Sir

We read with interest your editorial “Ending the pain in Spain” (Nature 428, 1; 200410.1038/428001b) but feel that it did not adequately address the bureaucratic difficulties facing foreign-educated scientists when applying for jobs in Spain.

Applicants for government-funded permanent positions must provide either a Spanish doctorate or the Spanish (‘homologated’) equivalent of a foreign doctorate. This homologation procedure is expensive (several hundred euros for taxes, translation and other fees), involves excessive paperwork, and is time-consuming, taking six months in theory but many years in practice.

The Spanish Ministry of Education passed a law on 20 February to address this issue, but the law does not provide much relief. Careful reading reveals few significant changes from the previous law.

Diplomas from foreign universities may now be validated in general, rather than for each individual case. This is a small step in the right direction, but if Spain is serious about improving the mobility of researchers, it should consider following EU directive 89/48/CEE and scrap the homologation requirement entirely. Failing that, it should remove the requirement to homologate the undergraduate degree, which requires the same paperwork and processing times, and consider accepting documents in English, as many European universities already do.

We have sent an open letter to the Spanish ministers of education and of science, asking them to consider removing these remaining barriers both to Spanish scientists who wish to return home and to any scientist with the required expertise and will to come and work in Spain.