will be granted. You may very well be required to top up your studies with University coursework in Spain! For example, for my 6.5 years of study for a B.S. in Biomedical Science and an M.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders, I was granted a Diplomatura en Logopedia, which would be similar to a 3-year Associates degree in Speech Therapy. This degree actually no longer even exists in Spain, with the current requirements to practice being a 4-year Grado degree.

3. Educate yourself on the realities of working in Spain

If you are already working in the U.S. as an SLP, I’ll assume you are well aware of your own salary. According to ASHA, SLPs with 1-3 years of experience may earn an average salary of $66,000, naturally depending on where you live and the work setting (e.g. school vs. skilled nursing and everything in between). With 19-21 years work experience, some American SLPs may earn $100,000 yearly. Read here for more detailed information about SLP earning potential in the U.S.

In Spain, the picture looks starkly different. Bear in mind that, here, the cost of living is different and influenced by numerous factors. How much is enough for someone to live on in Spain depends on the standard of living, number of dependents, the desired lifestyle and how each individual or family manages their economy.

Notwithstanding, speech therapists in Spain earn a salary between 1,021-3,100€ monthly. Assuming steady income across the 12 months of the year, that comes to about 12,000-36,000€/year ($13,111 to $39,335/year). Sound depressing? Well, yes, it kind of is. And that’s not even taking into account that many SLPs in Spain are self-employed which could mean somewhat variable income each month across the year.

Personally, as an SLP partnering with international schools and serving the school-aged population, I notice a dip in services during the summer vacation and with Christmas and Easter holidays. I will also say that, in my personal experience and opinion, this type of income in Spain can be enough and can go much farther than it would in the U.S. So while it’s important to be aware of the differences in earning potential, please don’t let the numbers alone push you away from the idea. I think actually the process of residency and the homologation of degrees are much more precarious factors.

The following table shows the comparison between various factors related to working as an SLP in the US vs in Spain:

4. Becoming self-employed

When I decided to take the big step of becoming self-employed as an SLP, I just contacted our tax professional and let her take care of the application and documentation. After the challenges I had with all the bureaucracy and red tape for obtaining my permanent residency and the degree homologation, I decided it was time to get some help on this final step! The gestora helped me submit the application to be registered as self-employed, for which there is a monthly fee (which will increase significantly after a 1-year grace period of being in the system). I send her my monthly invoices (income and expenses), from which she calculates the taxes I am to pay each trimester, and then of course she’ll help me and my husband file la Declaración de Renta when it’s time. Fees to tax professionals, though well spent in my opinion, are also another expense to bear in mind when you start seriously considering taking the first steps to living your Spanish SLP dream.

5. Join a professional organization

Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communities, and 16 of these have their own official, professional colleges of SLPs. Just like in the U.S. we must be keep our ASHA CCC’s updated as well as state licensure, in Spain, SLPs have the duty to join the official college for the region where they live. Upon application to the college, University degrees and education will be reviewed, which is why homologation is so important!

There is also a national organization, the Asociación Española de Logopedia, Foniatría y Audiología e Iberoamericana de Fonoaudiología.

6. Other considerations

I’d like to end this post with a bit about my own story getting on my feet as an SLP in Spain, in case it’s helpful to any of you reading this.

I started off my career as a school-based SLP in Texas. Since I was fluent in Spanish and had studied a specialization in my M.A. that prepared me to work with the bilingual/ multicultural population, I served primarily Spanish-speaking students during the years I worked in the public schools outside Houston. I loved this job, and actually didn’t even provide therapy in English until living and working in Singapore (but that’s a different story for another post).

Since both my education and the first 15 years of my career as an SLP were focused on assessment and intervention of bilingual, multilingual and multicultural students, from a wide range of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, I have to say that landing in Spain in 2016, I considered extremely well-equipped to serve students in international schools. I thought my services would be not only greatly needed but also valued in these schools. The students in British or American schools in Spain are [mostly native Spanish speakers] in the process of acquiring English, right? Just like my students in Houston, although yes, from different cultural and experiential backgrounds. How could these international schools not be thrilled to see my CV in their inbox?

Well… think again. The international schools I have worked with, while often providing general academic support to students, do not have a full special education team on staff. Nor are they required to. This are private schools with parents paying costly monthly tuition, and the main draw is that their children will end up speaking English much better than in the public schools. When there is an SLP working in the international schools, she is usually an external staff (a freelancer with an arrangement to provide the services on-site, which are billed directly to the parents) who offers services in Spanish, which is typically the native language of the students. A native English-speaking American SLP would be a great match for native English-speaking students; however, such students are typically the minority in international schools here (at least in my experience), and those with a communication disorder requiring services are even less in number.

So in other words, if you’re a bilingual school-based SLP hoping to offer your services to an international school in Spain, it’s best not to assume that the schools are even hiring for this position. This is when you still have the option to serve students and families as a freelancer.

Lastly, there are SLPs in the public schools in Spain. However, as mentioned above (in point #1), public school staff in Spain are considered civil servants. These positions have huge job security, are extremely competitive in Spain, and are only accessible to citizens and after a lengthy, grueling process. You would also be required to demonstrate C1-level fluency of any regional languages, such as Catalan/Valencian, Galician or Basque, among others.

Still dreaming of life in Spain?

I was also once a young person dreaming about living in Spain, and, yes, life here is wonderful in many ways. Maybe prior to taking all the major steps listed above towards true clinical work here, consider a program such as the North American Language and Culture Assistants Program (NALCAP). In this program, university attendees or graduates aged 18-60 years can come to Spain and work as a teaching assistant in the public schools. As it’s not full time work, there is plenty of time for other pursuits, such as travel or teaching English in private language schools. Programs such as these could be useful tools to see if life in Spain is really all it’s cracked up to be for you and your situation.

¡Mucha suerte!

Vanessa