In short: the free hospitality courses Spain offers with a certificate are level 1 certificados de profesionalidad, such as HOTR0108 (kitchen, 350 hours) and HOTR0208 (restaurant and bar, 290 hours). The employment service of each autonomous community runs them for unemployed people registered as job seekers (demandante de empleo), and a non-EU foreigner also needs a recognised right to work. On the food handler card, the rules put the duty to train staff on the company, not on you.
Which certificates exist. Those of the Hostelería y turismo professional family are set by Royal Decree 1376/2008. Today they are called certificados profesionales and the old ones keep their value (see what a professional certificate is). Among the level 1 ones are:
- HOTR0108, Basic kitchen operations: 350 hours. Modules: supplies, preparation and conservation in cooking (120 h), basic cooking (180 h) and non-employment work placement in a company (80 h). Jobs the royal decree lists: kitchen assistant and kitchen helper.
- HOTR0208, Basic restaurant and bar operations: 290 hours. Modules: basic restaurant-bar service (120 h), supplies, drinks and quick meals (120 h) and work placement (80 h). Jobs: waiter's assistant and bar assistant.
- HOTA0108, Basic housekeeping operations in accommodation: 380 hours. Modules: tidying rooms and common areas (120 h), laundry (90 h), ironing and mending clothes (90 h) and work placement (80 h). Jobs: hotel room attendant (camarera de pisos) and housekeeping and cleaning assistant (more on cleaning in cleaning certificate Spain).
The totals of 350 and 290 hours are the ones the royal decree sets: unit UF0053 (30 hours of hygiene and health rules in catering) appears in two modules of each certificate and counts once. The same royal decree also includes "Cocina" (level 2) and others at level 3. For level 2 you need ESO or equivalent, or a level 1 certificate of the same family (art. 75 of Royal Decree 659/2023). Level 1 asks for no prior studies, only that you can communicate well enough to learn.
What you get. You receive the certificate or cumulative partial accreditations (art. 7 of Royal Decree 694/2017), and the competent administration issues it, not the training centre. The royal decree states that these certificates are official and valid across Spain but do not regulate the exercise of the profession: they show what you can do, they are not a licence to work. Finishing a course does not mean you get a job.
Who can enrol. Free courses for unemployed people ask you to be registered as a job seeker (art. 5 of Royal Decree 694/2017). To register, Royal Decree 438/2024 (art. 7) asks you to be over 16, have a DNI or NIE and live in a municipality of the region. If you are not from the EU, you also need a recognised right of access to the labour market, shown with a document that authorises it (art. 9). Depending on your situation:
- Residence with work authorisation: you meet the requirement. Register as a job seeker.
- Arraigo: the arraigo authorisation includes work authorisation (art. 131 of Royal Decree 1155/2024); with arraigo socioformativo, a maximum of 30 hours a week as an employee. Practice varies between employment offices: ask which document they want for registration.
- Temporary protection (Ukraine): the resolution includes residence and work authorisation (art. 5.1 of Order PCM/169/2022).
- International protection applicant (asylum): you may work six months after applying if the application was admitted for processing, shown by the "autoriza a trabajar" entry on your document (fourteenth additional provision of Royal Decree 1155/2024). Until then you do not have the recognised right to work that registration requires.
- No work authorisation: under the registration rule, you cannot enrol in these courses. With a regularisation application or another authorisation still pending, we have not found a clear official rule: ask the employment service. Some NGOs run their own training with other requirements; see courses and training to improve your employability.
More on the registration procedure in free SEPE courses for unemployed people.
How to find the course. The SEPE gathers each region's search tool on a map of training offers and publishes the catalogue of training specialities, which can be filtered. Search for the certificate name, for example "basic kitchen operations" in Spanish. Some search tools: Community of Madrid, Andalusia (SAE), Catalonia (Servei d'Ocupació) and Valencian Community (Labora), which has a section on professional certificates. Each region sets its own deadlines, places and way to apply. Labora says on its employment training page that students do not pay for the training and may receive aid for attending; check in your region's call that there is no enrolment fee or tasa. Free courses for unemployed people can also be taught by accredited or registered private training centres with public funding (art. 26 of Royal Decree 694/2017). Outside those calls, a private centre can also offer these certificates: ask whether it charges and check that it is authorised by the competent administration (art. 77.2 of Royal Decree 659/2023).
Work placement. In the 2008 text, each certificate includes an 80-hour module of non-employment work placement in a company, under an agreement between the centre and the company (art. 5 of Royal Decree 1376/2008). Royal Decree 659/2023 provides for that module to be replaced by training in a company (first transitional provision, paragraph 3). At level 1, under the general regime, that part is 20 % of the total length (art. 71), and the certificate's total hours do not change. Some calls still speak of prácticas no laborales: check how many hours yours sets. If you have at least six months of work experience that matches what you study, you can be exempted from that part, fully or partly (art. 131 of Royal Decree 659/2023). The competent administration decides at the centre's request (art. 73). Ask the centre which documents they want.
Food handler card: what the rules say. Annex II, chapter XII, of Regulation (EC) 852/2004 requires food business operators to ensure that food handlers are supervised and trained in food hygiene "de acuerdo con su actividad laboral" (in line with their work). In Spain, Royal Decree 109/2010 repealed Royal Decree 202/2000, which regulated food handlers. It also moved responsibility for training from the administrations to companies: they must prove, during inspections, that their staff are trained for the tasks they do.
So we have not found an official national card that you must get yourself before starting. The annex of HOTR0108 and HOTR0208 (a 2008 text, before that repeal) still mentions a "carné de manipulación de alimentos exigido por la Administración competente" among the requirements to practise. Chapter XII of Regulation 852/2004 also requires compliance with national law on training programmes for certain food sectors, and we have not reviewed the rules of each autonomous community. If an employer asks you for proof, ask which document they accept. The certificates include 30 hours of hygiene and health rules (UF0053), but we have not found any rule that treats them as equal to a card.
Does it count for arraigo socioformativo? It can. Article 127.d of Royal Decree 1155/2024 accepts the full grade C professional certificate and, for this arraigo, level 1 as well, which is the level of HOTR0108, HOTR0208 and HOTA0108. It must be the whole certificate (not a single module), at an authorised centre with an authorised training action, and with at least 50 % of the classes in person (art. 52.1.e 5.º). A free course is not enough on its own. The other arraigo requirements (two years in Spain, social integration report) are in arraigo socioformativo and which training counts is in courses for arraigo socioformativo. Under instruction SEM 1/2025, a course "promoted by the public employment service" is taken after you hold the authorisation, the NIE and the job seeker registration.
Documents
- ID document with NIE (or DNI): required to register as a job seeker.
- If you are not from the EU, the document that authorises the right of access to the labour market (art. 9 of Royal Decree 438/2024).
- Registration as a job seeker with your region's employment service (you get a registration document, the DARDE).
- Whatever each call asks for (the list varies): check the call.
Steps:
- Check your requirements: NIE or TIE and, if you are not from the EU, the right to work.
- Register as a job seeker with your region's employment service.
- Look for the certificate (HOTR0108, HOTR0208 or another) in the SEPE catalogue and check your region's search tool for an open call.
- Apply for a place the way the call says and check that no enrolment fee or tasa is charged.
- Do the course and the work placement, and ask the competent administration for your certificate.
🎓 If you want to practise first, Alison has online courses in its "Hostelería y Turismo" category. Its certificate is issued by the platform: it is not a certificado de profesionalidad and does not count for arraigo. Check on each course whether the certificate is free or paid (🤝 our partner).
Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case.
