Barcelona route
Birth of a child in Barcelona: step-by-step documents for foreigners
A foreign child born in Barcelona receives a Spanish birth record, but not a Spanish passport: citizenship gives the country of parents and the right to live in Spain needs to be treated separately. Below are 15 steps from pregnancy to escola bressol. Check the points with ticks, the list is kept in your browser.

Short
- Birth registration
- 72 hours
Hospital or clinic itself transmits data to Registro Civil (Ley 20/2011, art. 46) - Nationality
- Parents
Spanish only in cases of article 17 Código Civil, for example if one of the parents is Spanish - Child residence
- 6 months
- application after birth if the parent has a residence permit; 5 years ’ permit - Sent.
- 10,94 €
Model 790 code 052, epigrafe 2.1.5 (order PJC/617/2025) plus TIE 16.08 I - Birth leave
- 19 weeks
each working parent, first six weeks immediately after delivery - IRPF subtraction
- Up to 1,200 per year
deducción por maternidad up to the age of three, plus up to 1,000 I for guardería
Whose route is it?
The list is intended for foreign parents who have a child or have already been born in Barcelona and at least one parent lives legally in Spain: by virtue of a residence permit from Reglamento de extranjería (no lucrativa, work, reunification, arraigo and others), medical and municipal steps are the same for all families.
Individual cases are summarized in step 15: parents without status, one parent is a Spanish or EU citizen, a child to whom no country grants citizenship. If a parent lives in Spain on DNV or another permit from Ley 14/2013, the order for a child is different from step 8: check it before filing. Birth in Spain and a residence permit for a child in Spain.
Childbirth in Barcelona: 15 steps
Get a pregnancy count at ASSIIR
In the public system of Catalonia, pregnancy is administered by the ASSIR (aatencio a la salut sexual i reproductiva) units associated with CAP, your primary care centre.
When you need help, you don't have TSI or you don't have a record at your address: conditions for access to public medicine for your case check with CAP before you first visit.
Make a decision with the hospital.
The hospital for childbirth is discussed in the public system at ASSIR, where the private clinic decides on the contract and the insurance policy. The obligation to report birth to Registro Civil is imposed by law on any hospital and clinic, public and private.
When you need help: giving birth to a private clinic for a policy that is only authorized to live: check in advance whether it covers the delivery.
Check inscripción de nacimiento in Registro Civil
According to Ley 20/2011 (art. 46), a hospital or clinic transmits birth data to Registro Civil within 72 hours, together with the form the parents sign, if the child is born outside the hospital or the data has not left, the parents declare the birth to Registro Civil within 10 days (art. 47).
When help is needed: parents are not married and the father is not recognized, there are differences by name, and the birth took place at home: the language of the recording is difficult to correct.
Order certificado de nacimiento
The certificate is required for almost every next step. It is ordered by sede Ministerio de Justicia: with Cl@ve, the document can often be downloaded immediately, without Cl@ve, by mail.
When you need help: a mistake in your parents' name or data: the correction goes through Registro Civil, before you go to the consulate and extranjería. Cl@ve and Mi Carpeta Ciudadana.
Form the child ’s citizenship and passport at your consulate
The Spanish birth record does not in itself give the child the nationality of the country of his or her parents, and is registered with the consulate of that country according to its rules, and then issued a passport, without which he or she cannot apply for a Spanish residence.
When help is needed: parents of different nationalities, the consulate refuses to register or to record longer than a few months: then the time limit of step 8 is threatened.
Register the child in the padró
Empadronamiento, registration by place of residence and in Barcelona is free of charge, and she is registered for a minor by legal representatives with documents confirming her relationship.
When you need help, your parents live at different addresses or the other parent doesn't consent.
Get a TSI baby and pick a pediatrician.
CatSalut's rules are that a child born in Catalonia is registered as a beneficiary of a parent at INSS, then they ask for TSI at CAP. If the birth took place in a public hospital, some of the data is handed over by the centre itself, but the application to TSI is still needed.
When help is needed: no parent is insured in Seguridad Social: then the basis for TSI is determined separately.
Apply for child residence permit
A child born in Spain to a parent with a residence permit is granted residencia por menor nacido en España (article 159 RD 1155/2024, reference sheet Hoja 41).
When assistance is needed: 6 months are almost past and no passport is available; the child has left Spain; the parent's residence permit expires or is extended: it is worth talking to an extenjería lawyer.
Get a TIE baby.
After the positive decision, TIE is requested personally within a month, the child comes with the parent.
When you need help, it's almost a month on TIE, and there's no record.
Please type out the prestación por nacimiento y cuidado de menor
Each working parent receives 19 weeks of paid leave: 17 weeks in the first 12 months, 6 weeks immediately after the birth without interruption, and 2 weeks until the child is eight years old. 32 weeks in a part-time family.
When you need help: you have recently changed jobs or have not had enough experience: check with the tax and administrative professional (gradoda social), whether you have the right to a preselection or subsidio no contributivo for those who lack the seniority.
Take into account the tax deductions
The Deducción por maternidad in IRPF: up to 1,200 me per year for each child up to three years of age, proportional to the months of the birth, received by the mother who worked with the alta at the Segurid Social, received unemployment benefits or earned 30 days of service after birth.
When you need help, you become a tax resident in the year of birth or the family gets a taxo de eiuda para la infancia: these situations affect deduction.
Deal with libro de familia and evidence
Ley 20/2011 refuses to use the paper libro de familia: instead Registro Civil keeps individual records of each person. While the branches are moving to a new system, the order of issuance of the books varies, and the main document remains certificado de nacimiento.
When you need help, you're asked to libro de familia, and your department won't give it away: specify in Registro Civil what certificate replaces it.
Follow Catalonia's vaccination calendar
The public calendar vaccinations are being applied to CAP, and the calendar is approved by Order SLT/261/2024: all children born in January 2025 are given a rotavirus vaccine at 2 and 4 months, and immunization against VRS is approved during the first epidemic season.
When you need help, you'll get a baby to get a different schedule abroad: the catch-up vaccine is a pediatrician.
Apply for escola bressol
The places in the municipal escoles bressol of Barcelona (0-3 years) are distributed through the annual preinscripción. For the school year 2026-2027, only online applications were received from 4 to 15 May 2026; the child should have been at least 16 weeks at the beginning of the school year.
When you need help: the child is born after preinscripción: ask about the available places within a year, the gardens receive the children in the middle of the course.
Check Special Cases
If one of the parents is a Spaniard, a Spanish child by birth (art. 17.1 Código Civil), if no parent country grants a child citizenship, Spanish citizenship shall be recognized through declaración de nacionalidad con valor de simple presunción in Registro Civil. If parents do not have a residence permit, steps 3-7 shall be recognized and step 8 shall not be appropriate.
When assistance is needed: in all cases, the presumption of citizenship depends on the laws of the parents' country, and in the case of parents without status, the error of steps is costly: first, the examination of the exteneuría lawyer and the citizenship lawyer.
Typical errors on this route
- It is believed that having a child in Spain makes it Spanish: children of foreigners do so only in cases of article 17 Códico Civil.
- They wait for a passport from the consulate and they pass six months to the child's residence, and after the deadline, the journey is through family reunification.
- They don't check the name in the form for Registro Civil: error is then corrected by a separate procedure.
- They put the padró on hold, and without it, CAP will not have TSI.
- They wait 16 weeks for the baby and miss May preinscripción in escola bressol.
Frequent issues
Did the child born in Barcelona acquire Spanish citizenship?
Who registers birth at Registro Civil?
How long before you can get a child's residence permit?
Can you leave with a child before receiving TIE?
How many weeks of maternity leave?
Are they giving out libro de familia now?
To deal with your situation.
If the deadline is already running, the parents have different nationalities or one of the parents without status, we need to review before filing. First consultation: 30 minutes free. Full individual consultation: 121 I in 45 minutes. Maintenance costs are charged separately, fees and transfers are paid separately. Appeal is not included. Approval is not a promise: the decision is made by the agency. The team's attorney, tax and administrative affairs are the responsibility of the tax and administrative specialist (gradoada social) · NEXO
Contribution on the theme
Sources
- BOE: Ley 20/2011 del Registro Civil, articles 44-47 (opened 03.10.2026)
- BOE: Códigigo Civil, articles 17 and 22 (opened 03.10.2026)
- Ministry of Inclusion: Hoja 41, residencia del menor extrajero nacido en España, May 2026 (opened 03.10.2026)
- BOE: Orden PJC/617/2026, duties, pépigrafe 2.1.5 and TIE (opened 03.10.2026)
- Ministry of Justice: certificado de nacimiento (opened 03.10.2026)
- CatSalut: atencio primària i ASSIR (opened 03.10.2026)
- CatSalut: obtencio de la Primera TSI, including for newborns (opened 03.10.2026)
- ASPTCAT: Update of the vaccination calendar, Ordre SLT/261/2024 (opened 03.10.2026)
- Seguridad Social: How to formalize prestatación por nacimiento y cuidado de menor, 11 August 2026 (opened 03.10.2026)
- Agencia Tributaria: deducción por maternidad, to whom the size, size, guardería supplement (opened 03.10.2026)
- Consorci d'Educación de Barcelona: preinscripción escoles bressol 2026-2027 (opened 03.10.2026)
- Ajuntament de Barcelona: Empadrona't, documents for minors (opened 03.10.2026)
The amounts are indexed by the Budget Act, and check them against the Ministry ’s forms 790 before payment. The Ministry ’s source lists are indicative, the standard for the date of submission is applied, and the material is not a substitute for the advice of a lawyer or tax and administrative specialist.
How does this apply to your situation?
Choose a first step in the short quiz or discuss your questions with the NEXO team.
