City guides complement the topic pages on Spain. The rules on legal status, documents, work, taxes and benefits are the same across the country, so they are described in the sections Legal status, Documents, Work, Taxes, Benefits and Money. A city guide covers only what depends on the place: where exactly to go, how to book an appointment, which documents this particular municipality requires for padrón (the municipal register of residents) and who helps free of charge.
How do the cities differ?
The cities differ most in where you file a temporary protection application, how you book an appointment with the immigration office (Oficina de Extranjería) and which documents are required for padrón.
| City | What is special here |
|---|---|
| Barcelona | The CREADE center books temporary protection appointments by phone, and the application is accepted by the National Police at C/ Guadalajara 1-3. TIE cards are processed by the police at Rbla. Guipúzcoa 74. In-person appointments for arraigo (a residence permit for people who already have ties to Spain) at the Oficina de Extranjería are given only by email. |
| Madrid | Protection applications are accepted only at CREADE in Pozuelo de Alarcón. For initial applications, the Oficina de Extranjería books appointments by email with the set of documents in PDF, and TIE cards are issued in Aluche. |
| Valencia | There are two official channels to book a temporary protection appointment: the ministry's list names an email to the police at [email protected], while the Oficina de Extranjería brochure (October 2026) names the state appointment portal. TIE cards are issued by the Comisaría de Patraix. |
| Alicante | Protection applications in the province of Alicante are accepted by the police at Calle Ebanistería 4 y 6; according to the 2024 report of Pangea, the municipal service for migrants, two mediators for Slavic languages worked there. |
| Torrevieja | Ukrainians are the city's largest foreign community: 10,787 of 113,453 residents in the padrón as of 12 May 2026. CREADE Torrevieja gives advice and opens access to the reception system. For the protection application itself, the ministry advises contacting the local National Police station first; the list of application points for the province names Alicante. |
| Málaga | Protection applications are accepted by CREADE. Padrón registration is done only in person, and under the annex to the registration form (version of 16 June 2026), a bill or contract for water, electricity or gas and a copy of the landlord's ID document are added to the rental contract. |
Consular districts are divided as follows: Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands are served by the Consulate General of Ukraine in Barcelona; Andalusia, Murcia, the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla by the consulate in Málaga; Madrid and most other regions by the consular section of the embassy in Madrid.
Why is there not a guide for every city?
A guide appears only when the local facts could be checked on official websites: those of ministries, the police, the city hall (Ajuntament / Ayuntamiento), the regional government and the consulate. If there are few such facts or they repeat the general rules, we do not make a separate page, because the general pages are enough. Each guide collects whatever could not be confirmed for its city in a separate section at the end.