Free LABORA courses Valencia: who can enrol and how to sign up

In short: the free LABORA courses Valencia offers are vocational training for people out of work, run through LABORA, the employment service of the Valencian Community. The same system covers Alicante, Torrevieja and Castellón. Students do not pay for the training and may receive aid for attending. To join, you need to be registered as a job seeker (demandante de empleo) and, if you are not from the EU, a document recognising your right to work. Then you add the course to your record in Punt LABORA or at your Espai LABORA office.

What LABORA offers. LABORA (Servicio Valenciano de Empleo y Formación) subsidises vocational training courses taught by training entities and aimed primarily at unemployed people. Some lead to a professional certificate (see what a professional certificate is) and others do not. Employed people can also take part, up to 30 % of all participants, but unemployed people get preference. Professional certificates include a period of training in one or more companies. Finishing a course does not mean you get a job. The «formación a medida de las empresas» modality adds a commitment to hire and is only for unemployed people; this card does not review how many people each company hires.

Who can enrol, by your situation. LABORA says that if a course interests you, you should record it in your job-seeker record (demanda de empleo). So the first step is registering as a job seeker (how to register as a foreigner). If you are not from the EU, that registration requires a document recognising your right to work (arts. 7.1.d and 9.1.b of Royal Decree 438/2024).

• 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). LABORA's list of priority groups names international-protection applicants and beneficiaries «in the terms» of the specific rules. The page does not say that replaces the right-to-work document: ask at your Espai LABORA.
• 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 Espai LABORA accepts for the registration. Ask before you go.

Socioformativo arraigo and LABORA.

• 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 LABORA 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).
• LABORA's list of priority groups names immigrants who are obtaining residence through «arraigo para la formación», the name this figure had before 20.05.2025. The page does not explain how it applies under the current rules. Ask LABORA which document they require.
• 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 LABORA course. There are two ways to record the course in your demanda: do it yourself online in Punt LABORA, or book an appointment at your Espai LABORA so they register it there (¿Cómo me inscribo?). The course finder shows two types of offer:

• Planned courses, where selection has not opened yet: you pre-register with the option «Mostrar cursos planificados».
• Courses with an open window: you join the selection with the option «Mostrar cursos con plazo de inscripción abierto».

Signing up puts you into the student selection and does not guarantee a place. If you do not have a demanda yet, the first registration is requested with an appointment in Punt LABORA and done at the Espai LABORA that corresponds to your address. LABORA asks for the DNI or the empadronamiento certificate to prove it and does not say what it asks of a foreign person: confirm what to bring (LABORA FAQ and empadronamiento).

Where to look for courses.

• Punt LABORA course finder: search by course, province and professional certificate.
• Course schedule: downloadable lists by province, professional family and modality.
• Servicios Territoriales de Formación para el Empleo in Valencia, Alicante and Castellón: LABORA asks for an appointment for personal attention, and the addresses are on its training page.
• If you work: LABORA online training is distance training for employed people (languages, digital and transversal skills). The page does not state the cost: check before you sign up.

What is free and what it asks of you. LABORA says students enjoy free training and may receive aid for attending, and that the training entity insures them during the course and the placement. The aid for unemployed students has its own page. 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, but the amounts are not on the pages we reviewed. The course runs 4 to 6 hours a day, Monday to Friday, unless another timetable is authorised.

In return, LABORA asks you to attend regularly, not to take in-person courses at the same time that add up to more than 40 hours a week, and to authorise a check of your work history. With more than 3 unjustified absences a month you are dropped. People who left a course without cause in the two previous calls lose priority. If you pass the course or a module, you can obtain a certificate of achievement with the module grades and the company where you did your placement. If the course matches a professional certificate, you can request it under Royal Decree 659/2023.

Professional certificates and key competences. LABORA publishes the access requirements for professional certificates:

• Level 1: no academic or professional requirement, only enough communication skills to learn.
• Level 2: ESO (compulsory secondary education) or equivalent, a level 2 professional certificate or a level 1 one in the same family, among other routes.
• Level 3: Bachiller, Técnico or equivalent, a level 3 professional certificate or a level 2 one in the same family, among other routes.

If you meet none of them, you can prove the key competences: mathematics, Spanish language, English if the course has an English module and Valencian if it is taught in Valencian. LABORA explains that it suspended its own tests for 2024 pending a state rule and that, meanwhile, collaborating entities run the tests within the selection of each course, only for access to levels 2 and 3 (key competences). The page does not say whether that has changed since 2024: confirm it. LABORA's documents speak of Spanish qualifications or equivalents and do not explain how a foreign one is assessed: ask at the Servicio Territorial of your province.

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, LABORA has a page on accreditation of experience; the steps are in 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. The same system in other regions is summarised in free SEPE courses for unemployed people. For Spanish classes, see free Spanish classes for foreigners.

Documents

• ID document with NIE (passport or TIE) to register as a job seeker. LABORA asks for the DNI or the empadronamiento certificate to prove your address: confirm what it accepts with foreign documents.
• Registration as a job seeker with LABORA.
• 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».
• For level 2 or 3 certificates: the qualification that meets an access requirement, or proven key competences.
• Whatever each course asks for (the list varies): check the offer.

Steps:

1. Gather your NIE and the document proving your right to work.
2. Register as a job seeker with LABORA: appointment in Punt LABORA and procedure at your Espai LABORA.
3. Find the course in the Punt LABORA finder: «Mostrar cursos planificados» or «Mostrar cursos con plazo de inscripción abierto».
4. Add the course to your demanda in Punt LABORA, or book an appointment at your Espai LABORA to have it registered.
5. Go through the selection and, if you get in, attend regularly. At the end, request your certificate.

🎓 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.