Typically, journals utilize weekly Altmetric data to identify the most read paper of the week and subsequently promote it on their social media platforms as “Trending in JOURNAL NAME” (for example, see “Trending in PRL” at https://journals.aps.org/prl/ ).

This approach can significantly enhance the impact of your research. Further advice can be found on the Springer Nature website: Springer Nature Publication Promotion.

https://www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/publication-promotion

This guide aims to assist you in the process of disseminating your research through the CSIC’s Communication Department. The objective is to have your work featured on the CSIC website’s “Actualidad” (News) section, accessible at https://www.csic.es/es.

The procedure is outlined as follows:

• Initiate contact by sending an email to the Communication Department at g.prensa@csic.es and comunicacion@csic.es. Explain the purpose of your communication, emphasizing that your paper has been published in a high-impact journal.
  
• If you do not receive a response, consider reaching out to María González Martínez at 915681819 or 687145717, or via email at maria.gonzalez@csic.es. She is part of the Communication Department. Persistence may be necessary, so consider sending multiple emails if needed.
  
• While waiting for a response from the Communication Department, begin preparing a Spanish-language text that covers the following points:
  
  • Your study’s key discoveries.
  • Novel contributions to the existing knowledge in your field.
  • Methods and techniques employed in your research.
  • Potential applications of your findings.
  • The significance of your work and its potential societal impact.
    
• Keep in mind that the text should not exceed half a page in length. You can find examples in the “Actualidad” section of the CSIC website: CSIC Actualidad. Example:
  
  https://www.csic.es/es/actualidad-del-csic/un-nuevo-hallazgo-fisico-avanza-en-la-comprension-de-la-dinamica-de-las
  
• Once the Communication Department expresses interest, they will draft a text based on your content and provide it to you for any final updates. Once approved, the article will be published on https://www.csic.es/es.
   
• Additionally, consider promoting the article on your social media platforms.
  
  By following these steps, you can effectively disseminate your research through the CSIC/IFF Communication Department and increase its visibility.

This document mainly consists of three sections, the first is focused on errands to be completed before arriving in Spain, one short section for things in between where the humble author was not sure where to place it, and the last section on errands to be done after having arrived in Spain.

The following instructions are all made from the point of view of a European Citizen, or a Citizen of the European Economic Area (EU, Switzerland, Norway, some micro states…), but they may also serve as advice for anyone else.

1. Before arriving in Spain

1.1 NIE – Numero de identificacion de extranjero/a

All begins with this number. Unfortunately, not a single Spanish authority will process your application if you do not have an identification number. So the first step, even for your employment contract, is to obtain a NIE.
To that end, apply for a NIE at a General Consulate of Spain if you are residing outside of Spain. Inside, you should ask the National Police.
The form is EX-15 “Solicitud de Número de Identidad de
Extranjero (NIE)” https://www.inclusion.gob.es/documents/410169/2156469/15-Formulario_NIE_y_certificados.pdf and in 2022 the fees were 9.74 EUR.
I have been told that there are several other authorities that accept EX-15 (general consulates, police stations, embassies, foreign offices…)

In my case, I obtained an email which had a letter attached assigning my NIE to my name, birth date, and birth place.
Unfortunately, after arriving in Spain, this letter did not carry enough official weight in the view of some institutions, my bank for example, and initially also CSIC but they accepted it for my contract. People in these cases would sometimes ask you for your ‘real’ NIE with which they actually mean your TIE “tarjeta de identificacion de extranjero/a”.
To recap:

NIE: “numero de identificacion de extranjero/a”, is the letter and number combination you have been given upon filling out EX-15.

TIE: “tarjeta de identificacion de extranjero/a”, is a physical card displaying your NIE together with some personal information. This card actually depends on your citizenship: for EU-citizens it is a green paper card, without any photo, and one laminated side (only an over-glorified piece of paper), and for non-EU citizens it is a plastic ID card with your image on it. Both are credit-card sized. The TIE for EU citizens is only valid in combination with your national ID (or a passport containing your photo). Note that EU here may also refer to the European Economic Area (not sure though).

In section 3, I am explaining how to obtain a TIE as a EU-citizen after having arrived in Spain.

1.2 Equivalencia

Working for CSIC means going through a selection process which unfortunately must adhere to certain antiquated standards.
The candidate must be able to present a university degree equivalent to the Spanish “Grado”, not to be confused with a Spanish degree! The Spanish ‘Grado’ is most often translated as the Bachelor degree. However, the ‘Grado’ encompasses most of the time a 4-year course plan, while the Bachelor degree in e.g. Germany is most often 3 years long. The equivalence to a Spanish Grado is therefore only made in combination with a 2-year Master degree since the Spanish Master is typically only 1 year ( 3 + 2 = 4 + 1).
This might suggest that you actually want the equivalence of your Master degree. However, due to above mentioned antiquated selection processes, this is actually not what you want. I am told that the sole and only necessary equivalence is that of the ‘Grado’, not the Master, so be sure to tick the right box!

The right box is to be found on the application form for the recognition of your degree as equivalent, which has to be filled out digitally on the website of the Ministry of Universities:
https://universidades.sede.gob.es/procedimientos/portada/ida/3513/idp/1030
You need to create a user account and a password. It is apparently not strictly necessary to have been assigned a NIE, neither it is apparently strictly necessary to reside in Spain to apply for this equivalence. The procedure of payment, however, is much easier if one has someone you know residing in Spain as a personal proxy to pay the fee in person. The ministry of universities details a bank account into which one may transfer the fee (166,55 EUR in 2023). However, I did not do this. I was afraid that my transfer would be lost in their account since I was never told which reference to use in the bank transfer to identify my payment to my application. An obvious choice would be the application number, however, I did not find one only after I submitted the application; but the application itself must contain proof of payment… (another bureaucratic Gordian Knot).

2. Somewhere in between

2.1 Social security number

To sign a contract, you need to apply for a social security number,
https://portal.seg-social.gob.es/wps/portal/importass/importass/Categorias/Altas%2C+bajas+y+modificaciones/Altas+y+afiliacion+de+trabajadores/Solicitar+el+numero+de+la+Seguridad+Social
I have not been able to demand my social security number on my own because my phone number was not registered. Moreover, these form do not accept foreign phone numbers. Marcelo managed to find my social security number given my NIE.

3. After arriving in Spain

3.1 TIE as an EU citizen: “Certificado de Registro de Ciudadano de la Unión Europea”

In this section, I am explaining how to obtain a TIE as a EU citizen. In many cases, I have been asked to show my NIE when they actually wanted to see a TIE.
The TIE for EU citizens is called “Certificado de Registro de Ciudadano de la Unión Europea” and it proves your fiscal residence in Spain. Note that your physical residence in Spain (ES: padron) is registered by your municipality and it requires your initiative in form of the (ES) empadronamiento.

Your NIE is a strict requirement for your TIE. Having arrived in Spain is another requirement. You need to be physically present and have a signed working contract.

You can find out all necessary information for your application of your TIE under this link:
https://www.inclusion.gob.es/web/migraciones/w/certificado-de-registro-de-ciudadano-de-la-union-europea-hi-101-

https://sede.policia.gob.es/portalCiudadano/_es/tramites_extranjeria_tramite_certificadoregistro_ciudadanoue.php

For your entry in the official register of European Citizens in Spain, you need the following documents:

1. Copy of your passport of national ID
2. Filled out form EX-18 ( https://sede.policia.gob.es/portalCiudadano/sede_electronica/extranjeria/EX18.pdf )
3. Proof of payment for the fees of EX-18, 12,00 EUR in 2023. You can look up the fee under “Certificado de registro de residente comunitario o Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de un ciudadano de la Unión Europe” following this link https://sede.policia.gob.es/portalCiudadano/_es/tramites_extranjeria_tasas.php
   For paying EX-18, you have to use form template (modelo) 790 Code 102
   a. Fill out form 790-102 online. After filling it out, you have two options to continue: You may pay the fee directly online in case you have a compatible Spanish Online Banking account. Otherwise the website generates a printable PDF from the filled out form, which you then print and carry phyisically to a bank where you pay the amount in cash. BBVA has sometimes machines which can read the bar code and allow one to pay at any time at the machine, in cash!
4. A signed working contract in Spain.
5. The resolution of the recognition in the Public Social Security Insurance “Resolución sobre Reconocimiento de Alta de la Seguridad Social”. The proof of a social security number is not sufficient. The police need to know whether you have a valid health insurance in Spain.
6. If 4. or 5. do not apply, please refer to above mentioned document which details other cases, notably as a Student, allowing you to get registered.
7. I handed in an other document which I was under the impression was not strictly necessary; the proof of “empadronamiento” proof of inscription in the residence register of my municipality. The policeman was only copying the address on my EX-18, not the padron.

Lastly, if you are residing in Madrid, then there is only one office that allows you to apply for the TIE “Certificado de Registro de Ciudadano de la Unión Europea”:

Extranjería Ministerio del Interior
Av. del Padre Piquer, 18,
28024 Madrid

This is, unfortunately, only information one obtains after having been to another Foreigners Office in vain…

The Foreigners Office in Av. del Padre Piquer admits only visitors with a booked appointment (cita previa).
To book an appointment, follow this link:
https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/pagina/index/directorio/icpplus

1. Select Madrid as province
2. Select as procedure: (tramite)
   1. TRÁMITES CUERPO NACIONAL DE POLICÍA
   2. POLICIA-CERTIFICADO DE REGISTRO DE CIUDADANO DE LA U.E.
3. After that, register an account with this website and identify yourself.
4. Lastly, select the office in Avenida del Padre Piquer 18
   

3.2 Registering your Residence & Public Health Insurance

Here, I detail the procedure to obtain a public health insurance card.

In Spain, Health Insurance is dependent on the Region. You need to have your principal residence (ES: el padron) registered within the Community of Madrid. Within the City of Madrid (not the same as the community), you can register your residence (ES: empadronamiento) at any municipality office (within the city) with a pre-booked appointment (cita previa):

1. Follow this link: https://gestionturnos.madrid.es/GNSIS_WBCIUDADANO/tramiteDia.do
2. Select “Padron y censo” as category
3. Select “Altas, bajas, y cambio de domicilo en Padron”
4. At the time of writing, all pre-booked appointments regarding the Padron were unavailable and only given out in person. One could also appear in person during certain business hours. I refer to the instructions on above website.

Doctors and treatments that are covered by the Public Health Insurance are only provided in Public Health Centres. You cannot choose which public health centre you wish to visit, you must register with the “closest” one to you which you can inquire within the Community of Madrid following this link: https://centrossanitarios.sanidadmadrid.org/Default.aspx

To register with this Public Health Centre, you need the following two documents:

1. “Resolución sobre Reconocimiento de Alta de la Seguridad Social” which proves you are covered by the public social security insurace
2. “Certificado de Empadronamiento” you received after inscribing in the Padron of your municipality, proving you are covered by Social Security in this Region.

4. Digital Private Individual Certificate

This section details the procedure of acquiring a Digital Private Individual Certificate from the National Factory for Money and Postage Stamps (Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre) (FNMT)

The digital certificate is highly useful and very practical in digitally signing paperwork for CSIC’s administration as well as official communication with many Spanish Government Agencies, such as the Tax Office, etc.
I would highly recommend acquiring one. I am in fact jealous that not more countries I have lived in possess such a digitalized interaction with their ministries and agencies. The other half of agencies which do not accept login with the personal certificate uses the so-called Cl@ave. Make sure to also apply for it by asking for it at the same time you got to the in-person accreditation of your identity in Step 3 below.

Quoting the relevant passage from their website:
“Any foreign citizen of legal age or an emancipated minor in possession of […] a Residence Card (NIE) may apply for and obtain a digital certificate free of charge to enable him to use his signature and prove his identity securely online.”

Although there are in principle two ways of obtaining a digital certificate, a foreigner with a NIE can only obtain one by accrediting themself in person, appearing in front of an accrediting desk (more on that later).

There are four steps involved with obtaining a digital certificate:

1. Preliminary configuration. To request the certificate, it is necessary to install the software indicated in this section.
2. Request via Internet of your Certificate. At the end of the application process, you will receive in an e-mail to your indicated address a Request Code that will be required at the time of accrediting your identity and later when downloading your certificate.
3. Face-to-face accreditation at an Identity Accreditation Office. Once you have completed the previous phase and are in possession of your Application Code, to continue with the process, you will need to prove your Identity at one of the Identity Accreditation Offices. [Note that Identity Accreditation Office is a loose category of many different desks of several Government Agencies which are allowed to accredit your identity; have a look at the map here: Identity Accreditation Office LOCATOR service. NOTE: Some of those Offices required preliminary appointments to be made before appearing!]
4. Download your User Certificate. Approximately 1 hour after you have accredited your identity in an Identity Accreditation Office and using your Application Code, from here you will be able to download and install your certificate and make a backup copy (RECOMMENDED).

Further details to Point 1:
The software required is based on Java and should run on any desktop machine. The big three are directly supported: Windows, macOS, Linux (Debian, and Fedora), and can be directly downloaded on the website of FNMT. Additionally, there are packages for many Linux distributions, e.g. the Arch Linux User Repository: here and here.

Further details to Point 2:
After installing the software, it must be running while filing the form for the certificate. This should automatically happen once you try to open the corresponding website with any modern browser (they have a list of browsers supported).
The software then copies an anonymous token to your PC to identify, such that the FNMT can recognize it again when downloading the certificate. One can only download the certificate the first time from the identical machine, one has filed the form with. While running the software, you have to set a password for the certificate to unlock. Please ensure a secure password, possibly using a Password Manager to safeguard it, or if you want to memorize it, I personally recommend a nonsensical sentence as a password.

Further details to Point 3:
Note again that one can choose from many different offices to accredit one’s identity. Although one needs an appointment, given the large pool, it should be fairly easy to get an appointment in reasonable time scales (1 week, 2 weeks maximum).
I was personally lucky to also have a civil servant at the desk who asked me if I also want login credentials, the so-called Cl@ave, which is as important when logging into government services as the personal certificate.

Further details to Point 4:
Downloading the certificate is only possible with the same machine with which one has filled out the online form. Afterwards, you can download a security copy and install the certificate on secondary machines.

Trámites previos al viaje

Para minimizar la carga de trabajo de gerencia, vamos a realizar todos los trámites relativos a las inscripción y al aexo 14A, y sólo cuanto tengamos ambos documentos rellenados y firmados, los enviaremos a gerencia.

Gastos de inscripción, vale de gasto

En el caso en que el congreso/escuela/etc. requiera un gasto de inscripción, deberá solicitarse una factura a los organizadores a nombre del instituto y rellenarse un vale de gasto (documento accesible en el link). En el vale de gasto debe incluirse la referencia (o el número de cuenta interna) del proyecto que financie la inscripción, además de una memoria justificativa del gasto. 

En lo que respecta a la factura, debe incluir la siguiente información:

Instituto de Física Fundamental
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
NIF Q2818002D
Calle de Serrano 113 bis. 28006 Madrid

Es posible que el congreso no acepte pagos mediante transferencia (especialmente común en EEUU), en dicho caso será el investigador el que tenga que adelantar el dinero, pero siempre presentando factura y justificante de que no había otra forma de realizar el pago.

Otra posible excepción es que en la factura de los organizadores se incluyan conceptos diferentes a los de inscripción, como por ejemplo comidas, si esto es así habrá que solicitar que se eliminen, pues el vale de gasto es sólo para la inscripción.

Hecho todo esto habrá que firmar el vale de gasto tanto por el investigador como por el I.P. del proyecto.

Anexo 14A

El investigador/a debe rellenar el formulario/anexo 14A donde se recoge la información sobre los gastos a cubrir (transporte, alojamiento, tasas de inscripción…).  Incluso en el supuesto de que no haya gastos que cubrir, por ejemplo que la institución receptora financie todo el viaje, el anexo 14 A ha de ser rellenado, marcando la casilla “Comisión sin efectos económicos”.

Una vez tengamos tanto el vale de gasto relativo a la inscripción como el anexo 14A debidamente cumplimentados y firmados, remitimos ambos documentos juntos a gerencia. Esto debe hacerse con al menos 15 días de antelación al viaje. Llegados a este punto, recibiremos en el plazo de aproximadamente un día el anexo 14A firmado por el director del instituto, y con este documento ya podremos dirigirnos a la agencia de viajes para concertar el transporte y el alojamiento. RECORDATORIO: El anexo 14A ha de incluir en total 3 firmas, investigador/a que viaja, I.P. del proyecto y director del instituto.

Transporte y Alojamiento, agenica de viajes

El investigador/a debe solicitar los billetes a través de la web GLOBALIA (para darse de alta, hay que registrarse en https://age.halconviajes.com/). Los gastos de manutención deberán ser adelantados por el investigador/a. En caso de que el alojamiento se solicite por cuenta propia también deberá ser adelantado por la persona, no así si se solicita a través de Globalia.

Trámites posteriores al viaje

A la vuelta del viaje, deberá entregarse en Gerencia el original de los siguientes documentos:

Transporte

1. Si el viaje se realiza en avión, las tarjetas de embarque originales de ida y vuelta y la factura de GLOBALIA (si la agencia nos envía directamente los billetes).
2. Si el viaje se realiza en tren o autobús, la factura de GLOBALIA y los billetes originales.
3. Si el viaje se realiza en coche, no es necesario entregar factura de gasolina (el coste se paga a 0,19€/km, con la distancia oficial publicada), pero sí el permiso de circulación. Si no es el propietario del vehículo, deberá entregarse la autorización manuscrita y una copia del DNI. Si hubiese peajes, también deben entregarse los correspondientes tickets.
4. Si se han realizado desplazamientos internos, como taxis para la salida y llegada del aeropuerto, también deberán entregarse los tickets correspondientes (no se pagarán servicios de Uber/Cabify/BlaBlaCar o coches de alquiler, a no ser que no exista otro medio de transporte alternativo). No se cubre gastos de transporte dentro de la ciudad de destino durante los días del evento.

Alojamiento

1. Factura de GLOBALIA del alojamiento. El importe se calcula en Gerencia, nunca puede ser el importe de la noche superior a los indicados en la normas (la compañía Globalia tiene constancia de dichos importes). Si el investigador/a que viaja quiere pasarse de los límite establecidos, la diferencia lo deberá de abonar dicha persona. 
2. Factura original del hotel y/o certificado de estancia del alojamiento

Otros

1. Certificado de participación en el evento motivo del viaje (congreso, escuela, etc.)
2. En caso de tratarse de una estancia de investigación, certificado de dicha estancia.

Una vez entregada toda la documentación, Gerencia revisa los gastos y comprueba que está todo correcto. Por último, se firma el Anexo 14B.

Casos excepcionales

En la normativa de viajes se recogen dos clases de casos excepcionales que requieren de la siguiente documentación:

1. En caso de requerir un anticipo para el viaje, esto puede realizarse rellenando el anexo 14C. Una condición necesaria para este trámite es que el anticipo no supere el 80% del coste estimado del viaje (desplazamiento+alojamiento+manutención), y siempre que la tesorería real del instituto lo permita.

2. En determinadas épocas y países, el importe del alojamiento es superior al establecido para el grupo 2. En este caso, para cubrir este exceso de gasto debe rellenarse con al menos 3 semanas de antelación el anexo 15C, acompañado por una memoria justificativa de la necesidad de dicho aumento de importe. Este documento deberá ser firmado por la Secretaría General de Asuntos Económicos.

Annex: Per-diem figures

The PDF below contains the official figures for travel expenses as it applies to members of our group. As an example, for United States, group 2 has 143.04€ / day for accommodation, 69.72€ / day for food and other expenses and you may be reimbursed up to 212.76€ / day.

If you apply to a standard contract, you need to first register with CSIC’s job market. This is the link to the job market, and this is the Spanish version of the same portal. Now, let us guide you through the steps to complete your application.

a) Select the right type of contracts

The first step is to create a profile that can apply to contracts of the right category. In our case, we use PGM3 and M2 contracts for postdoc and PhD applications. Use that option unless told otherwise, or ask your supervisor in case of doubt.

b) Enter contact information

c) Select our institute

Your profile will only receive information about positions that are created in institutes in which you have shown explicit institute. Please mark at least “Instituto de Física Fundamental”, to which QUINFOG belongs.

d) Select your areas of expertise

In order to apply for the right contracts, you have to mark areas of research that overlap with your education and interests. Below we have marked the ones that describe our interdisciplinary work. Please ensure that at least those ones are selected, as we will use them in the filtering process of the application

e) Certificates and degrees

You need to register the academic degrees, masters and other courses you have attended. In case you have completed one or more stages of your education outside of Spain, you need to provide certificates of equivalence, demonstrating that your degrees are compatible with similar ones in Spain. We explain it below.

In order to add some formal education, please click on the link below:

Then complete the requested information. As the form explains, if your certificates do not include average marks, they may need to be entered manually and you have to provide some proof of those marks.

Note the field “Homologation, acknowledgement or equalisation of foreign degrees” (yes, with typos). Here is where you either upload a certificate of equivalence of your degree, or a document stating that you have asked for that certificate.

The process to request equivalence or homologation is a bit involved:

• At the time of this writing, the instructions are in the Ministry of Science’s portal
• You need to apply online but you need to present some documentation in person, either at the Spanish Ministry, or any embassy or consulate.
• The in-person documentation that you need to provide includes
  • A certified copy of documents stating your nationality,
  • A certified copy of your original degree(s)
  • A certified copy of the subjects that you took in those degrees, including marks and number of ECTS credits
  • A certified copy of official translations to Spanish of all those documents
  • Certification of bank payment of Fee (Tasa) 107 for the equivalence process
• You need to apply to obtain “Equivalencia a Grado de Ciencias” (equivalence to a degree in Sciences). Unfortunately, Spanish degrees involve 240 credits (~ 4 years), which leaves Bachelor degrees and Italian Laureates in a strange limbo. We have not been able to obtain any information on how to proceed in those cases.

Unfortunately, the equivalence process is completely devoid of any guarantee of any kind. We at QUINFOG find that it is an unreasonable demand, specially for students from the European Higher Education Space, but if you have any questions, we may try to help you with it. However, we discourage you to initate this process unless you have some certainty because if we hire you with just the application and it is denied, the contract will be ruled invalid and you may be forced to return the money.

f) Documentation

Here is where you upload all certificates and documentation required to validate each merit in your application. Any merit that is not properly certified will be ignored and your application will be discarded.

The documentation includes:

• A compulsory CV
• A photocopy of the identification you used in the first page
• Certificates for any further education you listed (e.g. specialization courses, language courses, etc).
• “Working life” is an official document listing the number of years you have worked in other places or institutions. It only makes sense for Spanish citizens.

Only the CV is compulsory, but make sure you upload also the ID, just to be sure.

g) Finalise

Once your application to the job market is submitted, by clicking “Finalise”. This will upload all the information to the database. Unfortunately, since 2020, a new step has been introduced by which the applicant must confirm their identity.

For that, you have to find the button “Definitive application”, which produces a PDF with the identity of this petition, your name, date, etc. This document must be signed and submitted to CSIC in one of two possible ways:

• You can sign digitally the document using a digital certificate, and send it by email to registro@csic.es
• You can print and sign the document by hand and submit it to “Bolsa de Trabajo del CSIC” at Calle Serrano 117, 28006 Madrid. This can also be done by post, or in person at the registry of any research institute in CSIC.

g) After this…

After this long process, your application will be processed by an external commission, which will assign a mark based on these merits. Profiles that are approved appear regularly, on a bi-weekly basis in a dedicated page.

Please report to us once you have been approved. We need this information to make sure there are enough candidates to actually open the position.

When this happens, we will immediate open a contract, allowing you to select that position as one you are interested in. The contracts typically remain open for one to two weeks. They appear in a dedicate page and you will most likely get no warning, so take care.

Hace unos años, un estudiante de nuestro grupo se puso bastante enfermo durante un viaje a Estados Unidos. Entonces surgió la pregunta de qué coberturas tenemos durante nuestros viajes “científicos”, que no son sino viajes de trabajo.A fecha de hoy esta misma pregunta surge por las denominaciones de contratos aplicadas a estudiantes de doctorado, por lo que la pregunta es eterna y por desgracia nadie eplparece dar una respuesta definitiva. Esta página recoge respuestas parciales a la pregunta ¿cómo asegurar una cobertura sanitaria y de accidentes en un viaje de trabajo? Está centrada en los investigadores de plantilla y contratados del CSIC y puede ser incompleta, o incorrecta: contrastadla con vuestros centros, gerentes, etc.

Tres destinos diferentes

Es importante distinguir entre destinos:

• Si el destino es nacional, las coberturas sanitarias son las obvias: con vuestra tarjeta sanitaria en orden, podéis recibir atención en desplazamientos de corta duración a congresos, universidades y otros centros.
• Si el destino es europeo comunitario, será necesario solicitar una tarjeta sanitaria europea, la cual acredita que estamos cubiertos por el sistema sanitario español y nos sirve para recibir atención sanitaria de emergencia. Hay, no obstante, los siguientes cáveats:
  • Si tenéis un contrato temporal con una duración inferior a dos años, no os emitirán la tarjeta sanitaria sino un certificado en papel sustitutorio. Esto contraviene las directrices europeas y puede resultar en problemas en algunos países.
  • No siempre habrá acceso a centros sanitarios públicos en el país de recepción. Un caso que me viene a la memoria es un viaje a una conferencia en los Alpes. El único médico disponible era una consulta privada bastante cara. Nunca recibí reembolso de los gastos médicos.
• Si el destino no es comunitario y no tiene concierto con la sanidad española, entonces necesitamos algún tipo de seguro médico y de asistencia. Es importante no jugársela: incluso si el país al que viajas es civilizado, nada previene que cojas una gripe fuerte en el vuelo, que tengas una intoxicación alimentaria, o una reacción alérgica a un sistema ecológico en el que nunca has vivido.

Los seguros de viaje

Afortunadamente, si contratáis el viaje (no el alojamiento) siguiendo los procedimientos obligatorios de la administración del estado, estaréis cubiertos por un seguro de viaje global, disponible en http://www.amexnet.es/age. La información en esta página es complementaria a la proporcionada por Halcón Viajes sobre su sistema de atención. A continuación resumo los principales detalles del seguro de asistencia, que es bastante decente.

Teléfonos de atención:

• Halcón Viajes
  • 900811150 (España)
  • 80034547494 (Extranjero)
  • +34 916630204 (móviles en extranjero)
• Seguro Amex (24 horas)
  • Asistencia: (+34) 93 496 89 60 (Indicar código AGE)
  • Retraso, imprevistos, conexiones: (+34) 93 800 20 06 (L-V, 9-17 h)
  • Pérdida, robo de equipajes y efectos: ver web

Coberturas automáticas:

A fecha de la escritura de esta página, las siguientes coberturas están disponibles para los viajes (no los alojamientos) contratados a través de la web de Halcón Viajes para la Administración General del Estado:

• Seguro de Accidentes en transporte público:Cobertura máxima de 750.000€ en caso de accidente en transporte público o coche de alquiler.
• Seguro 24 horas en viaje de negocios:Cobertura de 200.000€ durante las 24 horas del día y en cualquier lugar del mundo mientras se encuentre en viaje de negocios.
• Seguro de Imprevistos:
  • Retraso de vuelos/cancelación/pérdida de conexiones: hasta 450€.
  • Demora en la entrega de equipajes: hasta 450€.
  • Búsqueda y transporte de equipajes, efectos personales y documentos.
  • Robos, pérdidas o daño de equipaje o efectos personales, 5000€
• Seguro de Equipaje y efectos personales:Hasta 5.000€ en caso de pérdida, robo o daño en el equipaje o efectos personales por viaje asegurado en el extranjero y hasta 1.200€ en España.
• Seguro de Asistencia:
  • Transporte o repatriación sanitaria de heridos y enfermos.
  • Regreso anticipado por fallecimiento de familiar.
  • Regreso anticipado por siniestro grave en residencia habitual.
  • Desplazamiento de un trabajador suplente.
  • Billete i/v para acompañante en caso de hospitalización.
  • Alojamiento del acompañante por hospitalización y prolongación estancia del asegurado.
  • Hasta 15.000€ en gastos médicos, quirúrgicos, farmaceúticos y de hospitalización en España o en el extranjero.
  • Hasta 750€ en gastos de tratamientos odontológicos de urgencia en España o en el extranjero.
  • Transporte o repatriación de asegurado fallecido.
  • Desplazamiento de acompañante a restos mortales.
  • Hasta 900€ en defensa jurídica automovilística en el extranjero.
  • Hasta 12.000€ en prestación y/o adelanto fianzas penales en extranjero.
  • Información legal en extranjero.
  • Información de viaje (embajadas, vacunas, etc…).