I am a Filipino in trouble in Barcelona. Who do I call?

If anyone is in danger, hurt, or being threatened right now, call 112. It is free, it works 24 hours a day from any phone, and you can ask for someone who speaks English. For everything else, the Philippine Consulate General has a section called ATN (Assistance to Nationals, the consulate’s help service), and there are three ways to reach it: walk in, phone, or email.

Does this apply to me

ATN is for any Filipino citizen in Catalonia, Aragon, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands or Andorra who is in trouble:

• Arrest or detention.
• In hospital, or seriously ill.
• A death in the family here.
• An employer holding your passport, or refusing to pay you, or threatening you.
• Abuse at work or at home.
• Stranded with no money and no way home.
• A missing relative.
• Trafficking.

Your immigration status does not disqualify you: the consulate is a Philippine office, and nothing in its published ATN procedure asks about your Spanish residence papers. Ask for help.

What it costs

Free. Assistance to Nationals does not appear anywhere on the consulate’s schedule of service fees. Talking to the ATN officer, having your case recorded, and being referred on all cost nothing. If your case turns out to need a notarised affidavit, that is a notarial service and the schedule charges €25 for it. Calling 112 is free.

What to bring, or have ready when you phone

• Your full name exactly as it is printed in your Philippine passport.
• Your passport, or a photo of the data page if you no longer have the passport.
• Where you are now.
• What happened, and when.
• A phone number and an email address where the consulate can reach you privately.
• If the person in trouble is someone else, their name, their date of birth if you know it, and where they are.
• If there is already a police report, a hospital, a lawyer or an employer involved, the name and the reference number.

Where to go, and how to book

• Walk in: Philippine Consulate General, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 601, Planta Principal, 08007 Barcelona, Monday to Friday 08:30 to 16:30. Its contact page says no appointment is needed for any of its services, last confirmed Jan 2026.
• Phone the trunkline: +34 938 288 312.
• Email the ATN section: barcelonapcg.atn at dfa.gov.ph (where this guide writes “at”, type the at-sign).

For work and wage problems the consulate can refer you on to two Philippine offices in Madrid:

• Migrant Workers Office: mwo_madrid at dmw.gov.ph
• OWWA, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration: spain at owwa.gov.ph

How long it takes

The consulate’s Citizen’s Charter sets its own standard.

• If you phone: the call is passed to the ATN officer and you get an interview and an initial assessment immediately on receipt of the call, or within the same day.
• If you come in person: the interview takes 20 to 30 minutes and the initial assistance is given straight away.

Your case is entered in the ATN database the same day, and if it needs Manila, the officer reports to the DFA (the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs) the same day.

What happens next

You get an initial assessment of your case and whatever help is needed immediately. Your case is logged and the ATN officer keeps monitoring it until it is resolved. When you follow up, you are given an update the same day if there is one; if there is not, the officer will tell you that the consulate will call you when there is. Where another agency is the right one, the consulate refers you and copies them in.

What goes wrong

• An email is not an emergency line. Nobody is watching an inbox at three in the morning; if someone is in danger now, the number is 112.
• Second: the ATN form asks for a great deal of personal detail, so send the completed form only to the address the consulate itself confirms to you. Never post it, and never post your passport, in a WhatsApp group.
• Third: if you see an email address on this site rendered as “[email protected]”, that is a display fault on our side, not the real address. The ATN address is barcelonapcg.atn at dfa.gov.ph.

Useful words

Read next

• What number do I call in an emergency? — 112, 061 and the numbers for abuse and self-harm.
• Where is the Philippine Consulate in Barcelona, and do I need an appointment? — the address, hours and what each service costs.
• What are my rights at work in Spain, and what if I clean or care for someone in their home? — if the trouble is unpaid wages, a withheld passport or a dismissal.

Official source

Philippine Consulate General Barcelona, Contact Us page at barcelonapcg.dfa.gov.ph/contact-us, for the ATN email address, the trunkline, the areas covered and the Madrid offices. The consulate’s Citizen’s Charter, linked from the same site, sets out the ATN procedure and the response times quoted above. 112 is the Generalitat’s emergency number for Catalonia.