DELE is an official diploma of the Spanish state and never expires. SIELE is faster and modular. Which one you need depends on whether you are going to Spain, Latin America, or applying for a passport.
DELE is issued by the Instituto Cervantes across the full CEFR range, and the diploma name is the level.
DELE diplomas do not expire. SIELE, the alternative, is scored rather than pass or fail and is valid for five years.
Spanish certification is centralised under the Instituto Cervantes, which makes it simpler than French. The complication is choosing between a permanent diploma and a faster modular test.
Applicants for Spanish nationality who are not native Spanish speakers need DELE A2 or higher, plus the CCSE. These are two separate exams with two separate registrations, and candidates regularly book only the first.
DELE is grouped into papers and you must clear each group, not just the total.
| Level | Structure | Pass requirement |
|---|---|---|
| A1 and A2 | Reading and writing 45 to 60 min, listening and speaking 20 to 35 min | 30 points required in each part, out of 100 |
| B1 and B2 | Group 1 reading 70 min plus listening 40 min. Group 2 writing 60 to 80 min plus speaking 15 min with 15 min preparation | 60 of 100 overall, with at least 30 of 50 in each group |
| C1 | Reading 90 min, listening 50 min, integrated listening and writing 80 min, integrated reading and speaking 20 min | Minimum 30 per group |
| C2 | Language use, reading and listening 105 min. Integrated skills 150 min. Integrated skills 20 min | Minimum 20 per test |
These figures come from published summaries of the Cervantes scheme rather than from the Instituto Cervantes directly, whose regional sites were not machine readable at the time of writing. We confirm current timings and pass marks against the official Guía del examen for your level before you book.
DELE C1 changed from the April 2024 sitting and C2 from May 2024. The written and oral papers were renamed to expression, mediation and interaction, the rating scales were rewritten around mediation criteria, and holistic scoring was removed. The C1 listening first task now asks you to select six ideas from twelve, and the C2 listening fifth task was cut from fifteen items to seven with a new eight-item task added. Preparation material written before 2024 is testing the wrong exam.
A1 and A2 were renewed earlier, in 2020, partly because DELE A2 became the nationality requirement.
B2 is the working requirement for most Spanish-taught degrees at public universities, verified through UNEDasiss. Certificates generally need ACLES or CRUE recognition, and both DELE and SIELE qualify.
DELE and SIELE are both widely recognised. SIELE is explicitly pan-Hispanic, with Mexican and Argentine universities among its owners, which makes it the more natural credential if you are heading to the Americas rather than to Spain.
The Instituto Cervantes does not publish a guided-hours figure per level, and we are not going to invent one to fill the space. As a rough planning anchor, the Council of Europe framework that DELE sits on is the same one German and English use, where roughly two hundred guided hours separates one level from the next. Treat that as an order of magnitude, not a promise.
India. The Instituto Cervantes in New Delhi is the DELE and SIELE hub. SIELE is computer based and available at accredited centres.
UAE. UCAM Español Institute in Dubai is described as the only Instituto Cervantes accredited Spanish centre in the Gulf, running DELE A1 to C2 plus DELE Escolares. Note that its May 2026 session was cancelled for regional reasons, so confirm the sitting is going ahead before you build a deadline around it.
A language is only worth the hours if it clears the bar your destination sets. TAICF, our own assessment framework, reads your target countries and courses and tells you the level to aim for, the certificate that proves it, and how it fits around your exams.
How TAICF worksFive things are in every language programme we run, whatever the language and whatever the level you start at.
Every programme includes dedicated one to one sessions with your own teacher for the questions that came up after class. Booked when you need them, not parked until the next group session.
The recording reaches you the same day, every time. Miss a class for a school exam, a work trip or a bad week and you have not missed the lesson. It is also the fastest revision tool you will have in the last fortnight.
Complete papers in the official format, timed, including the oral. Most candidates lose marks to the format rather than the language, and a mock is the cheapest place to find that out.
Before you start, we set the target and the timeline. Midway, we reset it against your mock results. Before you book the exam, we confirm you are sitting the right version on the right date. Teaching without this is just hours.
The whole course can run one to one rather than in a cohort. Your own teacher, your own pace, sessions timed around school or work, and the syllabus reordered around what you actually need first.
Every language programme is mapped to a named certificate and a named level from day one, because a certificate is what a university, an employer or a mission will actually accept. Hours studied prove nothing on an application.
Your teacher works to the examining body’s own marking criteria, and your mock papers come back with the score per paper rather than a single overall comment.
DELE if you want a permanent, state-issued diploma, or if you need it for Spanish nationality. SIELE if you want a faster, modular result, or if you are heading to Latin America where its pan-Hispanic backing carries weight. SIELE expires after five years, DELE does not.
B2 for most Spanish-taught degrees at public universities, verified through UNEDasiss. English-taught programmes have their own English requirement instead.
DELE A2 or higher plus the CCSE, which is a separate test on Spanish constitutional and sociocultural knowledge. Two exams, two registrations.
Yes. C1 changed from April 2024 and C2 from May 2024, with papers renamed around expression, mediation and interaction and the rating scales rewritten. Older preparation material is out of date at those levels.
The Instituto Cervantes does not publish official guided hours, so we will not quote one as though it did. We give you an estimate based on your placement result and hours per week, and we call it an estimate.
We start with a short conversation and a level check, so you join at the right level rather than repeating what you already know. Classes run at Gurugram and Dubai Silicon Oasis, in person and online, in small cohorts, or one to one.
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