Free courses in Andalusia for unemployed people: who can join and where to look

In short: the free courses in Andalusia for unemployed people are vocational training run by the Junta de Andalucía through its employment department and the Servicio Andaluz de Empleo (SAE). The Junta's course finder filters by province (Granada, Seville and the rest), by mode (in person or distance) and by target group, and says that the courses the Junta funds are free. To join, you need to be registered as a job seeker (demandante de empleo) with the SAE and, if you are not from the EU, a document recognising your right to work.

What the Junta offers and where to look. The Consejería's Quiero formarme page brings together courses for unemployed people, professional certificates (see what a professional certificate is), key competences and grants and aid for students. You have three tools:

• Employment training course finder: filters by funding, province, municipality, mode (in person or distance), professional family, length, timetable, level and target group (unemployed or employed people). It says that courses funded by the Junta are free and that those with a cost are authorised private courses.
• Virtual Office for Employment Training: shows courses tagged «Gratuito» for the target group «Personas desempleadas». Some programmes carry a hiring commitment: the entity must hire the percentage of students it committed to. That does not guarantee you a contract by itself, and the page does not detail the percentages.
• State-level training courses at the SAE: the page the SEPE map of training offers links to for Andalusia. It filters by start date, enrolment deadline and mode (in person, distance or mixed) and includes distance courses. The list does not say who each course is for: check its page.

To search your province, for example Granada, use the finder's province filter. To study online, filter by distance learning; not every course has that version.

Who can enrol, by your situation. The SAE asks non-EU foreigners for an administrative authorisation that allows registration as a job seeker (registration with the SAE). Royal Decree 438/2024 (arts. 7.1.d and 9.1.b) requires a document recognising the right to work. How to do it is in how to register as a foreigner. By situation:

• You live in Spain with a work authorisation: yes. You present that document when you register.
• You have temporary protection (for example, Ukrainians): yes. The decision that grants it includes the residence and work authorisation (art. 5.1 of Order PCM/169/2022).
• You are an asylum seeker: not at first. You may work 6 months after applying if the claim was admitted for processing and is still unresolved for reasons not your fault. It is shown by the entry «autoriza a trabajar» (fourteenth additional provision of Royal Decree 1155/2024).
• You have no work authorisation: no, not for these courses. See free courses without papers.
• You are applying for or hold socioformativo arraigo: see the next section.
• Another situation, for example a regularisation in process: we have not confirmed which document each SAE office accepts. Ask before you go.

The Junta says each course has access requirements set by regulation and that it selects among those who meet them using a scoring scale. The page we reviewed does not list them and refers to another one, so read the ones for your course on its page.

Socioformativo arraigo and the Junta.

• To apply for socioformativo arraigo, having submitted an admission application for a training in Annex II is enough. You do not need to have started the course.
• The route of training promoted by the public employment service only applies to occupations in the hard-to-fill catalogue (catálogo de difícil cobertura), not to any Junta course. That course is taken after the arraigo is granted and you have the NIE, with registration as «demandante de servicios previos al empleo» and the training action scheduled and authorised (fifth instruction of Instrucciones SEM 1/2025).
• You cannot hold this arraigo more than once in 3 years (same instruction).
• On the Junta pages we reviewed we found nothing on how that training commitment is applied at the SAE (search 2026-10-03). Ask at your SAE office.
• A course being free is not enough. For the arraigo, what counts is a complete professional certificate at an authorised centre with an authorised course and at least 50 % of classes in person, or the employment-service course for a hard-to-fill occupation. Details in courses for socioformativo arraigo.

How to sign up for a Junta course. First, register as a job seeker with the SAE. With a digital certificate or Cl@ve you fill in and send the form and get your demanda. Without them, you create a username and password, send the form and need an appointment, because the SAE has to check your identity. Then you find the course and submit your application to take part: the Junta publishes a «solicitud de participación del alumnado en acciones formativas» form. Hand it in as the course offer indicates, or ask at your SAE office. If you are selected, you attend and, at the end, receive the certificate or diploma that applies.

What is free and what it asks of you. The Junta's finder says that courses funded by the Junta are free, and in the Virtual Office the courses for unemployed people carry the tag «Gratuito». Check on each course's page that there is no enrolment fee or cost (the finder has a «Gratuita» funding filter): authorised private courses, which the Junta does not fund, may have a cost. The Junta has a procedure for grants and aid for students, which appears on Quiero formarme; we could not read its types or amounts. Art. 25 of Royal Decree 694/2017 provides for aid for transport, meals, accommodation and caring for children or dependent relatives, in the amount set by a ministerial order. If you receive unemployment benefit, see the obligations in free SEPE courses for unemployed people, which also covers Fundae, for people who work.

Professional certificates and key competences. For a level 2 or 3 professional certificate you must meet access requirements published by the Junta. If you do not, you must prove the key competences: Spanish language, mathematics and, only if the certificate includes an English module, a foreign language. There are two routes:

• Specific courses scheduled or authorised by the Junta, such as FCOV22 and FCOV02 (Spanish language: 120 hours for level 2 and 200 for level 3) and FCOV23 and FCOV12 (mathematics: 120 hours for level 2 and 200 for level 3).
• Tests called by the Dirección General de Formación en el Ámbito Laboral. The last call published on that page is from 2025: check whether there is a new one. The Centros de Educación Permanente (adult education centres) offer preparation for the tests.

If your Spanish is still basic, first see free Spanish classes for foreigners.

Languages: the EOI are not free. The 2026 fee for an official enrolment in one language at an Escuela Oficial de Idiomas adds up to 81,41 euros. That is 22,37 for opening the file, 50,09 for enrolment per language and 8,95 for general services (EOI fees in Andalusia, Law 8/2025). There are exemptions, for example for people with a disability of 33 % or more.

Courses by trade and other routes. If you already know which job you want, see the guides by profession: social and health care, forklift operator, hospitality and cleaning. If you have worked in a trade for years without a qualification, see accrediting skills through work experience. For the wider picture (what counts as regulated training and which online courses only add to your CV) see courses and training to improve your employability. Finishing a course does not mean you get a job.

Documents

• ID document with NIE (passport or TIE) to register as a job seeker.
• Registration as a job seeker with the SAE.
• If you are not from the EU, the document recognising your right to work: TIE with work authorisation, temporary protection decision or asylum applicant document with the entry «autoriza a trabajar».
• The application form to take part in training actions, as the course indicates.
• For level 2 or 3 certificates: the studies that meet an access requirement or proven key competences.
• Whatever each course asks for (the list varies): check its page.

Steps:

1. Gather your NIE and the document proving your right to work.
2. Register as a job seeker with the SAE: online with a digital certificate or Cl@ve, or with a username, password and an appointment to check your identity.
3. Find the course in the Junta's finder: filter by province, mode and target group (unemployed people).
4. Submit your application to take part as the course page indicates.
5. Go through the selection and, if you get in, attend regularly. At the end, request your certificate or diploma.

🎓 Want to add skills to your CV while you wait for a place? Alison offers online courses with its own certificate. It is not a certificado de profesionalidad and does not count for arraigo (🤝 our partner).

Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case.