# Help - hydraulic engineer work



## Guvna01 (Feb 17, 2018)

Hi

I a after honest info please, My husband and I have wanted to move to Spain for some years but I have always put us off as our children were young didn't want to take them out of school ect ect. Well we have decided to go for it as our children are all older now. My husband is a hydraulic engineer by trade how hard is it to find work we are really new to all this so any help and where to start would be great.

thanks


----------



## tebo53 (Sep 18, 2014)

Guvna01 said:


> Hi
> 
> I a after honest info please, My husband and I have wanted to move to Spain for some years but I have always put us off as our children were young didn't want to take them out of school ect ect. Well we have decided to go for it as our children are all older now. My husband is a hydraulic engineer by trade how hard is it to find work we are really new to all this so any help and where to start would be great.
> 
> thanks


Hi,

I worked for a while on hydraulics and it will be virtually impossible to find a position in that, or any other engineering trade on the Spanish Costas. You will need to live well inland maybe as far as Madrid. The hydraulic company I worked for had a branch in Madrid. 

You don't say your ages or wether you can speak any Spanish. To work full-time in Spain will probably require fluent Spanish. 

Work on the costas is very difficult to find as Spain has one of the highest unemployment rates in the eu. Highly unlikely to find anything like bar work or maintenance type of employment (which is low paid and very long hours)

To move to Spain permanently you will need to acquire an NIE number, have full healthcare (private in your case) and a regular income which is sufficient to satisfy the authorities that you will not become a burden on the state. 

There is loads of informative threads on here which will be full of all the information you need. Do loads and loads of research. 

Don't forget that nobody knows what will be the case after Brexit. 

Steve


----------



## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Guvna01 said:


> Hi
> 
> I a after honest info please, My husband and I have wanted to move to Spain for some years but I have always put us off as our children were young didn't want to take them out of school ect ect. Well we have decided to go for it as our children are all older now. My husband is a hydraulic engineer by trade how hard is it to find work we are really new to all this so any help and where to start would be great.
> 
> thanks


Welcome 

Firstly, whilst the Spanish economic situation is picking up The unemployment rate although falling is still high. In Spain it fell to 17.22 percent in the second quarter of 2017 from 18.75 percent in the previous period.

I know nothing about your husband professions but I’m pretty sure he’d need to be absolutely fluent in Spanish to be employed in that area. 

You don’t say how old approx you are and how old your children are? When you say older are they older as in left home or coming with you. 

Jobs are not easy to come by particularly jobs that provide sufficient income to maintain a family. Will you rent here or buy, where are you looking at moving to, these are all questions relevant to any answers. If you came to my area there would be little chance of any employment, there’s one international school which is a three hour rebound trip from me... other areas may have more opportunities.

Residency

First question to ask yourself can you fulfill residency requirements 

Healthcare .... if not employed, under under state pension age you will need private healthcare
Income....... requirements seem to range depending on where you are but ball court figure €700pm per person 
Housing..... either own house or rental contract 


Have you been to Spain before, what areas do you like. What do you expect when you get here, how much money do you need to live on. 

Brexit has to be mentioned, even those of us that have lived here for a while have no idea what the consequences will be for us let alone new people arriving. All above requirement may or not change post next year who knows

Positives

Wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, but We were 55 when we took early retirement, live off a small pension and savings and certainly don’t have a whizz bang lifestyle. 

Everything is so subjective. 

Spend sometime searching through this forum you’ll get an idea of the ups downs, job prospects etc

Good luck


----------



## Guvna01 (Feb 17, 2018)

Thank you for your advice i have been looking through the site trying to get a plan sorted. My children are 14 17 and 18 so the plan is to have 4 of us working think its going to take a lot more research. Thank you


----------



## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

I have been told by a Human Resources executive that there is no way he would hire a British worker until the final outcome of Brexit is known.

Discrimination? Yes. 
Surprising? Not really.


----------



## Guvna01 (Feb 17, 2018)

Thank you for your help


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Guvna01 said:


> Thank you for your advice i have been looking through the site trying to get a plan sorted. My children are 14 17 and 18 so the plan is to have 4 of us working think its going to take a lot more research. Thank you


Unfortunately this is not very realistic especially if you are thinking of the south of Spain. As other have said unemployment is still high here, but for young people it's extremely high. Here is a link to page that shows unemployment by area (Comunidad Autonoma) and for Andalucia, for people under 25 it stands at 47.9%
https://www.datosmacro.com/paro-epa/espana-comunidades-autonomas
There are some jobs to be had, but you can imagine the conditions... You would likely find yourselves working in precarious conditions with no contract, or a contract that doesn't reflect your real working hours and almost certainly temporary.
I'm sorry to say it's not a good moment for foreign unskilled workers in Spain, or skilled come to that.
You may be better off finding more stable work in the UK with frequent holidays abroad.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

And, as if you needed more bad news, but the 14 year old would need to go into private schooling as s/he would not cope in state education because of the language. The amount of exams and homework here at that age is enormous and there would be little help for an English speaker


----------



## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Guvna01 said:


> Thank you for your advice i have been looking through the site trying to get a plan sorted. My children are 14 17 and 18 so the plan is to have 4 of us working think its going to take a lot more research. Thank you


If I’m brutally honest.... unless Your 17 and 18 year olds have qualifications that can be transferred and are fluent in the the language, they stand no chance of any decent employment, and even with qualifications they stand little chance. Youth unemployment here is currently at 38%. What chance do you realistically think non Spaniards youngsters will have in the current job market. I know of young people who have some excellent qualifications, vets, teachers etc who can’t find work. Your 14 year old unless fluent in Spanish will have to go to an international school and they’re not cheap , that’s all before the adults actually get jobs, again unemployment for Spaniards is high, what are you offering 

Obviously the decision is yours and your family but most people on here would, I think, agree that to move here now, with the economic situation and unknown Brexit, would be detrimental to a family group. People who are financially self sufficient ie early retirees or singles with no ties different matter. 

Again you need healthcare for you all. And I think the 18 year old had to apply for residency under their own steam ie income etc ?

Spain’s a great place to live, but when you’re struggling to keep a family, seeking work etc Spain is no different to anywhere in the U.K. 

Your children, with or without qualifications stand a far better chance in the U.K. than here. Many Spanish youths move away from their home towns , move abroad or enter the military because there’s very little prospects here. 

Here is an article about wages here

https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/07/17/inenglish/1500277240_151930.html





None of which you want to hear but it’s the reality.


----------



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Megsmum said:


> If I’m brutally honest.... unless Your 17 and 18 year olds have qualifications that can be transferred and are fluent in the the language, they stand no chance of any decent employment, and even with qualifications they stand little chance. Youth unemployment here is currently at 38%. What chance do you realistically think non Spaniards youngsters will have in the current job market. I know of young people who have some excellent qualifications, vets, teachers etc who can’t find work. Your 14 year old unless fluent in Spanish will have to go to an international school and they’re not cheap , that’s all before the adults actually get jobs, again unemployment for Spaniards is high, what are you offering
> 
> Obviously the decision is yours and your family but most people on here would, I think, agree that to move here now, with the economic situation and unknown Brexit, would be detrimental to a family group. People who are financially self sufficient ie early retirees or singles with no ties different matter.
> 
> ...


All true, sadly. My daughters have grown up here & are trilingual. The 22 year old has left Spain for work, has have many of her Spanish friends. NONE of the English kids they went to school with are still here. Most didn't even stay long enough to finish their education.

Megsmum says it's no different here if you don't have work. 

That isn't true. For most, & especially if you've just arrived, it's far worse. There's little state support, & no state support full stop if you have only just arrived.


----------



## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

xabiachica said:


> Megsmum says it's no different here if you don't have work.
> 
> That isn't true. For most, & especially if you've just arrived, it's far worse. There's little state support, & no state support full stop if you have only just arrived.


I hadn’t even considered the support etc absolutely correct


----------



## Gran Erry-Bredd (Nov 1, 2016)

And winter nights in Spain are cold and dark, just like in Britain.


----------

