Colombia: recognition of ESO and Bachillerato

Check which Spanish qualification you can apply for

Equivalence depends on the studies you passed and your school's education system, not your nationality. The Andrés Bello Convention provides recognition criteria, but you must still apply and receive a Spanish decision.

Prepare your academic documents

Request official certificates showing each school year, subjects, grades and academic dates. Check that your identity matches throughout; ask for missing pages or corrections before getting an apostille.

• For ESO: certificates for grades 7, 8 and 9 of Educación Básica Secundaria and grade 10 of Educación Media, all passed.
• For Bachiller: the Bachiller diploma or official completion certificate and transcripts for grades 9, 10 and 11. An acta de grado must officially certify the qualification; also keep any available diploma.
• Request documents from your school. If you attended several schools, collect certificates covering all the required years. A single Saber 11 test result does not replace annual transcripts.
• Include earlier Spanish academic records, where applicable. Prepare the apostilled originals so the registry can make authenticated copies.

Authenticate and apostille your documents

For Colombian school documents, prior authentication is handled by the competent Education Secretariat where the school is registered. The National Education Ministry's higher-education legalisation process is a different procedure.

• Obtain electronic certification from the certified municipal or departmental Secretariat; the Foreign Ministry links to the secretariats' system from its requirements page.
• Then request the apostille from the Foreign Ministry. For municipal or departmental secretariats, the page specifies “Documentos digitalizados – Otros documentos”. For Bogotá-certified documents, use “Documentos electrónicos con firma digital – Secretaría de Educación de Bogotá”, entering the filing reference and verification code.
• Apostille both the final qualification document and the academic certificates you submit. The Foreign Ministry requires the original document without notarial stamps certifying a copy against an original. Download and keep the resulting files.

Check whether translation is needed

If your qualification, transcripts and certificates are entirely in Spanish, they do not need translating merely because they were issued abroad.

• If a document or relevant annotation is in another language, provide an official Spanish translation through a route accepted by the Ministry. The main guide explains the options.
• Keep the document, apostille and any complete translation together. Your own translation or an automatic translation does not replace an official one.

Calculate the costs before paying

Separate the Spanish application fee from certificate, apostille and delivery costs. Costs in the issuing country depend on the stated channel and may change; check the official payment amount before paying.

• Spain: ESO recognition has no application fee; the published Bachiller fee is €49.76 under fee 079, form 790. Check the current form and keep the payment receipt.
• Colombian apostille: the Foreign Ministry publishes 37,800 Colombian pesos for payment in Colombia or €8 in the euro area. These are per-apostille prices, not two cumulative charges or a price for the whole application.
• Certificate issuance and Secretariat certification may have their own conditions. Ask your school and competent Secretariat; no single nationwide price for those steps has been verified.

Submit your application from Murcia

Continue with the main guide, “Recognition of ESO and Bachillerato”, for the official portal, payment and registration channels. Murcia's instructions distinguish preparing the form from officially submitting the application.

• Complete the Ministry's online form, then download, sign and register it with your documents. Saving a form online is not proof of submission. An official registry can make authenticated copies from the originals.
• A passport can prove your identity: you do not need to obtain a NIE just for this procedure. Provide proof of authority if someone represents you. Keep the registration receipt and respond to notifications and requests.
• If you need to enrol while waiting, check the conditional enrolment slip and the education provider's conditions. The slip is not a favourable recognition decision and does not guarantee a place.

Avoid mistakes before submitting

The processing authority may request more evidence if equivalence is unclear. Before paying for additional documents, explain the school year, dates, study route and purpose of your application.

• The Colombia–Spain university access agreement should not be confused with ESO or Bachiller recognition for employment or other studies. Follow the non-university procedure described here.
• The official Colombian country guidance does not provide separate recognition of the first year of Spanish Bachillerato for the ordinary eleven-year system. If you have only passed grade 10, check the ESO route.
• For older curricula, adult education, examination-based qualifications or schools following another education system, ask for confirmation using your documents. Do not infer equivalence from the qualification's name alone.