Learning Spanish in Spain: Public Classes, DELE and Regional Languages

You have two public places to learn Spanish in Spain: an official language school, at 222 or 250 euros a course in Madrid in 2026, or an adult education center, where no fee is mentioned. Your DELE diploma at A2 costs 138 euros in Spain through the Instituto Cervantes, the public Spanish-language institute. Castilian is official everywhere and all you need in Madrid or Seville. Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, part of Navarre and Galicia add a second official language, which shapes your children’s school days more than your paperwork. This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice; verify current requirements with the relevant Spanish authority or a licensed professional.

Where can the language trip you up after you move?

Here is the good news first: no residence rule read for this guide asks for a language exam before your first visa. Where language does show up is in six places.

• Renewal. When you renew a non-lucrative, family reunification, employee or self-employed permit, articles 64.6, 71, 80.6 and 86.6 of Royal Decree 1155/2024, Spain’s immigration regulation, come into play. A regional report on your integration effort can then certify, where applicable, that you are learning the local official languages. For non-lucrative and self-employed renewals (articles 64.6 and 86.6), that report mostly helps when you fall short of a requirement (non-lucrative visa guide).
• Arraigo. Since April 16, 2026, the report for arraigo social, a path to residence built on your ties to Spain, no longer mentions language. The Comunidad de Madrid, the regional government, still describes its free “Conoce tus leyes” (Know your laws) course as indispensable for arraigo and integration-effort applicants, a regional practice the national text does not name. You can join that course if you are 16 to 65, have A1 Spanish and are on the padrón, which is simply the town hall’s register of residents, in the region.
• A student stay. If you come as a student, article 52.1.e counts in-person Spanish or co-official language courses at an official language school or a Cervantes-accredited center as your training, unless the language is your mother tongue or your country’s official language. The ministry’s student guide keeps these courses for applicants over 18, with work needing its own authorization, and the Washington consulate asks for at least 20 hours of study a week (student visa guide).
• Nationality. For Spanish nationality, Royal Decree 1004/2015 asks for a DELE at level A2 or higher and the CCSE civics test, both run by the Instituto Cervantes. In place of the DELE, Orden JUS/1625/2016 also accepts a registered official A2, B1 or B2 certificate from an official language school (Escuela Oficial de Idiomas, or EOI) or a Spanish education authority.
• Degree homologation. To have your degree homologated for a regulated profession, you will need Spanish at B2 or higher, such as a DELE or EOI certificate, or proof that at least 75 percent of the degree was taught in Spanish (Royal Decree 889/2022, article 13; degree recognition guide).
• Public jobs. As a legal resident, you may join administrations as contract staff on equal terms; civil-service posts generally require Spanish nationality, and administrations must provide for staff able to fill posts in two-language regions (public employee statute).

Classes and exams: what each costs in 2026

Every amount below is as you will find it on the official pages, read on September 26, 2026.

Which language is official where you live

Which second language sits beside Castilian depends on your region’s own statute. Article 3 of the Constitution makes Castilian the official language of the State and the other Spanish languages official in their regions under those statutes. In the INE’s 2021 population survey (the INE is Spain’s national statistics institute), 96.0 percent of residents spoke Castilian well; the fieldwork ran from March 2021 to February 2022, and the results came out on December 20, 2022.

Catalonia’s 2023 language survey , which asked people aged 15 and over, found that 93.4 percent understand Catalan and 80.4 percent can speak it. When you deal with national government offices, they work in Castilian, though in a co-official region you may use that region’s language with them too, and any document addressed to you is translated into Castilian if you expressly ask (Ley 39/2015, article 15).

Public Spanish classes and exams for adults

Public classes for adults come in a few shapes, so you can pick the one that fits your hours, your level and your budget.

Official language schools

At an EOI, you study Spanish across the six levels of Royal Decree 1041/2017, from A1 for beginners up to C2. The schools may fit the intermediate (B1 and B2) and advanced (C1 and C2) levels into as few as two courses each, one fewer than the usual minimum. To enroll, you must turn 16 in the year you start, or be over 14 for a language other than the one taken in secondary school, under article 59 of the education law; each region decides how this applies to Spanish. The 2026-2027 application windows have closed, but a few doors are still open:

• Madrid. Since July 30, 2026, each school has been able to fill its leftover places (instructions). The regional page, updated September 21, 2026, gives general-category large families (familia numerosa, an official family status) 50 percent off and exempts special-category ones entirely. It still shows only the 2025-2026 second-term window (December 15 to January 12), so the 2026-2027 dates are not out yet. If you sit the exams without taking the course, you pay 75 euros plus a 19-euro fee.
• Catalonia. The calendar for second-period courses is due by December 14, 2026 (Resolució EDF/814/2026). Two official pages give two prices: the public price page (updated March 24, 2026) charges 275 euros for “basic level, C1 and C2”, and the fees page (updated July 23, 2026) charges 303.55 euros for “intermediate and advanced”. The likeliest reading puts B1 and B2 at 303.55 euros, so check with your school before you pay.
• Valencian Community. Any remaining places are open to anyone, with enrollment until January 31, 2027 while they last, and each school sets its own second-term dates (admission resolution).

Adult education and integration centers

In Madrid, the public adult education centers (CEPA, short for centro de educación de personas adultas) teach Spanish to foreign adults (course offer) who are 18 or over by December 31, 2026. The main window closed on September 8 (admission page). Even so, the instructions of July 17, 2026 let centers enroll you through the year when they can meet demand, and they attach a public price to exam preparation courses but none to Spanish for foreigners. One center, CEPA Pablo Guzmán, says plainly that its Spanish courses are free. The region’s integration centers (CEPI) also run free activities, with limited places, including Spanish from literacy up to DELE A2 preparation.

In Catalonia, the adult education centers (CFA) teach Castilian at three levels matching A1, A2 and B1 (2026-2027 rules), and from September 2, 2026 you can enroll wherever places remain (Resolució EDF/814/2026); no fee is stated. Andalusia’s adult plans that teach Castilian to foreigners (types of plans) take requests where places remain until March 19, 2027 (2026-2027 plans), again with no fee stated.

Cervantes online courses and national funding

If you would rather study at home, the Instituto Cervantes’ AVE Global self-study courses run from A1 to C1, with 90 days of access. No national program of free Spanish classes could be confirmed for 2026. The Ministry of Inclusion’s call of June 15, 2026 funds NGO projects against racism, xenophobia, hate crime, trafficking and gender violence, plus equipment, and its published extract has no Spanish-learning line. Earlier calls, in 2019 and 2020, did fund Spanish-learning projects for legally resident non-EU nationals.

DELE, SIELE and EOI certificates

Your DELE in Spain costs 112 euros for A1, 138 for A2, 173 for B1, 204 for B2, 225 for C1 and 240 for C2 in 2026 (price table). Two sittings are still open for registration until September 30, 2026: November 13 for A2 and November 14 for the other levels. Registration for 2027 then opens on November 18 (calendar). The center finder shows exam centers by region, though not every center holds every sitting.

SIELE is a single Spanish test run by the Instituto Cervantes together with three universities, covering every level and giving you a score from 0 to 1,000. Your results arrive within three weeks, and the certificate is valid five years; the Cervantes price page shows no figure. SIELE is not named in the nationality texts.

For procedures set by public administrations, an EOI basic certificate in Spanish counts the same as a DELE A1 or A2, under article 4.6 of Royal Decree 1041/2017. For nationality, the official A2, B1 or B2 certificate accepted by article 10.3 of Orden JUS/1625/2016 has to be entered in the register of qualifications, and you must authorize the ministry to check it. Whichever certificate you choose, you will also sit the 85-euro CCSE civics test (DELE A2 and CCSE guide).

Catalan, Valencian, Basque and Galician as an adult

Each region with a second language runs its own courses and exams.

• Catalan in Catalonia. After the free A1 and A2, CPNL courses cost 262.67 euros at C1 and 245.50 at C2, with 50 or 70 percent off if you are eligible (prices). Enrollment in the CPNL’s own autumn courses closed on September 21, 2026, but the courses it runs with town halls and other bodies keep opening until December (Catalan government notice), and second-term enrollment normally opens in December (periods). Government certificates cost 23.90 euros from A2 to B2 and 57.45 for C1 and C2, and your A1 is free at the first sitting (fees); no 2027 call was out on September 26, 2026 (calls).
• Catalan in the Balearic Islands. On the Mou la Llengua portal, you will find courses at the EOIs, 18 adult education centers, the University of the Balearic Islands and others. The 2026 certificate call covered a January sitting, with registration from October 15 to 31, 2025 (procedure), and a May sitting, with registration from March 18 to 31, 2026 and a valid DNI or NIE (the identity numbers for Spaniards and for foreigners) required (procedure); its fees and a 2027 call were not found.
• Valencian. The JQCV, the board that certifies Valencian, only takes your payment online, with 10 percent off already applied (fees). Its B2, C1 and C2 written papers fall on October 3, 2026, with orals on October 17 and 24, and no 2027 calendar is out (calendar). If you prefer to learn from home, the distance center CEEDCV teaches Valencian from A1 to C2 to residents over 18 and states no fee.
• Basque in the Basque Country. Euskara Bonua, approved on July 28, 2026 (news), covers your learning from the very start up to B1 for one 120-euro payment, and if you already had the A1 and A2 fee reductions, you join without paying, according to HABE, the Basque government’s adult Basque-learning agency. The pages read state no eligibility conditions, such as residence or age.
• Basque in Navarre. For 2026-2027, Navarre gives you back 100 percent of A1 and A2 tuition as a subsidy, which you request from September 1 to November 3 and receive later, and up to 475 euros for other in-person levels.
• Galician. The second 2026 call holds Celga 2, 3 and 4 exams on November 14, 15, 21 and 22 in Santiago de Compostela, Ponferrada and Madrid, open to anyone 16 or over. You have 15 business days to apply, counted from September 17, 2026. The Xunta, Galicia’s regional government, also runs free Celga preparatory courses at official language schools: under its June 2026 call, anyone 16 or over can apply from November 2 to 13, 2026 for the January to May courses.

Your children at school: teaching language and grade exemptions

How much of your child’s school day happens in the regional language depends on the region and often on the model you choose, and several regions let newcomers go ungraded in it for a while, still sitting in the class. Language support for newcomers in Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia has its own place in the school enrollment guide.

Catalonia’s Ley 8/2022 (appeal 5630/2022 and question 6052/2022) and the Valencian Ley 1/2024 (appeal 7174/2024) are in force but challenged before the Constitutional Court, with no ruling listed on the BOE, Spain’s official gazette, as of September 26, 2026.

Your next step: use the window that is still open

Several windows are still open this fall, so you can start soon. Register for a November DELE by September 30, 2026, and for a Celga exam within its 15-business-day window counted from September 17, 2026. In Madrid, ask an EOI about leftover places or try a CEPA, which may enroll through the year. Valencian EOIs enroll until January 31, 2027 while places last. For Catalan, look for a CPNL course run with a town hall, open until December, or wait for second-term enrollment, which normally opens in December.

You can enroll or sign up for an exam on your own. Your child’s exemption has its own window: September 1 to October 10 at Balearic schools, and December 22, 2026 for Valencian secondary pupils, or three months after a later enrollment. If you miss a renewal requirement and plan to rely on the integration report, that is the moment to see an immigration lawyer.

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