# relocation info please



## lanie80 (Dec 14, 2011)

Hi all 
I really want to make a better life for me n my son and moving to the canary islands is the way I'm thinking of doing this. I understand it's going to be harder for me due to the fact that I'm a single mother, but for a healthier future for my little boy is my main reason for this. So any advice,units and tips would be greatfully received.
Many thank from me  xx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

lanie80 said:


> Hi all
> I really want to make a better life for me n my son and moving to the canary islands is the way I'm thinking of doing this. I understand it's going to be harder for me due to the fact that I'm a single mother, but for a healthier future for my little boy is my main reason for this. So any advice,units and tips would be greatfully received.
> Many thank from me  xx


:welcome:

you don't say where you're from - if you're not from an EU country, moving there will be nigh on impossible


even if you are from an EU country it won't be easy

will you need to work? although the Canaries aren't suffering from the recession as much as the mainland, there is still very high unemployment & no real state support - even for the Spanish

have a read of recent threads -and especially this one http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/68126-economic-employment-situation-spain.html - it will give you an idea of how things are in Spain atm


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

If you need to find work its gonna be a tall order - and I assume childcare. If you dont, then I would suggest first of all you come over for a few visits and get chatting to other expats and see how they're finding it. The other thing to remember is that there arent any child allowances or benefits as the UK. But if you're receiving child maintenance from your ex, then providing he consents then that may be tranfered over

Jo xxx


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## lanie80 (Dec 14, 2011)

Thank you for your reply.Sorry I'm new to the forum,to be honest new to forums of any kind lol. I'm from the uk which i knw is in the EU and that's all I know. Work would be a must, over here I'm a trained health care provider and also a qulified class room assistant. But I can turn my hand to anything and I have done in the passed with loads of differing jobs which I hope helps me find employment. I'm trying to gather as much info as I can as I said I'm a single mom other wise if it was just me I would of just gone and chanced my luck haha.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

lanie80 said:


> Thank you for your reply.Sorry I'm new to the forum,to be honest new to forums of any kind lol. I'm from the uk which i knw is in the EU and that's all I know. Work would be a must, over here I'm a trained health care provider and also a qulified class room assistant. But I can turn my hand to anything and I have done in the passed with loads of differing jobs which I hope helps me find employment. I'm trying to gather as much info as I can as I said I'm a single mom other wise if it was just me I would of just gone and chanced my luck haha.


The problem is that unless you are fluent in written and spoken spanish and have a profession then there really isnt much you could do. I dont think that the international schools over there have teaching assistants (class sizes are usually under 10 children so they dont need them). Maybe there are some expats care homes, but the hours would be long and the pay not good (5€ an hour when I did it on mainland Spain). And I'm guessing you'll need to think about child care, so bar work, even if it was available wouldnt be easy. Hhhmm, I'm not sure I'd recommend it - I would still suggest a visit to see what you can find out and about tho???

Jo xxx


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## lanie80 (Dec 14, 2011)

Thank for giving me what answers you can it all helps me, starting college Spanish classes January to give me that edge. I'm that set on doing it makeing it for my boy. Thank you again I'm greatful  xx


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## djfwells (Sep 28, 2009)

Moving to Spain is usually a simple and straightforward process, as is living here.
Affording it is a totally different matter, especially at the moment


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## lanie80 (Dec 14, 2011)

Thank you for your reply.
I think it's the same everywhere at the moment which is a shame. I thought for years about moving abroad as my brother lives in oz but living there just doesn't appeal to me. As I said it's for a healthier life for my boy, he's forever gettin sick due to the damp weather. And any info I can gather is of great help to me, I'm doin as much research as I can before I up sticks and go. I understand it won't be easy thts why I'm taking my time to make sure it's all in order n I knw as much as I can ever tedious n practical things will help me. Like areas to live in ie best schools,rental prospects,living cost e.t.c.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

lanie80 said:


> Thank you for your reply.
> I think it's the same everywhere at the moment which is a shame. I thought for years about moving abroad as my brother lives in oz but living there just doesn't appeal to me. As I said it's for a healthier life for my boy, he's forever gettin sick due to the damp weather. And any info I can gather is of great help to me, I'm doin as much research as I can before I up sticks and go. I understand it won't be easy thts why I'm taking my time to make sure it's all in order n I knw as much as I can ever tedious n practical things will help me. Like areas to live in ie best schools,rental prospects,living cost e.t.c.



I guess the question is, how old is your son??? If he's over 10yo when you move over then really its only fair to send him to an International school, but if he's "a littly" then he'll be fine going into a spanish state school. As for good areas, well Spains a big country, so you have a big choice lol!! The costas are slightly more expensive. Barcelona is more expensive than most, inland is cheaper, but then there is even less work available. So you need to narrow down what you are looking for


Jo xxx


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## lanie80 (Dec 14, 2011)

I forgot to say I'd like my son to go to a local Spanish school as this would help him learn the local language/dialect and customs too. So need some infomation on best one to go too.


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## riraw (Dec 14, 2011)

lanie80 said:


> Thank you for your reply.
> I think it's the same everywhere at the moment which is a shame. I thought for years about moving abroad as my brother lives in oz but living there just doesn't appeal to me. As I said it's for a healthier life for my boy, he's forever gettin sick due to the damp weather. And any info I can gather is of great help to me, I'm doin as much research as I can before I up sticks and go. I understand it won't be easy thts why I'm taking my time to make sure it's all in order n I knw as much as I can ever tedious n practical things will help me. Like areas to live in ie best schools,rental prospects,living cost e.t.c.


Hello,
I am Irish but also spanish, and I must say the only problem you need to worry a lot about is how to support yourself. I do realize that the healthier lifestyle is what you are looking for but one needs to consider the life expenses. Many think that Spain is not an expensive country to live and this is true when you arrive to spain as tourist and shop around and go home and compare prices. but when you do the ratio of income to expenses in spain and say UK or Ireland you will see that it is very hard to meet ends in Spain.
JOB should be your first concern and I would not make the move to Spain unless I can secure the income first. I do not want to be sounding negative but I know one too many people who even had capital and went there with the hope of opening a business of their own and got swallowed by life expenses.
People in the northern countries spend more and yes life is hard but possible but in spain without a job there is hardly any support from the government for the citizens.
Think very hard and think of the JOB and how to have an income first before making any moves. Language is not so much of an issue unless you want to be hired and work for Spanish firms that deal mainly with spanish clients.
All the best and drop me a line if you have any questions.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

riraw said:


> Hello,
> I am Irish but also spanish, and I must say the only problem you need to worry a lot about is how to support yourself. I do realize that the healthier lifestyle is what you are looking for but one needs to consider the life expenses. Many think that Spain is not an expensive country to live and this is true when you arrive to spain as tourist and shop around and go home and compare prices. but when you do the ratio of income to expenses in spain and say UK or Ireland you will see that it is very hard to meet ends in Spain.
> JOB should be your first concern and I would not make the move to Spain unless I can secure the income first. I do not want to be sounding negative but I know one too many people who even had capital and went there with the hope of opening a business of their own and got swallowed by life expenses.
> People in the northern countries spend more and yes life is hard but possible but in spain without a job there is hardly any support from the government for the citizens.
> ...



Very true! Sometimes I think British tend to think that Spain is cheaper - which it maybe slightly, but as you say wages are lower and there are no family credits, unemployment benefits, child allowances, top up benefits.... etc. Also jobs are so difficult to get and job security is non existent unless you have a proper profession and a permanent contract. The jobs I had in Spain either had no contract at all and were very irregular, or had three month contracts, so you never knew if you'd be kept on and they were only part time which didnt earn me enough to even cover my weekly food bill. Fortunately, my husband commuted to work in the UK so we had an alternative income.

I have to say, for us it was a struggle financially, but then I did have two teenagers in an international school, altho that was offset by renting out our UK property and because my husband worked and paid into the UK system, we could still claim child allowance.

So my advise really is very negative. I wouldnt recommend it as a single mother with no financial or indeed family help, but we're all different 

Jo xx


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## lanie80 (Dec 14, 2011)

jojo said:


> I guess the question is, how old is your son??? If he's over 10yo when you move over then really its only fair to send him to an International school, but if he's "a littly" then he'll be fine going into a spanish state school. As for good areas, well Spains a big country, so you have a big choice lol!! The costas are slightly more expensive. Barcelona is more expensive than most, inland is cheaper, but then there is even less work available. So you need to narrow down what you are looking for
> 
> Jo xxx


Hi jo 
My sons only a nipper just turned 16 months so defo be goin to a Spanish state school no good putting him in a English school if he's going to grow up there. As I live in Birmingham in the uk I'm under no illusions of living next to a sun kissed beach lol. But any links people can send me would be wonderful. I understand that different areas differ greatly as regards to living expences n education yadda yadda yadda. Hence my find out infomation now instead of 6 months before I go because I know I'll need vast amounts of knowledge because it's not as if I'm moving to the next street is it  xx


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## riraw (Dec 14, 2011)

*spain*



lanie80 said:


> Hi jo
> My sons only a nipper just turned 16 months so defo be goin to a Spanish state school no good putting him in a English school if he's going to grow up there. As I live in Birmingham in the uk I'm under no illusions of living next to a sun kissed beach lol. But any links people can send me would be wonderful. I understand that different areas differ greatly as regards to living expences n education yadda yadda yadda. Hence my find out infomation now instead of 6 months before I go because I know I'll need vast amounts of knowledge because it's not as if I'm moving to the next street is it  xx


All I can say in short is what Jo has said. extremely difficult to manage. and the thing is I speak spanish as a native and still was hard for us even in the good times to make things work, and we went there with a great deal of capital and had our homes paid for etc...
What you have in UK and Ireland does not compare to Spain at all.
Spain is a country beautiful from far and far from beautiful if you ask me especially in this current economic climate.
Also consider this that in Spain people dont really mix. The expat stay with one another and the spanish do the same so there is very little of the norther Europe integration which doesnt really help to make connections.
I do agree that for those that can secure a good income it is an absolute heaven but for those that cant it is a daily struggle .


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## lanie80 (Dec 14, 2011)

riraw said:


> Hello,
> I am Irish but also spanish, and I must say the only problem you need to worry a lot about is how to support yourself. I do realize that the healthier lifestyle is what you are looking for but one needs to consider the life expenses. Many think that Spain is not an expensive country to live and this is true when you arrive to spain as tourist and shop around and go home and compare prices. but when you do the ratio of income to expenses in spain and say UK or Ireland you will see that it is very hard to meet ends in Spain.
> JOB should be your first concern and I would not make the move to Spain unless I can secure the income first. I do not want to be sounding negative but I know one too many people who even had capital and went there with the hope of opening a business of their own and got swallowed by life expenses.
> People in the northern countries spend more and yes life is hard but possible but in spain without a job there is hardly any support from the government for the citizens.
> ...


Hello n thank you for reply. 
I think everywhere is expensive to live and I know alot if us British go by what they earn back home but I'm hopeing I'm a bit more savy than that lol. My research will be going by what my earnings will be over there not what I currantly earn here. As I'm a single parent and I don't get finacial surport from my sons father i went back to work when my son was 9 months old and I work 48 hours a week n pay for childcare I know it's not going to be easy for me there as it isn't here. I really do prefer people giving me the bad and good aspects of relocating. And someone suggested I take a couple of trips to research which I'll be doing,I'm not taking anything lightly trust me I can't say it enough thank for any help. I'm trained as a classroom assistant and also trained health care assistant who's trained in spinal injuries and complex care, so I'm hopeing there is something out there fir those areas but if not I can turn my hand to anything. I will looking for jobs before we go I couldn't just go whith out that to go to.  x


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

lanie80 said:


> Hello n thank you for reply.
> I think everywhere is expensive to live and I know alot if us British go by what they earn back home but I'm hopeing I'm a bit more savy than that lol. My research will be going by what my earnings will be over there not what I currantly earn here. As I'm a single parent and I don't get finacial surport from my sons father i went back to work when my son was 9 months old and I work 48 hours a week n pay for childcare I know it's not going to be easy for me there as it isn't here. I really do prefer people giving me the bad and good aspects of relocating. And someone suggested I take a couple of trips to research which I'll be doing,I'm not taking anything lightly trust me I can't say it enough thank for any help. I'm trained as a classroom assistant and also trained health care assistant who's trained in spinal injuries and complex care, so I'm hopeing there is something out there fir those areas but if not I can turn my hand to anything. I will looking for jobs before we go I couldn't just go whith out that to go to.  x



I was a fully trained nurse practitioner when I first arrived in Spain and after about 6 months I managed to get a job as a bank care assistant in an expat nursing home. The pay was 5€ an hour and the full time hours were 8am-6pm with a two hour lunch hour/siesta. No contract and because I was about 30th in a queue waiting to become "proper" instead of bank, I only ever got two shifts and they were at 12 hours notice! I then got a job as a "community care worker" again 5€ an hour (no petrol allowance). the hours for that were 12 hour shifts if and when they called me - which wasnt often enough and the company has since gone. Finally I got a couple of jobs telephone selling time share/holidays - commission only, but good pay if you could do it, at one point I was taking home 200€ a week, not bad for a part time job (the hours were 4pm-10pm when people were most likely to be home in the UK), the trouble was it wasnt regularly that good. One bad week could see no wages at all, two bad weeks and they simply got rid of you!.... Oh and I did a stint in a friends cafe 8.30am - 6pm, 6 days a week and was paid 400€ a month, sadly the cafe went

I'm sure you are willing to work - so was I and I had the flexibility of not having to worry about childcare (another difficult issue in Spain), but the work isnt there, if it is, its very much short term and irregular, unless you have a profession and needed skills. so you can end up literally living week by week, hand to mouth and not knowing where the next pay cheque will come from and as I say, no benefits to fall back on. 

I'm sorry I'm a tad negative. But the reality is tough, especially without a proper secure job and family support! Maybe if you have a friend who could go with you to help share the bills, maybe the childcare and moral support.????

Jo xxx


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## riraw (Dec 14, 2011)

lanie80 said:


> Hello n thank you for reply.
> I think everywhere is expensive to live and I know alot if us British go by what they earn back home but I'm hopeing I'm a bit more savy than that lol. My research will be going by what my earnings will be over there not what I currantly earn here. As I'm a single parent and I don't get finacial surport from my sons father i went back to work when my son was 9 months old and I work 48 hours a week n pay for childcare I know it's not going to be easy for me there as it isn't here. I really do prefer people giving me the bad and good aspects of relocating. And someone suggested I take a couple of trips to research which I'll be doing,I'm not taking anything lightly trust me I can't say it enough thank for any help. I'm trained as a classroom assistant and also trained health care assistant who's trained in spinal injuries and complex care, so I'm hopeing there is something out there fir those areas but if not I can turn my hand to anything. I will looking for jobs before we go I couldn't just go whith out that to go to.  x


Yes I do hear what you are saying and its very good that you are looking at this realistically. In regards to you getting a job in your field I can only say that you MUST be able to communicate in Spanish as a native to get a hospital position. There maybe exceptions but I very much doubt that. I'd rather be telling you the truth cause I've seen do many go there with great skills and support and didn't make it but as anything I believe it is all about research and preparation.


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