How do I get a health card (TSI)? Do I need papers?

You apply for the health card at your CAP (centre d’atenció primària, the public health centre for your address), or online on CatSalut’s own form. It is free. The card is the TSI, targeta sanitària individual, and the number printed on it is what opens every other door in the Catalan health system.

Does this apply to me

Yes, if you live in Catalonia. The gate is the padrón (Barcelona City Council’s register of residents), not your immigration status. Spanish law is explicit: people who are not registered and not authorised to reside in Spain “have the right to health protection and healthcare on the same conditions as people of Spanish nationality” — Real Decreto-ley 7/2018, article 3 ter.1, still in force in the consolidated text read on 9 Sep 2026. If anyone tells you that you must first wait three months on the padrón, that minimum was removed by Real Decreto 180/2026. Children under 18 are covered by article 4(a) of that decree, and pregnancy, birth and post-natal care by article 4(b), whatever the mother’s papers. What CatSalut does still require for the card itself is that you are registered on the padrón in a municipality in Catalonia: being on the padrón in Madrid or Zaragoza does not get you a Catalan health card.

What it costs

Free. The application is free and CatSalut posts the card to your home at no charge — “el CatSalut us enviarà gratuïtament la TSI per correu postal”, on the application page as read on 9 Sep 2026. Nobody should charge you, and no gestor (a private paid paperwork agent, not a public office) is needed. Medicines are a separate matter and they are not free. What you pay depends on the coverage level you are assigned:

Those figures were last updated on the CatSalut coverage pages on 2 Jun 2025 and co-payment rates change, so ask at the CAP or at the pharmacy what you will pay before you collect a prescription.

What to bring

Three things, if you go to the CAP.

• Your identity document — passport, NIE (Número de Identidad de Extranjero, the foreigner identification number) or DNI. A passport on its own is accepted.
• A padrón certificate (certificat d’empadronament) issued less than three months ago. Bring it. There is a box you can tick instead, letting CatSalut check your padrón record online with your council, but that works only if your council offers the online service — and if it does not, you will be asked for the paper certificate anyway. Bringing it costs you nothing and saves a second trip.
• If you are applying for someone else, proof that you may act for them: the birth certificate, a copy of the family book, or a document showing legal representation.

If you use the online form instead, you need a working email address and a mobile number. Both are compulsory, because the receipt carrying your CIP number arrives by email. The form lets you attach a photograph of your document as a PDF, JPG or JPEG of up to 2,048 kb, so the whole application can be done from a phone.

Where to go, and how to book

In person: the CAP assigned to your address. Find it with CatSalut’s address finder. CatSalut’s instructions do not mention a cita previa (advance appointment) for the health-card counter, and CatSalut does not say either way, so phone your CAP or 061 before you travel.

Online: the form is at CatSalut’s TSI application form — five steps, no login and no digital certificate, and DNI, NIE and passport are all accepted. The form exists in Catalan, Spanish and Aranese only. At the desk, the sentence you need is “Vull demanar l’alta de la TSI” in Catalan, or “Quiero solicitar el alta de la TSI” in Spanish: I want to apply for a health card.

How long it takes

Apply online and, if the automatic checks pass, CatSalut emails you a provisional receipt carrying your CIP number, and that receipt already gives you access to public health centres and services before the plastic card arrives. If a check has to be done by hand, the application goes to pending and is resolved over the following days. CatSalut publishes no delivery time for the physical card, and none for the in-person route either, so ask at the counter what to expect.

What happens next

You get a CIP (codi d’identificació personal), the number that identifies you inside the health system. Once the CIP exists, a digital version of your card is generated automatically and appears in the La Meva Salut app, with no separate procedure. The CIP is enough to be seen at your CAP and to book an appointment. For a pharmacy, take your card, digital or plastic, because CatSalut says the card-reading systems are still being rolled out and not every counter can yet read the digital one.

What goes wrong

• People assume the health card follows the immigration papers. It does not — it follows the padrón. If you are not registered, that is the step to do first, at the council, and it is a separate free procedure.
• Adverts and intermediaries who charge to “process your TSI”. The form is free, it is short, and you can hand it in yourself.
• Waiting for the plastic card before seeing a doctor, when the CIP is already enough.
• Accepting a refusal at the desk. If you are turned away, ask for the reason in writing, then take it to SAIER (Servei d’Atenció a Immigrants, Emigrants i Refugiats, Barcelona City Council’s free service for migrants and refugees). Book at ajuntament.barcelona.cat/cita/saier — the appointment is attended by telephone, not in person. Their office at Carrer Tarragona 141 sees people without an appointment only for urgent or vulnerable cases, Monday to Friday from 9.00, with a limited number of places each day, so go early. Phone 93 153 28 00 or email saierinfo at bcn.cat (where this guide writes “at”, type the at-sign). SAIER has interpreters for people who have been in the country less than two years. SAIER is for people living in the city of Barcelona; if you live in L’Hospitalet, Badalona, Santa Coloma, Cornellà or another municipality, ask for the equivalent service there.

Useful words

Read next

• How do I register on the padrón? Do I need papers? — the padrón is the requirement, and it comes first.
• How do I get a La Meva Salut account? — the card is what unlocks the appointments, results and messaging.
• Where do I get free legal advice on immigration, arraigo or family reunification? — if a desk refuses you, that is the free door to knock on.

Official source

CatSalut, “Obtenció de la TSI”, catsalut.gencat.cat/ca/coneix-catsalut/acces-sistema-salut/la-tsi/obtencio-tsi — the government of Catalonia’s own instructions for applying, page updated 27 Nov 2025. The legal right is Real Decreto-ley 7/2018 article 3 ter.1, and the removal of the three-month padrón minimum is Real Decreto 180/2026, both in the state gazette at boe.es.