The Government approves the employment offer for the Armed Forces and the Civil Guard for 2026

The Royal Decree 170/2026, of March 4, has been published in the Official State Gazette number 58, of March 6, 2026, in the section on “Other Provisions” (section III). The regulation, signed by King Felipe VI and the Minister of the Presidency Félix Bolaños García, was approved by the Council of Ministers at its meeting of March 3, 2026, at the joint proposal of the Minister of Defense and the Minister of the Interior, with a favorable report from the Ministries of Finance and for Digital Transformation.

The provision of positions is based on Article 20 of Law 31/2022, of December 23, on the General State Budgets for 2023 —automatically extended to 2026— and on Article 18 of Law 39/2007, of November 19, on the military career. For the Armed Forces, a replacement rate of 120% is applied, while for the State Security Forces and Corps the rate is raised to 125%, as a priority sector.

Direct entry: 1,256 positions in educational centers

Annex I of the decree authorizes 1,256 positions for direct entry as students in military training educational centers, distributed as follows:

• 1,158 positions for career military personnel, distributed across the Officer Scales, Technical Scales and the Nurse Officer Scale, covering the three Armies (Army, Navy and Air and Space Force) and the Common Corps (Military Legal Corps, Intervention and Health).
• 98 positions for temporary commissioned officers, in the Officer Scales and Technical Scales.

Within this quota, 42 positions are included for the fundamental specialty of Medicine of the Military Health Corps with direct entry without requiring prior qualifications, and 25 positions requiring qualifications (Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry and Psychology). Likewise, 38 positions are reserved for enhancing the Cyberdefense capabilities of the Joint Cyberspace Command, distributed between engineering and non-commissioned officers.

Internal promotion: 1,607 positions for scale change

Annex II provides for 1,607 positions for entry through promotion, which allows career military personnel, temporary commissioned officers, and enlisted troops and sailors to access the Officer Scales, Technical Scales and Nurse Officer Scale. A novelty of this call is the inclusion of positions for non-commissioned officers to access officer scales without requiring prior university qualifications, provided they pass the ECTS credits determined in each call, in accordance with collaboration with the National University of Distance Education (UNED) and other educational centers.

Access to corps, scales and the Civil Guard

Annex III authorizes 2,863 positions for access and assignment to corps and scales once the training processes have been completed:

• 1,168 places for access to the Officer Scale (career military personnel).
• 1,597 places for access to the Non-Commissioned Officer Scales.

In addition, Article 5 of the decree authorizes a maximum of 1,000 places for access to a permanent service relationship for enlisted troops and sailors, and Article 6 opens 500 places to access the status of voluntary reservist.

As for the Civil Guard, Annex IV sets the places for direct entry —with and without requiring qualifications— in the Officer Scale, as well as the places for access to the Scale once the training process has been completed, in accordance with Royal Decree 131/2018 and Order PCM/286/2023. It is authorized that up to 10% of the enlisted troop and sailor places may be offered to foreign nationals.

Consultation with professional associations and the Personnel Council

During the processing, the Ministry of Defense informed the professional associations registered in the Register of Professional Associations of members of the Armed Forces of the project, in accordance with Organic Law 9/2011, of 27 July, on the rights and duties of members of the Armed Forces. Likewise, the Armed Forces Personnel Council was heard.

The regulation enters into force the day after its publication in the BOE, and its resulting calls for applications will be published exclusively in the 2026 budget year, in accordance with the medical exclusion table of Order PCI/6/2019, of 11 January.

Source: Official State Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado), No. 58, 6 March 2026, section III “Other Provisions” (official reference: BOE-A-2026-5289).