Good news for foreign residents in Catalonia, as the regional government seeks to put a stop to the mandatory online appointment system for administrative processes.
The regional Catalan government recently approved a newly proposed law on administrative practices, which seeks to strengthen citizens’ rights in public institutions.
One of the main points which will affect foreigners is that it prohibits mandatory cita previa appointments as a gatekeeping method by civil servants who want to prevent citizens from freely turning up at public offices whenever they need to carry out a process.
The law will also recognise the right of any citizen to rectify an error made in good faith to avoid potential penalties and oblige authorities to use clear and accessible administrative language.
READ ALSO: What to do when Spain’s ‘cita previa’ website doesn’t work
Spanish legalese is particularly difficult to understand, even for native speakers, so the law aims to make it easier for the everyday person to understand official documents.
Socialist Party of Catalonia’s deputy Ivana Martínez said that the law represents “the beginning of a major reform of the Administration” and will allow for a “fairer, closer, and more humane” relationship with citizens.
A cita previa literally translates as ‘prior appointment’ in Spanish and generally refers to the online appointments you must make before you can go to an administrative office. This would typically be to carry out procedures such as applying or renewing a foreigners’ identity cards (TIEs), registering with your town hall (padrón), sorting out social security matters or getting an EU green residents’ certificate.
READ ALSO: How to get a ‘cita previa’ (appointment) in Spain when it seems impossible
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The main issue with this appointment system is that often there are no appointments available and people typically have to try for months to get one. This is partly because criminal gangs have been using bots to book up all the appointments as soon as they become available in order to be able to sell them to those who need them.
Even though many of these gangs have been caught, the problem still persists.
These appointments should be free, but so many are being forced to pay for them because these administrative processes are unavoidable and must be carried out by a certain date and there is no other way to be able to get an appointment.
Whether or not the Catalan regional government will actually ban these appointments in practice though, remains to be seen.
READ ALSO – €90 for a ‘cita previa’: Spain’s residency appointment scams worsen
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Back in July of this year, Spain’s Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Service Óscar López announced a plan to transform state administration using artificial intelligence. The plan included eliminating these cita previas to access government offices, but four months later, this still hasn’t happened.
Again in 2024, the then Minister Digital Transformation and Public Function José Luis Escrivá announced his intention to scrap the need to book an appointment in the whole of Spain, at the offices of the Social Security, the Hacienda tax agency or the DGT traffic authority, but this never happened either.
In the meantime it looks like residents in both Catalonia, and the rest of the country, will still have to try and book appointments.
It is currently difficult for Brits protected under the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement who were given an initial five-year TIE card, because now is the time that they have to renew them, meaning thousands are vying for these citas at the same time.
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