No appointment at SEPE or Seguridad Social to claim unemployment or a benefit in time

Check your options

Choose the route that fits your situation. Official guidance and external experiences are labelled separately.

1. official route

   Send the pre-application (presolicitud) online: no appointment needed

   1. First make sure you are registered as a job seeker with your region's employment service; SEPE requires it before you apply.
   2. Open SEPE's Área Personal and log in with a digital certificate, DNIe or PIN SEPE (the PIN arrives by SMS at the mobile you gave your regional employment service).
   3. Go to Gestiones, press "Presolicitud prestación", fill it in and send it within 15 working days of your last day worked (or of the end of your paid, untaken holidays).
   4. Download the receipt (resguardo) and the proof (justificante) and keep them.
   5. A benefits officer has to validate it; SEPE may call or email you to ask for documents. With PIN SEPE you can send only one per week.
   6. Check it in Área Personal under Gestiones > Historial de presolicitudes, and the application under Prestaciones > Solicitudes.
   7. If the 15 working days have already passed, apply anyway: you lose the days between the deadline and your application, not the whole benefit.
   8. Don't pay anyone for an appointment: you don't need one for this.

   These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances.

   Sources: sede.sepe.gob.es · sede.sepe.gob.es · sepe.es · sede.sepe.gob.es · sepe.es · sepe.es · external accounts · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

2. official route

   Apply for the benefit in full online with a digital certificate, DNIe or Cl@ve

   1. Get a digital certificate, DNIe or Cl@ve if you don't have one (to sign with Cl@ve you need the advanced registration and the mobile you registered in Cl@ve).
   2. Be registered as a job seeker with your region's employment service.
   3. In SEPE's electronic office open "Solicitud de prestaciones" and choose your benefit (contributory benefit, subsidy, etc.). For the contributory benefit you can also try "Reconoce tu prestación", which decides it on the spot.
   4. Sign and finish, then attach the documents listed on the receipt the system gives you.
   5. SEPE says an application registered this way is as valid as one filed in person.

   Sources: sede.sepe.gob.es · sepe.es · sepe.es

3. official route

   Register as a job seeker online with your region first

   1. From SEPE's "Trámites de demanda" page, open your region's employment service (in Ceuta and Melilla you do it in SEPE's own electronic office).
   2. Log in with a method your region accepts (for example a digital certificate or DNIe) and register as a job seeker.
   3. If you were registered at some point in the 180 days before your benefit is recognised, SEPE says the registration is done automatically.
   4. Then send your benefit application or presolicitud to SEPE.

   These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances.

   Sources: sede.sepe.gob.es · sede.sepe.gob.es · external accounts

4. official route

   File the paper application at any public registry office or at Correos

   1. Download the official application form (Modelo oficial de solicitud) from SEPE's page for your benefit and fill it in.
   2. Take it, with copies of the documents it lists, to the registry of any State, regional or town hall office (find one in the registry office finder), or send it by administrative mail (correo administrativo) from a Correos office.
   3. Do it within 15 working days of your last day worked.
   4. Ask for a copy stamped with the date and keep it.
   5. You must already be registered as a job seeker.

   Sources: sepe.es · sepe.es · administracion.gob.es · boe.es

5. official route

   Seguridad Social: request your pension or benefit online without any digital ID

   1. If you have Cl@ve or a digital certificate, use Tu Seguridad Social; if not, go to "Solicitud y trámites de prestaciones de la Seguridad Social" (tramites.seg-social.es).
   2. Pick your procedure (retirement pension, birth and childcare, sick leave, health care, Ingreso Mínimo Vital, certificates...) and download its PDF form.
   3. Fill it in and press "Enviar solicitud".
   4. Verify your email with the code they send, upload photos of both sides of your DNI/NIE and take a live selfie holding it.
   5. Give your province and town, attach the form and the documents it lists, sign and send.

   Sources: revista.seg-social.es · sede.seg-social.gob.es · tramites.seg-social.es

6. official route

   Seguridad Social: get through by phone, or book a phone appointment

   1. Call the INSS information lines 915 42 11 76 or 901 16 65 65 (9:00 to 20:00, weekdays that are not holidays) and be ready to wait.
   2. Or book an appointment by phone at 901 10 65 70 / 91 541 25 30, or online without a certificate, and choose "atención telefónica": they call you on the day and time set.
   3. If the office you want has no appointments, Seguridad Social says you can book at another centre.
   4. Seguridad Social also says that, in case of need, you can go to any CAISS in person; people in this case report being turned away at the door, so try the phone and online routes first.

   These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances.

   Sources: sede.seg-social.gob.es · sede.seg-social.gob.es · external accounts