In short: if you are looking for free Spanish classes in Spain, start with adult education centres (CEPA or EPA, depending on the region). Two CEPA in the Community of Madrid and adult education in Catalonia publish that their courses are free. The Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas (EOI) charge a fee, from €81.41 to €250 depending on the region. There is no national list: each centre confirms the price, documents and places.
For your papers: under art. 127.d of the immigration regulation (Royal Decree 1155/2024), a Spanish course does not count for arraigo socioformativo. That article accepts post-compulsory secondary education (art. 52.1.b), the training in art. 52.1.e 5.º, in-person compulsory education for adults and a commitment to take a public employment service course for hard-to-fill occupations (art. 75.1). Full list: which courses work for arraigo socioformativo. The study stay is a different case: art. 52.1.e 2.º includes in-person Spanish studies at an EOI or at a centre accredited by the Instituto Cervantes. It does not apply if Spanish is your mother tongue or the official language of your country. Temporary protection from Ukraine has an exception: if you are studying and cannot switch to residence and work (art. 191), Instruction SEM 2/2026 (fourth) allows arraigo socioformativo with an activity under art. 52.1. That list includes those Spanish courses; CEPA courses are not on it. There is no official clarification on how each office applies it: see arraigo with temporary protection.
Options:
Adult education centres (CEPA or EPA). These are public centres run by your region's education department. In the Community of Madrid, the CEPA Pablo Guzmán offers «Español para extranjeros» (A1, A2 and B1, 3 to 4 hours a week) with «matrícula gratuita» (free enrolment). The CEPA Don Juan I, in Alcalá, teaches A1 and A2-B1 from September to June and is also free: you only buy the book. Its page shows the 2025-26 timetable, so confirm the current course. In Catalonia, the description of adult education from the Departament d'Educació i Formació Professional says these studies are free («gratuïts») in its centres, with Spanish from level 1 to 3 (A1, A2 and B1). In other regions we found no published prices: look on the regional education department's website, because the name of the centre varies.
Documents depend on the centre. The Madrid admission calendar recommends having ready your DNI, NIE card or passport, two photos and your latest academic documents; it counts the empadronamiento (registration at the town hall) or a utility bill as a proximity criterion. You must be 18 on 31 December 2026 for the 2026-27 course. The CEPA Sierra Norte, in Torrelaguna, requires residence in the Community of Madrid and a DNI or NIE. In Madrid, enrolment at a CEPA for the 2026-27 course is accepted only until the last teaching day of November 2026 and depends on places being left.
Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas (EOI). These are public schools with paid enrolment (a fee, or tasa) set by each region. Official amounts checked on 3 October 2026. Comunitat Valenciana: €90 per course for levels A2 to C1 in 2025-26 and in 2026-27 (2026-27 fees). Andalusia: €81.41 in 2026 for one language, the sum of €22.37 for opening a file, €50.09 for enrolment and €8.95 for general services (EOI fees). EOI Madrid-Ciudad Lineal: €222 for 120-hour courses and €250 for 135-hour courses in 2026-27. None of the three tables includes a discount for being unemployed. The Madrid page gives its amounts for English, French and German and the other two do not name languages: ask your EOI whether it teaches Spanish as a foreign language and what that course costs. In Madrid, the language-teaching admission page asks you to be 16 years old in the year you start the studies and allows a placement test; on that page Spanish as a foreign language appears only among the languages of the free certification exams. In the Comunitat Valenciana, the EOI portal publishes admission and enrolment with an ordinary call in June and an extraordinary one in September.
NGOs and town halls. Accem lists language among its areas of action: teaching the language and culture to the migrants and refugees it assists; the page gives no price. Accem decides whether your case fits its programme. Red Cross and CEAR also work with migrants and refugees: ask at their local office whether they run classes in your area, and assume nothing. In Madrid, the municipal offices for the integration of the immigrant population serve people with «acceso libre y gratuito» (free and open access) and their website presents a Spanish area. At other town halls the route is usually social services or the office for migrants; ask whether they require the padrón.
Online: Instituto Cervantes. The Aula Virtual de Español (AVE) sells its AVE Global courses, with an option to try them, and offers a level test. It helps you organise your study; it is not a complete free course. For Ukrainian refugees there is an exception: see the next section.
If you are Ukrainian. We found no official Spanish-class programme only for Ukrainians with a call in 2026. What official sources do show: the BOE published the agreement between the Instituto Cervantes and the NGO ACU (Asociación en Acción y Cooperación por Ucrania, registered in Asturias, where the agreement says it works on refugee reception and integration; BOE no. 105, 30 April 2024). Cervantes provides up to 450 AVE Global licences for Ukrainian refugees and ACU registers the students; the text speaks of free licences. From 2025 the commitments depend on each party's budget and the agreement lasts four years at most. The BOE does not say whether ACU still hands out licences today or how to request them: ask ACU. In Madrid, the official page of the integration plan for people displaced from Ukraine says CEPA centres offer Spanish courses for foreigners and that the procedure is to ask the CEPA directly whether it has a place. For Valencia, Alicante or Torrevieja we found no list of adult centres with prices: ask the education department of the Comunitat Valenciana. The EOI costs €90 per course.
If you are after citizenship. Spanish citizenship by residence requires the CCSE and, unless you come from a country where Spanish is official, the DELE A2 diploma. Both belong to the Instituto Cervantes: it awards the DELE on behalf of the Ministry of Education and it does not expire. The CCSE costs €85 and includes the exam, the grade certificate, the preparation materials and up to two attempts. The DELE A2 costs €138 in Spain at the 2026 rate. A course does not replace the exam. Practise the CCSE with the free test.
🎓 Private online lessons, paid: one option is italki, a language platform with private Spanish tutors (1-to-1 lessons, flexible schedules and prices), also for DELE preparation. It is not an official centre and its classes do not count for immigration procedures. 🤝 Our partner.
Official source: Adult education, Community of Madrid.
Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case.