Reception and Support is a process by which immigrant residents gradually acquire the social resources they need in order to live with autonomy and equal opportunities in the host society and everywhere in the city.
Reception and Support is provided through a network of services and city organisations that carry out the following tasks:
- Reception and orientation to enable easy access to basic city information, orientation regarding circuits and itineraries for support in the neighbourhoods and concerning rights and responsibilities, legislation of specific interest, resources, administrative procedures, and so on.
- Orientation and referral for access and standard use of basic services: resident registry, legal advice, getting to know the neighbourhood, learning languages, job orientation, healthcare system, social emergencies services, validation of foreign studies, housing, sports, community-based organisations, and so on.
- Legal advice and support for administrative procedures, when possible.
- Basic language training (Basic Catalan and Spanish, literacy, learning other languages, and so on).
- Support actions and projects for job placement.
- Actions for promoting social participation, the integration of immigrant residents to the city and social cohesion.
- Actions and projects aimed at youth, women, and others.
Information Sessions
Barcelona City Council, by means of the Orientation and Support Service for Immigrant Residents (SOAPI), provides two-hour group information sessions throughout the year in all city districts. Some issues covered in these sessions are:
- Presentation of the city of Barcelona, and its territorial and administrative structure.
- Knowledge of essential resources and services: healthcare, education, social services, and so on.
- Basic immigration procedures: settlement, renewals, citizenship, and so on.
- Validation of foreign studies.
- Rights and obligations.
- Languages, customs, and civic rules and regulations.
- Community-based organisations, culture, leisure.
An attendance certificate is provided at the end of each session. This is useful for some immigration procedures.
Primary Reception Service Certificate
The Primary Reception Service Certificate may be useful in some immigration procedures. This certificate is granted by the Generalitat de Catalunya based on previous information from City Council. It is an accreditation for having followed a set of training activities. The certificate can be obtained by doing the following modules:
Module A: Learning Catalan and Spanish with at least 90 hours of training in each of the two official languages (Levels A1/A2). This training module is provided by Centres for Language Standardisation, Adult Education schools and some social organisations authorised by the Generalitat.
Module B: Job placement training of at least 15 hours. This training module is provided by the Employment Service of Catalonia and by some social organisations authorised by the Generalitat and City Council.
Module C: Knowledge about Catalan society and its legal and regulatory framework, with a minimum of 15 hours. This training is provided by the Orientation and Support Service for Immigrant Residents (SOAPI) and by social organisations authorised by the Generalitat and City Council.
The system responsible for the primary reception service and for obtaining the primary reception certificate provides for the validation of users' previous knowledge and training relevant to contents included in modules A, B and C.
For more information regarding training and where it is provided, please check the following addresses:
Module A:
Catalan language courses: http://www.cpnl.cat/
Adult Education schools: http://www.edubcn.cat/
Social organisations that provide language courses. Filter your search in the social organisations browser.
Modules B and C:
These are provided by social organisations and by City Council's Orientation and Support Service for Immigrant Residents (SOAPI) (see calendar on bottom of page).
If you provide evidence that you have done these modules, you can request the primary reception service certificate here.
More support resources
- Care Service for Immigrants, Emigrants and Refugees (SAIER)
- Calendar of reception sessions and training in Module C in city districts provided by SOAPI
Documents
- Reception and assistance guide
- Guia d'acollida i acompanyament de Barcelona
- Guia de acogida y acompañamiento de Barcelona
- Guide d’accueil et d’accompagnement de Barcelone
Calendar for Reception sessions / Module C
These informative sessions are provided by the Orientation and Support Service for Immigrant Residents (SOAPI). They provide information about rights and responsibilities, procedures, services, resources and socio-cultural details of the city, among other issues. Pre-registration required to access the training “Knowledge of catalan society and its legal framework / Module C”. More Information
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