Valencian or Spanish for Official Paperwork in Valencia

In the Comunitat Valenciana you may address the Generalitat, the Ajuntament and other public bodies in Valencian, and Castilian is official too. Valencian has the same legal effect as Castilian. The General State Administration, whose offices include the immigration office, runs procedures in Castilian but accepts Valencian as well. Forms used by the Generalitat and local bodies must be bilingual.

Opened a letter from the Ajuntament de València (Ayuntamiento de Valencia) and found it in Valencian, or a form with both languages side by side? Relax: Castilian and Valencian are both official in the Comunitat Valenciana, and everyone has the right to know and use them. Nobody may be discriminated against because of their language, and Valencian used with the administration has full legal effect.

This page covers the language of your dealings with public bodies. If your real question is which language your child will study in, go to our guide on Valencian in Valencia schools.

Can you use Spanish with the Ajuntament and the Generalitat?

Yes: both languages are official, so you can write, speak and file in Castilian or in Valencian. Under the statute, Valencian citizens may address the regional administration in either of its two official languages and receive a reply in the language they used.

Who counts as a Valencian citizen matters for that reply right. The statute extends the rights of valencianos to EU citizens resident in the Comunitat Valenciana, with the exceptions that the Constitution or State laws set. The 1983 language law and the national procedure law speak more broadly of citizens and of people dealing with the administration. If you are not an EU citizen, state in writing whether you want the reply in Castilian or Valencian and keep a copy.

The rule that matters most in practice is this one, and it works in both directions.

el empleo del valenciano por los ciudadanos en sus relaciones, tanto públicas como privadas, produce plenos efectos jurídicos, de igual manera que si se emplease el castellano, sin que pueda derivarse del ejercicio del derecho a expresarse en valenciano cualquier forma de discriminación o exigencia de traducción.

the use of Valencian by citizens in their relations, both public and private, has full legal effect, in the same way as if Castilian were used, and no form of discrimination or demand for translation may arise from exercising the right to express oneself in Valencian.

BOE · Ley 4/1983, art. 3 (informational consolidated text)

The right covers the Generalitat, local entities such as the Ajuntament and other public bodies in the territory of the Comunitat Valenciana. Valencian is also the own language of that administration and of the public bodies that depend on it. We recommend filing in the language you can write precisely: a clear form in Castilian beats a hesitant one in Valencian, and neither loses legal value.

Which language will the reply, form or notice come in?

Forms from Valencian public bodies must be bilingual, State forms such as the EX series follow State rules, and when the administration starts a file itself, it communicates in the language you indicate. That second rule is your lever, so say which language you want when you first deal with the office.

Documents drafted in Valencian that record administrative activity have legal effect, and so do the forms public administrations use. Administrative acts carried out in Valencian within the Comunitat Valenciana are valid and fully effective. A letter in Valencian is a real notice; you can expressly ask the office for a Castilian translation.

When you start a procedure and other interested parties take part, the administration must, if they ask, tell them everything that affects them in the official language they choose, whichever language the procedure began in.

Police, Extranjería and other General State Administration offices: which language?

Castilian is the language of General State Administration procedures, but you may also use Valencian. The language of procedures handled by the General State Administration is Castilian; people who address its bodies based in a Comunidad Autónoma may also use the co-official language.

If you choose Valencian, the procedure is handled in that language. When several interested parties disagree about the language, it is handled in Castilian, but the documents each party requests are issued in the language that party chose. For a newcomer filing alone, the practical advice is simple: use Castilian for State paperwork such as your Extranjería cita previa and the EX forms, because that is the default language of those procedures.

The 1983 law adds that for the State administration in the Comunitat Valenciana, what applies is what the agreements with the competent bodies set, without prejudice to State rules on the use of official languages. Procedures run by the Comunidades Autónomas and local entities follow regional legislation instead.

La lengua de los procedimientos tramitados por la Administración General del Estado será el castellano. No obstante lo anterior, los interesados que se dirijan a los órganos de la Administración General del Estado con sede en el territorio de una Comunidad Autónoma podrán utilizar también la lengua que sea cooficial en ella.

The language of the procedures handled by the General State Administration will be Castilian. Nevertheless, interested parties who address bodies of the General State Administration based in the territory of an Autonomous Community may also use the language that is co-official there.

BOE · Ley 39/2015, art. 15.1

Do you need a translation of your documents?

For documents that must take effect outside the Comunidad Autónoma, the administration handling your file must translate them into Castilian. It must do the same for documents addressed to interested parties who expressly ask for a translation.

No translation is needed when a document takes effect in a Comunidad Autónoma where that same language is co-official. A letter or certificate in Valencian that stays within the Comunitat Valenciana therefore needs none, but one you will send to another country or to a region without Valencian does.

Public documents are drafted in Valencian or Castilian as the signing party indicates, and copies for use outside the Comunitat Valenciana are always drafted in Castilian.

Going the other way, the Ajuntament accepts your documents for the padrón registration in Castilian and Valencian. If yours are in another language, provide the original plus a translation by a sworn translator or a public administration. Read our apostille and sworn translation guide before you order one, and the empadronamiento guide for the rest of the file.

Street signs and place names: València or Valencia?

Expect both spellings, and know that the signs follow an official decision. The names the Consell adopts for municipalities and other places are the legal ones for all purposes, and public signage must be made in line with them.

Urban street names are different: the Ajuntament decides them. On an official form, copy the street name from the plate or from your padrón certificate rather than from a map.

The municipality of Valencia is on the list of municipalities of Valencian linguistic predominance in the 1983 law.

What about schools?

School language rules are a different set of texts with their own exemptions, so they are not covered here. Start with Valencian in Valencia schools: choice and exemption, then check the international schools list if you are weighing options that teach mainly in English.

Checked 4 November 2026 against the current BOE consolidated texts.

↑ Contents

Not confirmed: The Ajuntament de València's own language regulation was not readable, so any extra municipal right is not covered. The statute's right to a reply in the language you used names valencianos; whether it reaches non-EU residents is not stated. Consumer contracts and courts are not covered.

General information checked against the sources listed above, not legal advice for your situation. Rules and office practice change; confirm with the immigration office or a licensed adviser before you act. See how guides are checked.

Spotted an error? Report it.