DELE special needs: extra time, braille, separate rooms and how to apply
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The Instituto Cervantes can change how the DELE is given for candidates who cannot sit it under the general rules. This guide follows its 2026 programme for candidates with special needs (Programa de atención a candidatos DELE con necesidades especiales). Tests taken under special conditions are marked with the same criteria as everyone else’s.
Who can apply
The programme covers two groups:
- candidates with a temporary or permanent disability or learning difficulty: partial or total visual impairment, reduced hearing, reduced mobility, or a learning difficulty such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, autism spectrum disorder or attention deficit disorder;
- candidates who live in an enclosed religious community, are in prison, or are staying in hospital for more than two months.
The Instituto Cervantes page on who the DELE is for also lists applicants for Spanish nationality who cannot read or write. They take an adapted A2 exam, covered under Spanish nationality.
Measures by condition
The Instituto Cervantes decides which measures to authorise. The programme allows these:
| Condition | Measures |
|---|---|
| Any special need | Up to 33% extra time on each test, or up to 50% with braille papers. A member of the centre’s staff throughout the tests, in a separate room, who can mark your chosen answers on the answer sheet. Staff do not read the questions aloud, except to candidates with a visual impairment. Clear instructions from staff for candidates with a hearing impairment who lip-read. |
| Learning difficulty | A computer, typewriter or word processor, the centre’s or your own, to read the questions and write the answers. Internet access and the synonyms tool are turned off, and so is the spell checker if so arranged. |
| Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder | A separate room. Individual information on the tests and their instructions. A check at the end that you have answered every question. |
| Autism spectrum disorder | A separate room. Individual information on the tests and their instructions. Permission to go to the toilet and to come with a companion. A visit to the exam room beforehand. A computer. |
| Psychological condition | A separate room. Permission to leave the room during a crisis, with instructions for that case. Permission to come with a companion. A visit to the exam room beforehand. A computer. |
| Visual impairment | Your own magnifying lenses. The question booklet and answer sheet enlarged to A3. Full braille papers, provided by the Spanish organisation for the blind (ONCE), with 50% extra time instead of 33%. |
| Mild or moderate hearing loss | Exemption from one test, listening or speaking, and never from two or more. Hearing aids. |
| Severe or profound hearing loss | Exemption from the DELE. After you present a disability certificate, the Instituto Cervantes writes a letter stating that the DELE cannot be adapted for you. |
| Enclosed religious community, prison or hospital | The exam centre sends an exam board to where you live, and the Instituto Cervantes authorises this according to the centre’s availability. Apply more than two weeks ahead, with a letter from the person in charge of the institution confirming that it can host the exam in a suitable room. |
The DELE FAQ words the hearing rule differently: it allows the exemption from listening or speaking for total hearing loss.
How and when to apply
- Fill in the special-needs request form (PDF), which lists the measures you can ask for.
- Send it to the exam centre where you registered, with the supporting documents, such as a copy of a disability certificate or a medical report with the doctor’s signature, stamp and registration number. Reports must be signed by practitioners whom local law authorises to certify a disability. The centre keeps them confidential.
- Apply when you register, or at least two weeks before the official date of the written tests. A candidate who applies late, or without the documents, loses the right to sit the DELE under special conditions.
- The centre checks your documents and its own staff, rooms and time, then files the request on the Instituto Cervantes SICIC platform. The Instituto Cervantes approves or refuses the measures, and the centre tells you the decision.
The Instituto Cervantes does not consider a request unless the head of the exam centre has approved it.
If the request is refused
If the measures you asked for are not authorised, you can cancel your registration and get the fee back. You must ask within 72 hours of being told that the request was refused.
Spanish nationality
- Applicants who cannot read or write ask the Ministry of Justice for a dispensa. With it, they sit the A2-NA, a 15-minute adapted speaking test with 10 minutes of preparation, held only in Spain.
- Applicants with severe or profound hearing loss file the Instituto Cervantes letter with the Ministry of Justice and continue their nationality application without the exam.
- Applicants with mild or moderate hearing loss can ask for the exemption from listening or speaking in DELE A2.
DELE A2 and CCSE for Spanish citizenship covers the dispensa, the A2-NA and the documents for DELE A2 in Spain.
Contact
The programme gives the Instituto Cervantes Certification and Accreditation Department for questions about special measures: sicic.necesidades@cervantes.es.