Funcionario de Carrera vs Interino: The Real Difference

A funcionario de carrera holds a permanent civil service post won through an oposición, with an indefinite relación estatutaria governed by administrative law. A funcionario interino is appointed temporarily, to cover a specific need such as a vacancy pending selection, a leave of absence, or a substitution, and does the same job but without the permanence. Under Spanish law, both are regulated by the TREBEP, the Estatuto Básico del Empleado Público (Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2015), which spells out this distinction directly.

The practical gap shows up mostly in job security, not in day-to-day duties, since an interino often performs identical functions to a carrera colleague in the same office.

What the law actually says

Article 10 of the TREBEP defines funcionarios interinos as those appointed as such “por razones expresamente justificadas de necesidad y urgencia,” for reasons of expressly justified need and urgency, to perform the duties of funcionarios de carrera when one of these situations applies: an existing post is vacant and cannot be filled by a carrera funcionario, the substantive holder is temporarily absent, there is a specific programme of a temporary nature, or there is an excess or accumulation of tasks for a limited time.

Funcionarios de carrera, by contrast, are those who, having passed the corresponding selection process and completed any probation period, hold posts on a permanent basis and are bound to the administration by a statutory relationship regulated by administrative law, as set out in Article 9 of the same statute.

Same conditions, different stability

While the interino relationship lasts, the law requires broadly equal treatment: interinos generally work the same schedule, accrue holidays, and receive comparable pay for the same role as a carrera colleague. What they do not have is the guarantee of the post itself. An interino’s appointment ends when the situation that justified it disappears, most commonly when the substantive holder returns, when the post is filled through an oposición, or when the temporary programme concludes.

This is different from being on a bolsa de trabajo, which is the waiting list mechanism that gets you called into an interino post in the first place, not the employment status itself.

Why does interinidad have a time limit?

Spanish and EU case law has pushed hard against administrations using successive interino appointments to fill what are, in practice, permanent staffing needs. The general rule that has developed limits the duration of a single interino appointment tied to a vacant post, and repeated abusive renewal of temporary status has been the subject of major litigation in Spain over recent years, precisely because it undermines the oposición system’s promise that permanent access runs through merit-based competition, not indefinite temporary appointment.

The practical upshot for an interino is that your position is not meant to be permanent by design, even where it lasts years in reality, and the corresponding post is expected to be covered eventually through an oposición.

Does time as an interino help you become funcionario de carrera?

Not automatically, but it often helps indirectly. Time worked as an interino is frequently one of the criteria weighted in the merits phase (baremo) of a concurso-oposición, so documented interino service can add real points once you sit and pass the exam for a fixed plaza. What it does not do is substitute for the exam itself; there is no path from interino status straight to funcionario de carrera without passing a selection process, since that would defeat the constitutional principle of mérito y capacidad the whole system rests on.

If you are deciding whether to build up interino time before your next attempt, or go straight for turno libre vs promoción interna, and whether repeated attempts are even allowed, see how many times you can sit an oposición for the mechanics of retrying.

Frequently asked questions

Can an interino be dismissed at any time? No, only when the circumstance that justified the appointment ends, such as the return of the substantive holder or the post being filled through an oposición, not at the administration’s free discretion.

Do interinos have the same salary as career civil servants? Generally yes, for the same category and post, since the applicable pay scale attaches to the post, not to the type of appointment, though specific supplements can differ.

Is personal eventual the same as interino? No. Personal eventual holds posts of trust or special advisory roles, freely appointed and freely dismissed, and does not perform functions reserved to civil servants; it is a different category from interinos entirely.

Can I sit an oposición while working as an interino? Yes, and many candidates do exactly that, sitting the same corps’ oposición they are already covering temporarily as an interino.

Which body’s requirements govern whether I can become an interino? Each administration’s own rules, usually drawn from an existing bolsa de trabajo, so the requirements mirror whatever process created that bolsa in the first place.