If you live in Catalonia and want to make an appointment at the employment offices to request and start the procedures for unemployment benefits, aid and subsidies, you will have to make an appointment at the SOC, which is the “Servei D’Ocupació de Catalunya“.

The SOC depends directly on the Inem (Sepe), but in Catalonia, instead of going to the Sepe, we have  Oficinas de Treball del SOC.

Request an appointment at the Catalunya employment offices

INEM online appointment INEM online appointment

You can request an appointment at the employment offices, online, or by phone. The most common and easy method is online, as it allows you to choose a day (if available). The problem with requesting an appointment at the SOC by telephone is that the system will automatically assign you a date, without the possibility of changing it.

Why do you ask for an appointment at the SOC?

Cita previa Soc Barcelona

Most of the procedures for unemployed people who have lost their jobs are processed in the Oficines de Treball de Catalunya, known as the SOC, which is the abbreviation of “Servei D’Ocupació de Catalunya”.

The SEPE is responsible for processing all payments derived from aid for the unemployed, such as Active Insertion Income, Tax benefits, unemployment benefits, among others.

In the event that you only want to sign up for unemployment, (Register as a job seeker), or inform and sign up for an INEM (SEPE) , you will not need to make an appointment at Oficina de Treball.

SOC will help you in:

Within the SOC, in addition to benefits, grants and subsidies, they offer many other tools to help the unemployed without work.

I list a few:

  • Help in the active search for employment (both unemployed and active workers who want to change jobs).
  • Give advice to small entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs.
  • Promotion of courses to reinforce the curriculum of all citizens.
  • Wide range of free Inem and Sepe courses, both in Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona and Lleida.

Offices of SOC

The SOC has more than 70 offices throughout Catalonia. In it you will be able to request the certificates of the companies, find training courses, change the personal data, access or re-registration of the PIN Code, among other procedures.

In the Official Website SOC You can find out about all the procedures you can do. Whether they help you create a curriculum vitae, such as renewing the demand for employment, finding out about the procedures for working abroad, etc.

Here you can find the nearest SOC Office Here you can find the nearest SOC Office

When make an appointment and when not?

Keep in mind that although in Catalonia we know it as the SOC, the operation is the same as the rest of Spain, including SOC workers are officials of the state agency, that is, of SEPE INEM.

Competencies of SOC and SEPE

All that concerns the payment of unemployment benefits and contributory benefits, Active Insertion Income, etc.) The only person responsible will always be the SEPE INEM, and for this, prior appointment at the INEM must be requested in advance. On the contrary, if you are not going to process any unemployment assistance, and you are only going to want to sign up for unemployment, signing up as a job seeker, even if you want to look, sign up and do some training course, it is not necessary to make an appointment before INEM, but you can go the day you want to be visited at the SOC – Servicio de Empleo de Cataluña.

With SOC you can:

  • Inform you about the active job search, no matter if you are unemployed or active.
  • Inform you about starting with a small business.
  • Sign up as a job seeker.
  • Inem training courses – Sepe
Find a job in Barcelona Find a job in Barcelona

 

Keep in mind, that within the offices of  SOC, there will also be the Offices of the SEPE (Inem), they are the same workers, the only difference is that with the SOC you sign up for unemployment, you inform yourself at a general level and about the courses, (without prior appointment), and in the INEM SEPE you will ALWAYS have to request an appointment (demand inem time).

SOC Offices

In Catalonia there are about 75 work offices, to do the following:

  • Request Certificates and Reports
  • Find courses for unemployed and active workers
  • Renew unemployment
  • Search for a job
  • Change personal data
  • Passwords / PIN

SOC website

If you do not want to attend the SOC Offices, you can often make other arrangements through the Oficial (website Servei D’ocupació de Catalunya), and you can process the following:

  • Renew the demand for employment
  • Create your CV easily and quickly
  • Consult and modify your CV
  • Download Labor Reports
  • Professional cards
  • And much more

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