MIR 2026 opens plaza selection
- Spain’s MIR 2026 place selection opened on Monday, May 4, with the first 700 ranked candidates choosing specialty-and-hospital posts in two daily shifts. - The headline number is 9,276 medical residency posts, allocated from 8:45 a.m. and 3 p.m. sessions, with 350 candidates called each turn. - It matters because the process runs through May 27 and locks in where Spain’s next wave of specialists will train.
Medical residency in Spain has moved from exam season to the part that actually changes lives. On Monday, May 4, the MIR 2026 selection process opened, and the first candidates began choosing not just a specialty but the exact hospital where they will train. That sounds administrative, but it isn’t — this is the moment when rankings turn into careers. And because Spain uses a centralized system, the order of those choices shapes the whole map of future specialists. ### What opened on May 4? The MIR selection window for 2026 started on Monday, May 4, after the broader Formación Sanitaria Especializada process had already begun for other health disciplines in late April. Medicine is the biggest piece of that system by far, and its allocation period runs from May 4 to May 27. Candidates can choose either electronically or by appearing in person at the Ministry of Health in Madrid. (consalud.es) ### How does the choosing actually work? Basically, Spain calls candidates by rank order. For MIR, there are two sessions each weekday — one at 8:45 a.m. and one at 3 p.m. — and each session calls 350 order numbers. On the first day, that meant the top 700 candidates went first. Ea(consalud.es)rn arrives. Candidates can revise their electronic request within the allowed window, but only the last submitted version counts. (consalud.es) ### How many places are on the table? The big number is 9,276 MIR posts. That is the medicine share of Spain’s 12,366 specialist training places for 2026 across all disciplines. The total FSE offer rose by 423 places from the previous year, a 3.5% increase, and the ministry has framed (consalud.es)n the number of people who sat the exam. (sanidad.gob.es) ### Why is rank order such a big deal? Because rank is everything once selection starts. A top-ranked candidate gets first pick of the most coveted combinations — usually very competitive specialties in major hospitals. Lower-ranked candidates are not just choosing later; they are choosing from a market that shrinks in real time. That is why this ph(sanidad.gob.es)t the visible drama happens here, when people watch certain specialties disappear almost immediately. (redaccionmedica.com) ### Which specialties move first? Early reporting from day one showed the usual pattern of ultra-competitive specialties rising to the top, with Dermatology and Plastic Surgery among the first to run out. That does not mean other fields are unwanted — far from it. It means a s(redaccionmedica.com)t less like one queue and more like dozens of mini-races happening at once. (redaccionmedica.com) ### What is new or unusual this year? One notable wrinkle is what happens after residents join. For 2026, the schedule includes a later telematic reallocation round, about a month after incorporation, to cover vacancies created by renunciations or unfilled posts. That is a small procedural change, but it matters because it gives the system one more chance to plug gaps instead of leaving training capacity stranded. (consalud.es) ### Why does this matter beyond the candidates? Because this is how Spain distributes its future specialists. Every choice made in May feeds into where doctors will train, which hospitals gain residents, and which specialties keep attracting the strongest ranks. The catch is that expanding t(consalud.es)upply start becoming concrete. (sanidad.gob.es) ### Bottom line The exam decided the order. The selection phase decides the lives. From May 4 to May 27, Spain’s MIR 2026 process is turning 9,276 residency posts into actual people, hospitals, and specialties — one rank number at a time. (redaccionmedica.com)
