The 'Barcelona International Welcome Desk' welcomes international talent serving more than 1,200 people in 2024
The program notes the increase in researchers it helped, which has nearly tripled thanks to greater collaboration with research centers in the city and sector bodies like Biocat, which joined the association in the middle of last year to further its commitment to internationalizing the BioRegion of Catalonia
In 2024, the Barcelona International Welcome Desk, a municipal service for international talent, consolidated its role as a key tool for foreign professionals, researchers and students in strategic sectors who move to Barcelona. The service handled over 1,200 requests last year, up slightly from 2023 when there was a huge jump in activity from the first year of the program (2022).
Since it was launched, the Welcome Desk has helped 3,142 users and handled over 11,600 requests from people with 123 nationalities. Most users are under 30 years old (47%), have a university degree (95%) and are not from the European Union (58%). They mainly come to Barcelona to work in highly qualified positions (29%) or to study at one of the universities (28%).
The program notes the increase in researchers helped, which has nearly tripled thanks to greater collaboration with research centers in the city and sector bodies like Biocat, which joined the association in the middle of last year to further its commitment to internationalizing the BioRegion of Catalonia.
These figures were presented at an event with representatives of the Barcelona City Council, Barcelona Activa and other organizations like the Government Sub-delegation in Barcelona, Barcelona Global, 22@Network and Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation. In addition to Biocat, three other organizations joined the initiative in 2024: Tech Barcelona, Barcelona Health Hub and the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology.
The Welcome Desk provides users with information on arrival procedures, immigration and how to register with the city register of inhabitants, among others. The service offers appointments in person at the 22@ Mediatic building and online with video calls, which has allowed 15% of users to contact them before arriving in Barcelona. The service includes a municipal website called Barcelona International Welcome that offers practical information and a schedule of activities to help international talent settle into the city.