1. Why is xbarcelona called xbarcelona and who are you anyway?

xbarcelona is called xbarcelona because every foreigner who decides to live and work in Barcelona on a legal basis will be X-ed!
This means, that once you decide to live here you will have to apply for an id number for foreigners called NIE (Numero de Identificacion de Extranjero). This number will start with an X (=eXtranjero) and will figure on your residency card (tarjeta de extranjero). It will identify you throughout the whole legal and administrative live here. In the case of foreigners it corresponds also to the tax number or NIF (Numero de Identificacion Fiscal). This number, sometimes also reffered to as DNI(Documento Nacional de Identidad), will be requested when applying for a job, opening a bank account, applying for a phone line, renting a flat, going to the doctor, applying for social security etc... It is your core identifier and your key element to life and work in Spain.

xbarcelona.com has been founded and created in the year 2000 by Nicolas Mériel. It is a microsite revolving around the subject "living and working in barcelona" based on the following 5 principles:

1. free
2. nonprofit
3. useful
4. quality
5. multilingual

xbarcelona has received a lot and most of all very positive feedback. It also appeared in the online version of the well known austrian quality newspaper "Der Standard". Over the 4 years of xbarcelona existence, it's traffic(unique visitors) has increased by over 4000% and the site currently has over 35000 monthly page impressions and almost 10000 monthly unique visits(june 2004). Considering the size of xbarcelona as well as our small team (2 persons) and that besides free link exchanges we have never done any paid advertisements or commercial campaigns whether online or offline we think this is pretty good. Of course positive mouth to mouth recommendations as well as a good and well deserved position in google(check "job barcelona" or "working barcelona" or "living in barcelona") helped. We are slightly proud of having achieved such excellent performance together with you, the growing multilingual xbarcelona community! Thanks!
We believe that these results reflect and confirm that CONSISTENT QUALITY WINS and that our 5 princicples are what people really expect from the internet: free, noncommercial useful and helpful quality websites in their own language!

If you have question please use our FORUM.
For any xbarcelona.com related questions please send an email to info(AT)xbarcelona.com

2. How to find accommodation in Barcelona?

Finding accomodation in Barcelona can be difficult as renting is not as common as in other european countries. Most people rather buy(or still live with their parents) then to rent as on the long run this is more profitable. If you not intent to stay longer than 5 years, renting will probably be your case. Look in the newspaper La Vanguardia www.vanguardia.es on sundays or do as the locals do and walk around in your favourite area and watch out for posting on walls or houses saying piso en alquiler or habitacion en alquiler (flat to rent / room to rent) or piso en veta (flat to sell) and try to chat with people. Check also local supermarkets, irish pubs and posting in universities. Habitatge Joven www.habitatgejove.com a service from the city basically aimed at young people and students offers flats(you will have to go there physically). They have also a very good database on the internet where you can search an find a room in a house or flat to share. Oh-Barcelona www.oh-barcelona.com is another service that provides short term flats and/or rooms amongst other services. Another good place is the big notice board with a lot of posting in la calle ferran 32. There is also a small-ad magazine called annuntis www.anuntis.com which has a aquiler (to rent) and a compartir (to share) section. Ads can also be found and inserted for free in Barcelona Metropolitain www.barcelonametropolitan.com a free monthly magazine aimed at english-speaking Barcelona residents which can be picked up in irish pubs, language shools, bars, consulates etc. Check also www.coleadministradors.com (the have a daily updatd listing about flats) or www.servihabitat.com. Ambassadies and consulates and/or cultural institution as the german Goethe Institut or the french Institut Français might also have noticeboards and or housing services. Check also englisch bookshops as they often have a noticeboard. Finnaly you can of course also go to an agencia immobiliario (housing agencies) but you will have to pay a commision and that can be up to 2 months of rent.

WARNING - RIP OFF! A lot of perfectly sounding ads you read in the papers(often marked with an *) will lead to "agencies" which will tell you that they have exactly what you are looking for and ask you to come by. Most of the time these "agencies" will try to sell you a list of appearingly available flats/houses that perfectly match your search criterias. These lists are often a simple copy and paste version of old (at some stage available) offers from anywhere. Don't loose your time and money here!

3. How to find a job in Barcelona?

Look in the newspaper or the online version of La Vanguardia www.vanguardia.es and El Pais www.elpais.es on sundays under ofertas de empleo (job offers). Sometimes jobs are posted in english, german or french if those languages are of mayor importance. You should also consider online job databases such as www.jobpilot.es, www.infojobs.net, www.infoempleo.es, www.monster.es, or www.bcnred.com/trabajo/bolsas.htm. A lot of jobs from big companies are directly posted on their internet site or at there spanish version site(try changing .com to .es). You can also check directly with language schools(see directory) if you havy any qualifications. See also job section and directory.

4. Where can I learn spanish in Barcelona?

There are a huge number of language shools specialised in spanish for foreigners. To help you find the perfect course you can use the school selector tool at www.oh-barcelona.com (however this is just a small selection of schools offering courses).