Moving to Valencia with Children: Steps, School, Health

Landed in Valencia with children after the May school window? If you hold a non-EU visa for more than six months, request the TIE in person within one month of entering Spain. Register on the padrón. Then use the extraordinary or continuous phase for a school place. SIP registration needs the padrón.

By Settle Valencia editorial team

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What order should a family follow?

Take the steps in this order.

1. Non-EU family members: request the TIE in person within one month of entering Spain, if your visa or authorisation is for more than six months. In Valencia city, non-EU cards are issued at the Comisaría de Patraix, C/ Dels Gremis, 6.
2. Register on the padrón. Everyone who lives in Spain must register in the municipality where they usually live.
3. Register each person in SIP. On the standard route, you state your habitual residence in a Valencian municipality, which requires being on its padrón.
4. Request a school place for each child, using the phases below.
5. Choose a paediatrician, if the family is insured or a beneficiary of the National Health System and holds the SIP card.

Book the padrón as a family: València gives one appointment per person unless the people are a family unit. The empadronamiento guide covers documents and offices.

For a non-lucrative application, family includes the spouse, registered partner or duly proven stable partner. It also includes the unmarried minor children, or minors who have not formed their own family unit, of the applicant or of their spouse or partner. The TIE guide covers the card.

Which school year will your children join?

The education law gives age bands, not a birth-year table.

A pupil who joins part-way through is placed in the most suitable year, based on circumstances, knowledge, age and academic record, with support. Placement looks at the academic record, so bring school reports from the previous school.

What if you arrive after the May window?

Two later phases exist. For 2026-2027, applications for Infantil and Primaria ran from 7 to 18 May. ESO and Bachillerato applications ran from 21 May to 1 June.

These admission rules cover public and concertado (state-funded private) schools. The process has three phases: ordinary, extraordinary and continuous. The one that matches your arrival applies.

If you could not apply in the ordinary period

Pupils who need a place unexpectedly in the locality and could not apply in the ordinary period may take part in the extraordinary phase. That phase is for places left vacant after the ordinary phase. Pupils without a place after it go to the schooling commission, which offers a place at schools with vacancies.

If the school year has started

Pupils who need schooling unexpectedly once the school year has started follow the continuous phase. The urgent or special reasons include a move of the family’s residence from another locality and late entry into the education system. After the ordinary process ends, the territorial education directorate takes measures for pupils who need a place for urgent or special reasons.

At compulsory school age, the law guarantees pupils arriving from abroad entry into the school system. Ordinary-phase applications go online through Adminova. Signing the application counts as a declaración responsable (signed statement) that everything claimed is true and can be documented at enrolment. The public school guide covers points, documents and fees.

What school proof does your first renewal ask for?

Renewal brings its own school check. Resident foreigners with children of compulsory school age must prove the schooling in their renewal application.

Los extranjeros residentes que tengan en España menores a su cargo en edad de escolarización obligatoria, deberán acreditar dicha escolarización, mediante informe emitido por las autoridades autonómicas competentes, en las solicitudes de renovación de su autorización o en su solicitud de residencia de larga duración.

Resident foreigners with minors in their care of compulsory school age must prove that schooling, with a report issued by the competent regional authorities, in their renewal applications or their long-term residence application.

BOE · Ley Orgánica 4/2000, art. 9.4

For non-lucrative renewal, the condition is that children of compulsory school age are enrolled while they are in Spain. If the papers do not show it, the office warns you in writing that without a school report within one month the authorisation will not be renewed. Enrol early: the renewal asks for the report.

When do the children join the health system?

SIP comes first, the paediatrician second. Registration is open to anyone resident in the Comunitat Valenciana. It carries no fee. A family on private insurance only does not need the padrón certificate for the SIP number; it receives an inclusion document showing the SIP number.

Register online with a digital certificate or Cl@ve. Without them, go to the health centre nearest your home. After an online request, collect the health card or the inclusion document at the health centre for your place of residence.

To choose a paediatrician or centre, you must be an insured person or beneficiary of the National Health System and hold the SIP card. The head of the basic health zone resolves the request within 15 working days. You can file it throughout the year. The children’s healthcare guide is the next read, and the SIP card guide covers each route.

How much money does a family of four need for a non-lucrative visa?

The IPREM is €600 a month. The non-lucrative test is 400% of the IPREM a month for the holder. Each dependent family member adds 100%.

For a holder, spouse and two children, the monthly means come to €4,200. Twelve months come to €50,400. Both are totals worked out from the two percentages. The non-lucrative visa guide has the table for one to four people.

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Not confirmed: Which school year a child joins by birth year: the education law gives age bands, so ask the education directorate. The extraordinary-phase and continuous-phase dates for the current year are also unconfirmed. Public paediatrician access for a child on private insurance: ask the health centre.

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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.

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