Juan More Chance

The Welcome Desk is probably not for you

Its own page opens with the sentence “We are Barcelona’s international talent support service.” Then it names exactly who it is for — the four categories written into Ley 14/2013, the Spanish law for attracting international talent, plus family travelling with them:

EntrepreneursLaunching a highly innovative, job-creating business.
ResearchersComing to do science at a university, research centre or company.
Highly qualified professionalsHolding a job offer or contract in that grade.
University studentsOn a degree, postgraduate or doctoral programme.

If you came to Barcelona to work in a home, a kitchen, a hotel, a care job or a shop, none of those four describes you — and an appointment request that starts by asking which category you fall into is not going to end well.

Two free city services do serve you, with no category test and no requirement to have papers: SOAPI for settling in, and SAIER for anything to do with immigration. Both are below. And three parts of Barcelona International Welcome are genuinely open to anyone — those are below too.

Three welcome services. Which is yours?

All three are run or funded by Barcelona City Council. All three are free. They do not do the same job, and the names do not tell you which is which.

Open to anyone living here
Open to read, no appointment
Limited to defined categories

SOAPI — settling in
For migrants, in every district
Bring it here
Registering on the padrón, getting a health card, enrolling children in school, finding language classes, knowing your rights and what is in your neighbourhood. The everyday business of arriving.
Who it serves
Migrants living in Barcelona. No category test. Monthly group sessions in every district, then a one-to-one if you need one.
Start here
SOAPI, on this page
SAIER — papers, law and urgent need
Anyone living in the city
Bring it here
Residence applications, arraigo, asylum, a legal problem with your status, a social emergency, going home voluntarily. Free lawyers.
Who it serves
Its own page: any person who lives in the city of Barcelona. Public and free, running since 1989. Nothing about papers, because papers are what it is there to help with.
Start here
SAIER, on this page
Barcelona International Welcome — the Welcome Desk
Four categories only
Bring it here
A relocation: a research post, a graduate job offer, a university place, a start-up. Free and confidential, in English, Catalan or Spanish, in person or by video call.
Who it serves
Entrepreneurs, researchers, highly qualified professionals and university students, under Ley 14/2013 — and their families. The desk sits in the city’s Talent Office at Carrer de Roc Boronat 117, Barcelona.
Start here
Read the eligibility in their words ↗
The Barcelona International Welcome website
Free to read, no appointment
Bring it here
Step-by-step English explanations of the padrón, the NIE, public healthcare, school places, transport cards, recognising foreign qualifications, digital certificates and driving licences.
Who it serves
Anybody with a browser. The eligibility rules cover the desk, not the reading. This is the most useful part of the service for most of our readers.
Start here
Priority formalities for living in Barcelona ↗

What is open to anyone

The eligibility rules cover the appointment desk. Three other parts of Barcelona International Welcome have no category test at all, and two of them run in English — which is rare enough in this city to be worth the trip.

The procedure guides

Plain English walk-throughs of the things everyone has to do: registering on the padrón, applying for a NIE, getting into public healthcare, enrolling a child in school, getting a transport card, having a foreign qualification recognised, getting a digital certificate, exchanging a driving licence. Free, no login, nobody to ask permission from. Priority formalities ↗ · Everything you need to know ↗

The events programme

Information sessions, workshops, guided walks and neighbourhood tours. The programme says: participation is free of charge, but places are limited, so register. A good number run in English — recent sessions have included an online talk on Spanish income tax in English, a Ciutat Vella walk covering local services in English and Spanish, and a Catalan-and-English evening for people learning Catalan. See what is coming up ↗

Barcelona International Community Day — Saturday 24 October 2026, 10.00 to 19.00, at the Museu Marítim, Avinguda de les Drassanes. The one day a year the whole thing is genuinely open: more than 68 talks and workshops, and a fair with more than 84 organisations offering information and advice on living here. In English, Catalan, Spanish and other languages.

Entry is free, but you need a ticket, and you get one by registering online.
Register for a free ticket ↗ · What is on ↗

Read the framing before you go. The Community Day describes itself as the annual gathering of the city’s “international talent ecosystem”, so expect a professional crowd. That is a description of who turns up, not a condition of entry — the ticket is open to anyone who registers.

SAIER, in detail

Servei d’Atenció a Immigrants, Emigrants i Refugiats — the care service for immigrants, emigrants and refugees. A municipal service since 1989, free, and open to any person living in Barcelona. This is the one to go to about papers.

Where it is, and how you actually get in
Address	Carrer de Tarragona 141, 08004 Barcelona
Phone and email	+34 931 532 800 [email protected]
Walk in, no appointment	Monday to Friday, 9.00 to 15.00 — but only for urgent cases: a pressing social or legal need, or serious social vulnerability. First come, first served, and the office hands out a fixed number of places each day. The service itself advises arriving first thing in the morning.
Everything else	Request an appointment online. The first one is a phone assessment, and that call is what assigns you the right specialist appointment afterwards. Request an appointment ↗
Phone appointment hours	Monday to Thursday 9.00–15.00 and 16.00–19.00; Friday 9.00–15.00
Cost	Free. The council describes it as a public and free service.

Interpreters, and the condition nobody mentions. SAIER does have an interpreting service — but its page limits it to people who have been in the country less than two years and cannot hold a conversation in Catalan or Spanish. If you have been here longer, plan to bring someone who can interpret for you, and say when you book that you will need language support.

Could not establish: which languages SAIER interprets, and whether Tagalog is among them. The service says it has interpreting; it does not publish the list. Ask when you book.

What it covers

Immigration. Welcome and general information about the city, processing immigration paperwork, and legal advice on residence procedures. Its own published guides cover arraigo — residence for exceptional circumstances — family of Spanish nationals, and other residence permits.
Asylum and international protection. Legal advice, social support for new arrivals, and help if a claim is refused. Guides are published in several languages.
Social support for people recently arrived and for residents.
Training and work guidance — and this is the door to Pròxim, the Barcelona Activa programme that combines legal help towards regularisation with a work plan. SAIER is first on Pròxim’s list of services that can refer you. Barcelona Activa, and which of its services need papers →
Going home. Advice on voluntary return, and on emigrating elsewhere.
Catalan classes. SAIER points you at the CPNL for courses — [email protected], or +34 933 428 080. Our guide to free language courses →

Not claimed here: that SAIER handles recognition of foreign qualifications or the exchange of a driving licence. That appears in the Philippine Consulate’s 2025 orientation kit, but SAIER’s own page does not list it. Ask when you book rather than travelling for it. Barcelona International Welcome does publish an English guide to recognising qualifications ↗.

SOAPI, in detail

Servei d’Orientació i Acompanyament per a Persones Immigrades — the guidance and support service for immigrants. This is the city’s actual welcome service for migrants, and it has an office in every district. If you have just arrived and do not know what to do first, start here rather than at the Welcome Desk.

The monthly district session

A 90-minute group session, run every month in every district, for migrants living in Barcelona. It covers the padrón, the health card, getting children into school, learning the languages, the Servei de Primera Acollida, immigration services and what else the city has. Go to the session for the district you live in.

Book a place. Sessions need registering in advance — open the calendar, pick your district’s session, and send the form. Session calendar ↗
Go to the session. Ninety minutes, in a group.
Then ask for a one-to-one. Once you have attended a session you can request an individual appointment about your own situation. Request an interview ↗

Questions: +34 695 152 724 or [email protected]. There is an information leaflet published in several languages. SOAPI leaflets ↗

The certificate that counts towards arraigo. SOAPI delivers the city’s part of the Servei de Primera Acollida, the reception service set up by Catalan law. It is built from three modules — A and B are the languages, and Module C is 15 hours on Catalan society and its legal framework. Together they earn the Primera Acollida certificate, which supports a residence application.

Module C is taught in Catalan. To join it you must be registered on the padrón in Barcelona and be able to follow spoken Catalan at about A1 or A2 — proved either by having done Module A, by a certificate of 90 hours of Catalan, or by a short language interview before you enrol.

Could not establish: whether SOAPI sessions carry a fee — the council’s page does not state one either way — and whether any session runs in English. The page says only that some activities may have a translation service. Ask on +34 695 152 724 before you book. Also not printed here: the ten district email addresses. The council’s page shows three of them contradicting their own links, so this guide gives you the one phone number and the one central email instead.

The names, and what they mean

Four different city services sound like “welcome”. This is the whole reason people end up at the wrong counter.

Barcelona International Welcome: The city’s service for relocating professionals, researchers, students and entrepreneurs. Website open to all; the Welcome Desk appointment is not.
Welcome Desk · Oficina del Talent: The appointment service inside Barcelona International Welcome, at Carrer de Roc Boronat 117, Barcelona. “Talent Office” is its other name and the more accurate one.
SOAPI: The district-level welcome and guidance service for migrants. Monthly sessions, then one-to-one support. Where to start after you arrive.
SAIER: The immigration, asylum and return service, at Carrer de Tarragona 141, 08004 Barcelona. Free lawyers. Open to anyone living in Barcelona.
Servei de Primera Acollida: The Catalan reception programme — three modules and a certificate that supports a residence application. Delivered locally through SOAPI.
Pròxim: A Barcelona Activa programme pairing legal help towards regularisation with a work plan. You cannot apply directly; SAIER or social services refer you.
Ley 14/2013: The Spanish “Entrepreneurs’ Law”. It defines the four categories of international talent the Welcome Desk limits itself to.
Padrón · padró · empadronament: Registering as a resident of the city. Free, and open to you whether or not you have papers. Nearly everything else depends on it. How to register →

Sources and checks · 9 September 2026

Original summaries by Juan More Chance, based on each service’s own published information. Juan More Chance is independent of Barcelona City Council and handles none of its applications. Eligibility rules, timetables and event programmes change — confirm on the official page before you travel.

The judgement on this page — that the Welcome Desk is not for most of our readers — is not our opinion about the service. It is what the service publishes about itself, quoted above and linked in full. If your circumstances do fit one of the four categories, use it: it is free, confidential, and available in English.

More useful places

Barcelona Activa Philippine Consulate General Barcelona Housing

Barcelona International Welcome