Reception Guide

Inclusion on the population register (empadronament) of the town or city in which you live results in you being considered to be a resident of the area in question. The population register (padró municipal) is an administrative document that contains the forename, surname(s), address, gender, nationality, date and place of birth, identity document number and level of studies of each person included in it. You should go to the citizen services office (Oficina d'Atenció al Ciutadà) of your town or city to sign up for inclusion on the population register.

Everyone in Catalonia signs up for inclusion on the population register, regardless of their administrative status. You can therefore use a passport for for the purpose of signing up, although you should use a foreigner identity card instead if you have one. If you are an asylum seeker and you do not have a passport, you may use your provisional asylum seeker document sign up.

Signing up for inclusion on the population register, as doing so results in a number of rights and duties, including:

• The right to public healthcare (assistència sanitària).

• The right to basic primary social services (serveis bàsics d'atenció social primària).

• The right to use the services of open centres for children and teenagers (centres oberts per a adolescents i infants).

• The right to urgent social aid (ajudes d'urgència social).

In addition to your identity document, when signing up for inclusion on the population register you will need to provide proof of your address by means of your home's property deeds (escriptures de propietat) or rental contract (contracte de lloguer), or any other document that shows that you live there, such as a bill for gas, water or electricity supplies (subministraments). If you are neither the owner or the tenant of your home, you will need authorisation from those people to use the address in question for the purpose of signing up. In such cases, you will have to provide a document proving that you have such authorisation or will need to be accompanied by the owner or tenant when registering on the signing up.

Non-EU citizens who have no long-term residence in Spain, must renew every 2 years their municipal registration. Otherwise the Municipal Council will invalidate our registration.