Spain National Police 2026 Exam Date and English Rule

Spain's National Police Basic Scale BAS43 entry examination is planned for September 26, 2026. The date is official but still provisional: the Applicant Portal says it applies unless unforeseen circumstances require a change.

The 2026 competition does not list a separate English paper. Instead, every candidate had to possess at least A2 English or French by the application deadline and must later prove that level with a certificate accepted in Annex VI.

The September sitting combines knowledge, psychometric, biographical-information and personality material. Start a free SpeakShark conversation for general professional communication, then use the National Police call for certificate and selection rules.

Key takeaways

• BAS43 is planned for September 26, 2026.
• The call contains 2,704 places.
• Basic Scale applicants need A2 English or French.
• There is no separate language paper in the published 2026 test list.
• B1 through C2 certificates can add 0.50 to 2 merit points.
• The knowledge test has 100 questions in 50 minutes.

In this guide: calendar | English correction | levels | certificates | September test | knowledge | later stages | places | method | FAQ

BAS43 2026 calendar

The portal's September 26 wording is a planned date, not an unconditional guarantee. Candidates should look for the definitive communication, admitted list and assigned venue before travel.

Calls for later tests are published with at least 48 hours' notice through the National Police website. The tribunal can arrange some parts on the same or different dates for operational reasons.

The September sitting is the immediate deadline. Certificate eligibility was fixed earlier, at the last day of the application period; buying a new A2 certificate now does not automatically repair a missing eligibility condition.

English is a certificate rule, not a test paper

The live 2026 call corrects a common outdated description of the National Police language requirement.

The candidate indicated the language or languages claimed in the application. Later documentary proof must match an accepted certificate in Annex VI.

This is different from the Guardia Civil 2026 English test, which had a 20-question English paper and an 8/20 gate. It is also different from the Spain diplomatic-career language tests, where English is tested in written and oral stages.

The Basic Scale rule should therefore be described as certificate evidence attached to a police recruitment competition, not as an English exam on September 26.

A2 minimum and higher-level points

The language bonus is added only for candidates declared successful in the opposition phase. It does not rescue a failed eliminatory test.

The maximum is two points regardless of the number of languages documented. A candidate cannot stack several C2 certificates to exceed the cap.

The merit date is also the final application day. A higher certificate earned after that date is not automatically a 2026 merit merely because documentation is submitted later.

Spain uses different language rules across public employment. Compare the broader Spain public-employment language guide and the separate B1 teacher requirement in Spain rather than treating A2 as a nationwide civil-service standard.

Accepted English certificate families

Annex VI is the controlling list. It covers many routes, but acceptance depends on exact product, score and mode.

The annex says that where several exam modes exist, only the in-person mode is accepted, except for the point-one certificate group that the notice accepts in any mode. Candidates must read that delivery restriction with the exact certificate entry.

Selected mappings illustrate why the score matters:

• Cambridge A2 Key grades B or C map to A2, while grade A maps to B1.
• IELTS 3.5 to below 4 maps to A2.
• IELTS 4 to below 5.5 maps to B1.
• IELTS 5.5 to below 7 maps to B2.
• IELTS 7 to below 8.5 maps to C1.
• IELTS 8.5 or higher maps to C2.
• SLP 1111 maps to B1, 2222 to B2 and 3333 to C1.

These are National Police mappings for this call. They should not be exported to a university, visa or regulator.

For certificate context, see IELTS dates in Spain, Spain EOI certificate equivalences, EOI English mediation, Cambridge speaking criteria by level, and LanguageCert Academic versus General.

September 26 one-sitting plan

The Applicant Portal says the September 26 event is planned as one sitting containing:

1. Knowledge testing.
2. Psychometric testing.
3. The biographical-information questionnaire, or CIB.
4. Personality material.

The BOE call explains that the first knowledge paper and the psychometric part of the third test can be administered in one act. Only candidates who clear earlier requirements have later parts evaluated as the process advances.

The planned date does not mean the entire police selection ends on September 26. Physical aptitude, medical review and the professional and personal interview remain distinct stages.

The first-test venue choices listed in the call include Ávila, Cáceres, Cádiz, Albacete, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, León, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santiago de Compostela, Sevilla, Valencia and Zaragoza. The definitive assignment controls.

Candidates must attend the single call with an original physical identity document. Electronic display of identity is not accepted under the published rule.

Knowledge paper score and pace

The knowledge test has 100 questions in 50 minutes. Each question has three alternatives and one correct answer.

Fifty minutes equals 3,000 seconds, so the average pace is 30 seconds per question.

Wrong answers are penalized using the published formula: correct answers minus errors divided by the number of distractor intervals, scaled to 10 points. With three options, two wrong answers offset one correct answer before scaling.

A minimum of 3/10 is necessary, but it is not sufficient by itself. The unrestricted route advances only the best scores up to 1.75 candidates per one of the 2,163 unrestricted places, subject to ties.

One point seven five times 2,163 equals about 3,785 candidates before any tied cutoff expansion. This is a selection ceiling for the next stage, not a guaranteed number because actual scores and eligibility still matter.

Physical, medical, interview and psychometric stages

The complete opposition phase uses eliminatory tests.

The interview considers socialization, communication, goal orientation, personality characteristics, clinical observations and professional competencies. It is recorded.

The CIB and personality material help inform the later interview. The notice says the interview outcome cannot be based exclusively on personality-test results.

General communication practice can support clarity, but it does not reproduce the police interview. Use English job interview role plays, office small talk in English, adult English conversation topics, and practice speaking alone. Start free speaking practice without treating SpeakShark as police-selection training.

2,704 places and the military reserve

The 2026 Basic Scale call contains 2,704 places.

Military-reserve applicants need at least five years of qualifying service by the application deadline. Unfilled reserved places transfer to the unrestricted group.

Core eligibility also includes Spanish nationality, age 18 through the applicable retirement limit, Bachiller or equivalent, an unrestricted category B driving licence and the remaining legal, conduct, medical and weapons-commitment conditions in the call.

This police competition is separate from other government language routes in Europe. The EPSO AD5 competition, Austrian Foreign Ministry selection, German Foreign Office assessment, and Italian diplomatic competition all set different evidence and test structures.

How we researched this guide

On August 28, 2026, we opened the live National Police Applicant Portal through the existing browser profile. The portal supplied the planned September 26 date, one-sitting description, August provisional-list update and August 27 correction deadline.

We then read BOE-A-2026-15055 for the place count, test format, English-or-French A2 condition, merit points, certificate families, venues and later stages. We treated the portal's word "planned" literally and did not call September 26 unconditional.

We also rejected the reserve-queue premise that Spain still uses an optional English police exam. The current call replaced that angle with certificate evidence. We did not reproduce protected test questions or use SpeakShark customer data.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider, and we are not affiliated with Spain's National Police, the Ministry of the Interior or any exam board. For test format, booking and official practice material, go to the exam body directly. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

FAQ

The official Applicant Portal says the BAS43 entry exam is planned for September 26, 2026 in one sitting, subject to unforeseen circumstances. The announced sitting combines the knowledge questionnaire, psychometric testing, biographical-information questionnaire and personality material. Candidates must still check the definitive call and assigned venue.

No separate English paper is listed. The 2026 call requires candidates to possess at least A2 in English or French by the application deadline and later prove it with an accepted certificate. This certificate requirement replaced the older idea of an optional language examination in the entry process.

A2 is the minimum accepted level for the Basic Scale police category. Failure to prove A2 in English or French leads to exclusion. Higher certificates can add merit points after a candidate passes the opposition phase: B1 adds 0.50, B2 adds 1, C1 adds 1.50 and C2 adds 2 points.

Annex VI names Police and EOI certificates, SLP profiles and multiple English providers including Cambridge, Trinity, IELTS, TOEFL iBT, Linguaskill, Oxford, Aptis, TELC, Pearson and LanguageCert. Exact level mappings and delivery restrictions differ, so the certificate name, score, module set and test mode must all match the annex.

The call contains 2,704 places. It reserves 541 for eligible professional troops and sailors with at least five years of service, while 2,163 are in the unrestricted route. Unfilled military-reserve places are added to the unrestricted total, and the tribunal cannot approve more candidates than the advertised places.

The knowledge paper has 100 three-option questions in 50 minutes with a wrong-answer penalty. The portal plans knowledge, psychometric, biographical and personality material in one September 26 sitting. Physical aptitude, medical examination and the professional and personal interview remain separate eliminatory parts of the complete selection process.

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Sources

1. National Police Applicant Portal updates, checked for September 26 planning and current BAS43 notices.
2. Official BAS43 call, BOE-A-2026-15055, checked for places, eligibility, tests, scoring and Annex VI.
3. Provisional admitted and excluded resolution, checked for the August admission stage.
4. 2026 National Police employment offer, checked for the authorised Basic Scale place count.
5. Council of Europe CEFR, checked for A2 through C2 context.
6. IELTS official test format, checked only for the certificate family named by Annex VI.
7. SpeakShark pricing, checked for current free and paid options.

The National Police can change the planned September date and venue instructions. Check the Applicant Portal before travel.