Your school shortlist in 7 days
We call every school and ask about the exact year group each of your children needs, and give you each answer with the date we asked, with the application calendar working backwards from your landing date.
Family Relocation · Valencia since 2022
Your child’s school place, decided and filed on time.
We moved from Canada in 2022. Our children started in a concertado in Valencia; then we changed town and they moved to private schools. We have lived it, and we can take you through it.
Check your timeline Check your school timeline See the plans
Five questions, free. Which admission route applies to your family and how many weeks you have left. See the plans
- Every school called about your child’s exact year group, not a list of good schools.
- Fees checked against each school’s own page, with the date we checked them.
- Where you rent counts it sets your address points in the public round. We check it before you sign.
30 Valencia schools profiled with their official Generalitat centre code, and an analysis of 11 towns for your perfect landing.
Our guarantee
At every level we guarantee our own work, name the refund before you pay, and never promise a decision that is not ours.
We don't hand you a PDF and wish you luck. We prepare the applications and file them with you, and on The Landing we are at the appointments with you.
Why Valencia
The city decision behind the relocation plan.
Schools, healthcare, neighborhoods, cost, safety, and daily rhythm all change the landing plan. See why we guide families toward Valencia with eyes open.
verified Padrón registered four times
person_pin_circle Three children placed, concertado then private
fact_check Every school fee checked at the source, and dated
Why Spainlander
A family move needs more than paperwork
We connect visas, schools, neighborhoods, healthcare and timing into one plan for everyday life in Valencia.
Filed on time, or you don't pay
Give us your documents by the agreed date and your applications are submitted with you, through the correct channel and before the deadline, with a receipt in your hands.
And we go with you, on the plan that includes it
On The Landing we book the padrón, NIE and healthcare appointments, prepare the paperwork and go with you: to translate, to know how that office works, and to answer on the spot. On the other plans we prepare you to walk in ready.
From the founder
We landed with three children, aged seven, five and two, and discovered that Spain does not place them the way we assumed. Second grade is not second grade here, and the year group a child enters is decided by the calendar year they were born in, not by the school year they are finishing. That is the first thing we check for every family, because it is the first thing we got wrong ourselves.
Spainlander is the resource we wish we'd had when we landed. It replaces anxiety with a clear, professional itinerary, written by a family who already did the bureaucracy and the school search.
Founder
Why us
Our experience, at your fingertips.
We are not describing a process we read about. We made every one of these mistakes on our own family first.
Four padróns
Registered in four different municipalities. The first in Madrid, knowing nobody and nothing about the system. Three more around Valencia, where the process changes from one town hall to the next.
Two school systems
Our three children went through the concertado system first, then moved to a fully private school. We made that decision with our own family before we made it with anyone else's.
Four Valencia rentals
We own and manage them, so we know exactly how a Spanish landlord reads a foreign tenant with no local contract and no Spanish payslip.
Three ways to land
How do you want to arrive?
Every level starts with the same decision. What changes is how much of the work, the uncertainty and the chasing we take off your family.
Final price. Taxes included where they apply.
We decide
01 The Shortlist
€989 one-off
Includes up to two children and one municipality. Additional children €250 each. Book before 31 December 2026 and we cover two municipalities.
In seven days you know which education route fits your children, which schools are worth an application, and which dates govern your arrival. In August the school offices are shut, so we do the mapping and the calendar first and call the day they reopen - and we tell you that date before you pay.
- Público, concertado, private or international, assessed against your children, so you do not apply on a route that never fitted them
- Each child mapped to the Spanish year group they would actually enter, because places are allocated by year group and not by school
- Five to seven schools, shortlisted for your children rather than ranked for everyone
- Verified fees, sourced to each school's own admissions page, so you know the real cost before you choose a school or a neighbourhood
- Availability by year group where a school can know it, and how places usually go where it cannot, with how confident we are in each answer, so a problem with one child surfaces now and not in August
- How much of the week is taught in Valencian, Spanish and English — for the stage each of your children enters, not for the school in general, because inside one school those can be forty points apart
- Both the official figure and the school’s own answer, with the date we asked. A school that will not say how much English it teaches is telling you something too
- Siblings assessed separately, because the year group that has no place is the one that decides your move
- One municipality, with its distances and the school run, so you understand which location makes the plan workable
- Your application calendar, dated backwards from your landing month from the last two published rounds, every date marked provisional until the official calendar is published, so no window passes while you are still deciding
- One main recommendation and the alternatives, delivered in 7 days
- A review call once you have read it, so the decision is made with us and not alone with a document
- WhatsApp with us while we build it, answered the same working day
- Credited toward The Application or The Landing to the end of the next admission cycle, not 90 days, because a Shortlist bought in October is for a window that opens in spring
- One free refresh if you buy more than a year ahead: when your admission round is nine months away we re-verify the fees and reissue the calendar, at no cost, because both are dated and both go stale
Not included
The Shortlist covers one municipality. We call the schools and ask how their places usually go, and we give you their answer with the date we asked. We do not predict vacancies, and nobody can: schools upload their figures in April and they are published the day the application window opens. We do not apply on your behalf, we do not represent you before any school or town hall, and we do not track your files. That is The Application.
We prepare and follow
Where most families should start The Application
€2,450 one-off
Includes up to two children. Additional children €350 each, because a third child is a third set of filings and its own document set.
Your school decision becomes applications that are prepared properly, submitted with you inside the window, and followed until there is an answer.
- Everything in The Shortlist
- Places and requirements re-confirmed with each school before anything is filed, because availability moves
- A document checklist per child, so nothing is discovered missing in the last week
- Your forms prepared, and the documents you send us reviewed before they go anywhere
- Submitted inside the admission window, with you: we prepare every form in Spanish, you submit it under your own identity with us beside you, on a screen-share or in person, and the receipt is yours the same day
- Every conversation with the schools handled in Spanish, so nothing is lost in translation or in tone
- Interviews and entrance tests organised when a school asks for one
- Responses tracked: deadlines, payments and next steps logged as they arrive
- One round of adjustment if availability changes while you are waiting
- Written status updates, so you always know where each application stands
- Scoped and stated: up to three schools, up to two children, one admission cycle, one application round per school, and 45 days of follow-up
- At this level we work at a distance: the conversations with the schools happen in Spanish, by us, without using up your days. The official submission is yours, made with us beside you. If a school asks for a visit, or you want us at an appointment, a day with you on the ground is €450
- WhatsApp with us from the day you start until you have an answer, same working day
Not included
We do not promise a place: schools allocate places, not us. At this level you supply your documents, attend your own school interviews and appointments, and make the payments only a parent can make. We work at a distance, and the official submission is made by you, with us. A day booked with you on the ground is €450 — and one day does not produce a padrón, a NIE and a SIP, because those are separate appointments at separate offices and the waiting time is the appointment system’s, not ours. Being there through the whole sequence is what The Landing adds. More than three schools, a second cycle or longer follow-up is priced separately.
We coordinate the arrival
03 The Landing
€6,900 one-off
Two children, three schools, one municipality. Additional children €350 each, additional municipality €900, days attended in person €450.
We take responsibility for coordinating your school, housing, administrative and arrival workflow, so your first weeks run on a sequence instead of on your evenings. And if you have already chosen the school, or already have a place, this level does not change: the NIE, the padrón, the SIP, the housing and the appointments are still ahead of you, and they are what we do with you.
- Everything in The Application
- School, housing and arrival run from a single sequence, with who does what and by when
- The areas that work for the schools you chose, and the school run checked at the hour you would actually drive it
- Housing search and arrival coordination: your criteria turned into a target property, the areas that fit your schools, the listings filtered, the agents approached and the viewings arranged and attended with you. A foreign tenant with no Spanish payslip is read differently, and we are Valencia landlords ourselves
- Padrón, NIE and healthcare: we book what can be booked, prepare the paperwork, and go with you — to translate, to know how that office works and to answer on the spot. What each body requires, what it decides and anything you must present in person stays yours and your advisers'. We do not sign, and we never act in your name
- Your immigration lawyer, gestor and the other suppliers coordinated by us, so you are not the one chasing them
- School transport, comedor and after-school sorted before term rather than during it
- A 30-day arrival plan, and one central record of tasks, documents, appointments and who owns each
- Coordination meetings through the move, and follow-up after you land
- WhatsApp with us through the whole move, answered same day including the week you land
- Four Shortlists a month, or one Landing and one Application. Two of us do the work, so the calendar is the honest limit
Not included
€6,900 covers two children, three schools and one municipality. The written scope states the rest: how many people in the family, how many children applying, how many schools, how many municipalities, how long we accompany you, how many appointments we attend in person, and whether the housing search and viewings are included. On housing we search and coordinate; we are not your estate agent. We do not negotiate the contract in law, hold your deposit, sign for you, guarantee a landlord accepts you, inspect a property, or give a legal opinion on a lease: your agent and your own lawyer do that, engaged and paid separately, and buying rather than renting is quoted as its own module. Being with you at an appointment is accompaniment and practical support, not representation, and not a guarantee that a body will decide or move at any particular speed. Legal, immigration and tax work stays with the qualified advisers we introduce. Where a power of attorney is needed it is granted to them or used by you, never by us. Travel outside Valencia capital is quoted with the scope, and third-party costs are yours.
Quoted against a written scope and invoiced 40 / 40 / 20. The call is where the scope is set, and it costs nothing.
None of these fits your situation?
Landing mid-year, more than two children, or still more than a year out. Tell us your dates and we will tell you what to do and when, at no cost.
Will you make it in time for the 2027 school year?
Five questions. We tell you which admission route governs your family, which window applies to you and how many weeks you have left.
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Frequently asked questions
How fast do we receive our plan?
The Shortlist is delivered within 7 days of your call. Longer plans follow the schedule agreed on that call.
Could a gestor or solicitor do this instead?
Partly, and you will probably use one anyway. A gestor files what you bring them. They do not choose your neighbourhood, they do not know which school has a place in your daughter's year group, and they do not attend the appointment with you. A solicitor handles your visa, which is genuinely their work and not ours, and we introduce you to ours. What neither of them does is help you decide where your family should live, which is the decision everything else depends on.
Can we not just do this ourselves?
Yes, and some families should. Everything we know is learnable. It took us four years and three municipalities to learn it, and we made the mistakes on our own children. If you have time and no hard deadline, do it yourself. If your children need places in September, the calendar is the problem, not the research.
Why should we start before our visa is approved?
Because the school admission window does not move to match your visa timeline. Families who wait for visa certainty often end up applying for the following academic year.
Will our children get places at the same school?
Each child is assessed and applied for separately. Schools allocate places by year group, so availability can differ between your children even at the same school. We build the shortlist around schools with space across all of your year groups, which is a much harder filter than a list of good schools, and we tell you where the compromises are.
What happens if our children do not get a place?
We do not promise a place: places are allocated by the schools and the administration, never by us. What we guarantee is our side: every agreed application goes in on time and complete. If the May round gives no place, two routes stay open, and we tell you which applies: the July extraordinary phase for the places left over, and, once term starts, the municipal schooling commission, which guarantees a free place in your municipality, though not at the school of your choice.
Are you a law firm or a visa agency?
No. We provide administrative coordination and relocation support. Immigration, tax and legal advice comes from qualified professionals we introduce you to.
How long does it take to relocate to Valencia with a family?
It depends on the route, and the two answers are far apart. Publico or concertado: twelve months, because the statutory round opens once a year and closes. Private or international at a high-demand entry point - Reception, Year 1, Year 7 or Year 12 - eighteen months, because the popular schools place one to three years out. Everything else, visa appointments, apostilles, NIE and housing, fits inside those windows rather than setting them.
What visa do I need to move to Spain with my family?
The main family-relevant routes are the Non-Lucrative Visa, the Digital Nomad Visa, and EU citizen registration. The right one depends on your income source and nationality, which the plan maps to your situation.
How much does it cost to move to Valencia from abroad?
Costs vary by family size, neighbourhood, and schooling choice. Our Valencia cost-of-living guides break down rent, schools, and monthly budgets so you can estimate before you commit.
Do you help with finding international schools in Valencia?
Yes. School timing, child ages, and proximity are central to the plan, and our guides compare British, American, IB, and bilingual options across Valencia.
Is this service for families with children only?
Our focus is families relocating to Valencia, including couples planning for children soon. Single professionals may find the plans useful but they are optimized for family decisions.
Do you work with any visa type?
We cover the main family-relevant routes: Non-Lucrative, Digital Nomad, and EU citizen registration. We outline the right path based on your situation.