The CIEE vs Non-CIEE NALCAP Experience

If you are wondering whether to do the CIEE program or non-CIEE auxiliar program, hopefully this will provide some insight. Benefits of CIEE are the 24 hour support (although rarely used) and health insurance (also rarely used). Another benefit (the biggest one) is the in-person orientation that provides an opportunity to make friends easier. Other than that, the two programs are very similar. CIEE provides little support with housing and visa and iNEXT insurance is a scam. CIEE does makes things slightly easier/nicer with guaranteed placement in Madrid and they have loads of information about the TIE residency card process, but is it worth the $2000 price 🤷‍♀️ . From non-CIEE auxiliares I’ve met, it seems like they just had to go search for the information, making things a bit more difficult and maybe more stressful. It just depends whether you want to spend over $2000 to have the information already collected and get guaranteed placement in Madrid. Otherwise, the housing, the visa, and the insurance is pretty much the same. You cannot go wrong with either 😊