Procedures, expert advice and information on life in the city
The office, both face-to-face and physical, is designed for people who have just arrived or are about to arrive in the city.
The three levels of personalised attention are:
- Basic and practical general information about life in the city. How the education or health system works, as examples of the most demanded by this profile. This information is reinforced by the Barcelona International Community Day event, which hosts thousands of people every year.
- Processing of priority administrative procedures upon arrival. A portfolio of more than a dozen specific municipal procedures, and for other administrations, will be offered, such as the processing of the municipal register or residence permit, mobility procedures or obtaining a digital certificate, among others.
- Expert advice and assessment on key issues, such as immigration, taxation and labour regulations.
The system of attention will be channelled through a specific section of the website Barcelona International Welcome barcelona.cat/welcomedesk, a platform that the City Council activated before the outbreak of the pandemic, which brings together the information required when a foreign person decides to live in the city, including priority procedures and a calendar with activities of interest promoted by both the public and private sectors. . The platform's digital social networks are @welcome_barcelona on Instagram and Barcelona International Welcome on LinkedIn. Another way to be kept up to date with all the news and activities is subscribing to the newsletter.
The method of prior and online appointment allows the attention of both people who have already arrived and those who are planning and preparing for their move to Barcelona.
A key service for a growing international community
Barcelona International Welcome Desk responds to a demand from the local business and technological ecosystem and civil society. The foreign community in Barcelona continues to grow, 2.9% in the last year, and represents 22.4% of the population, according to the latest municipal census. As a significant figure, 40% of the founders of start-ups in Barcelona are people born abroad.
The main profiles of attention of this service and that are defined in the Entrepreneurship Law are people who come to invest, with positive impact on the territory; to create companies in strategic and job-creating sectors, to work as qualified professionals, to research and carry out investigation and innovation, and to study at universities. That is to say, a target audience that creates value in the territory. Furthermore, the new Start-ups Law foresees an improvement in the attraction of talent through procedures and taxation.
Delegation of the Spanish Government, Barcelona Global and 22 @ Network
The Welcome Desk is a strategic municipal initiative that brings together in a coordinated way the services of City Promotion, Barcelona Activa and the Department of Information and Citizen Attention. This municipal service will have the collaboration and involvement of agents such as the Delegation of the Spanish Government, with a role as a key administration for the office to have a real impact on improving the service to the community of international talent; and the ecosystem, with actors such as Barcelona Global and the 22@ Network association, as well as civil society associations and those from the business ecosystem to give voice to the demands and needs of companies and professionals in the city. The office also has the future ambition of joining other administrations and becoming an inter-administrative reference office that can offer a wider portfolio of services to talent.
