# Wanting to relocate to Spain .. all advice welcome



## PaulE (Sep 25, 2012)

We are at the early stages of investigating leaving the UK and relocating to Spain. First choice was Mallorca as we have been there a number of times, but can see the benefits of being on the mainland. We are keen to receive any advice at all from best locations, English speaking schools for our 12 and 9 year olds, and initially where to source long term let properties.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

PaulE said:


> We are at the early stages of investigating leaving the UK and relocating to Spain. First choice was Mallorca as we have been there a number of times, but can see the benefits of being on the mainland. We are keen to receive any advice at all from best locations, English speaking schools for our 12 and 9 year olds, and initially where to source long term let properties.



First of all, you need to have an income and healthcare cover to enable you to become "residents". Once you've sorted that then really, you'll be looking at international schools, certainly for your 12yo. Its not easy at that age to make the transition to a Spanish state school - language, exams, curriculum are all so different. The younger the better to pick these things up. I'm not sure what the international schools are like on Mallorca, heres the governing body with a list of schools Schools in Spain | Nabss

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Well, Paul, you did say 'ALL' advice welcome so please take what I'm about to write in a friendly spirit.

The first priority above all others is a secure income. You will have to provide proof of this -I think it's currently set at the level of around £6k per person - plus proof of medical insurance.
So you need either an income from a UK employer or your business, a contracted job in Spain or have sufficient independent means so that you do not need to seek employment in Spain...as with the highest unemployment rate in Europe, work is hard to come by.

But...if you do fit into any of those categories....you should have no problem whatsoever in obtaining the documents you need for you and your family to obtain resident status and you will be set up for a great life in Spain.

But if you need to find work, this is not the time to contemplate a move.


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## PaulE (Sep 25, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> Well, Paul, you did say 'ALL' advice welcome so please take what I'm about to write in a friendly spirit.
> 
> The first priority above all others is a secure income. You will have to provide proof of this -I think it's currently set at the level of around £6k per person - plus proof of medical insurance.
> So you need either an income from a UK employer or your business, a contracted job in Spain or have sufficient independent means so that you do not need to seek employment in Spain...as with the highest unemployment rate in Europe, work is hard to come by.
> ...



Thank you for this message ! My work is in tax-saving Trust arrangements and mainly over the internet, so relocating and bringing the income over, so to speak is not a problem.

My main concern is schooling for our 12 and 9 year old children, and then it's just a matter of where the best location is as far as integrating and preferably having a community of ex-pat Brits around to ease the process. : )


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

PaulE said:


> Thank you for this message ! My work is in tax-saving Trust arrangements and mainly over the internet, so relocating and bringing the income over, so to speak is not a problem.
> 
> My main concern is schooling for our 12 and 9 year old children, and then it's just a matter of where the best location is as far as integrating and preferably having a community of ex-pat Brits around to ease the process. : )


well in that case - you could do worse than Jávea 

there is a really good bilingual International school Welcome to Laude The Lady Elizabeth School just up the road & about 25% of the population is Brits - at least it was at the last count a couple of years ago, I suspect it has dropped somewhat since then, but there are still quite a few of us around - enough to keep me busy anyway 

It's not all that far from Mallorca, either


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## PaulE (Sep 25, 2012)

Thank you very much, that's really helpful. I'll narrow my browsing and research down and get some more facts etc.


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

My husband and I had an internet based business when we first came to live here - we are now retired.

My main piece of advice would be that, wherever you decide to live, make sure you have good, fast internet access available.

Do not take anyone's word for it. If it is an established house ask to see it working. Also, try to speak to neighbours to find out how reliable the connection is.

When we first came here, to a brand new house, we were assured that telephone and broadband would be available as soon as we moved in. It eventually took us 14 months to get a telephone and broadband. Imagine what it was like trying to run an internet based business on a mobile phone connection


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## sunshineseeker (Apr 10, 2009)

PaulE said:


> Thank you for this message ! My work is in tax-saving Trust arrangements and mainly over the internet, so relocating and bringing the income over, so to speak is not a problem.
> 
> My main concern is schooling for our 12 and 9 year old children, and then it's just a matter of where the best location is as far as integrating and preferably having a community of ex-pat Brits around to ease the process. : )


if your job is settled then I can certainly recommend the British School of Alicante, my son went there when he was 14 for 2 years and he loved the school and obtained fab results in GCSE's and although he has just moved back to england to go to college he says that it was the best thing for him. my daughter completed 3 years in spanish school and they were fab looking after her and helping with the language (this is not true in all of the schools apparently) she has now moved to the BSA to complete GCSE's and agains he absolutly loves it... good luck in what you choose, long term rental is easy to get we have just moved into the main town now and love it.. p.s we have ONO which is a cable company broadband and it is brilliant, we run our tv through the internet and 3 computers are often on at the same time and there is no buffering


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## sunshineseeker (Apr 10, 2009)

:clap2:


sunshineseeker said:


> if your job is settled then I can certainly recommend the British School of Alicante, my son went there when he was 14 for 2 years and he loved the school and obtained fab results in GCSE's and although he has just moved back to england to go to college he says that it was the best thing for him. my daughter completed 3 years in spanish school and they were fab looking after her and helping with the language (this is not true in all of the schools apparently) she has now moved to the BSA to complete GCSE's and agains he absolutly loves it... good luck in what you choose, long term rental is easy to get we have just moved into the main town now and love it.. p.s we have ONO which is a cable company broadband and it is brilliant, we run our tv through the internet and 3 computers are often on at the same time and there is no buffering god luck


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

sunshineseeker said:


> if your job is settled then I can certainly recommend the British School of Alicante, my son went there when he was 14 for 2 years and he loved the school and obtained fab results in GCSE's and although he has just moved back to england to go to college he says that it was the best thing for him. my daughter completed 3 years in spanish school and they were fab looking after her and helping with the language (this is not true in all of the schools apparently) she has now moved to the BSA to complete GCSE's and agains he absolutly loves it... good luck in what you choose, long term rental is easy to get we have just moved into the main town now and love it.. p.s we have ONO which is a cable company broadband and it is brilliant, we run our tv through the internet and 3 computers are often on at the same time and there is no buffering


You are lucky to have cable broadband. Unless you are in one of the major Spanish cities this is very rare.

We have broadband but it is extremely slow. The engineers have told us we are lucky to even have a telephone where we live. It is not as though we are in a remote rural location but we are several kilometres from the exchange.


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## PaulE (Sep 25, 2012)

DunWorkin said:


> You are lucky to have cable broadband. Unless you are in one of the major Spanish cities this is very rare.
> 
> We have broadband but it is extremely slow. The engineers have told us we are lucky to even have a telephone where we live. It is not as though we are in a remote rural location but we are several kilometres from the exchange.




Thank you all very much for thee comments which are extremely helpful Main considerations as you have gathered are schools and internet access, for obvious reasons, otherwise this won't happen. We'll be organising a fact-finding weekend trip without the kid in the next couple of months, and then again with them at a later date. Javea area does indeed look nice so we will probably start there, although still open to all suggestions and recommendations. Thanks again.


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## sunshineseeker (Apr 10, 2009)

DunWorkin said:


> You are lucky to have cable broadband. Unless you are in one of the major Spanish cities this is very rare.
> 
> We have broadband but it is extremely slow. The engineers have told us we are lucky to even have a telephone where we live. It is not as though we are in a remote rural location but we are several kilometres from the exchange.


Dunworkin looks like we are neighbours, we also live in El Campello


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## Trevor Reeve (Oct 24, 2010)

*Beware unprofessional lawyers*



PaulE said:


> We are at the early stages of investigating leaving the UK and relocating to Spain. First choice was Mallorca as we have been there a number of times, but can see the benefits of being on the mainland. We are keen to receive any advice at all from best locations, English speaking schools for our 12 and 9 year olds, and initially where to source long term let properties.


Paul and all Beware un professional lawyers here in Spain (Torrevieja). Last week after 18 months of living in our fully paid for apartment we discovered that our so called lawyer had not checked to see if there were any outstanding debts on the property. Subsequently we recieved a letter from our new community president demanding payment of outstanding community charges run up by the last owner of our flat. Also our so called lawyer took money from our spanish bank account for non resident taxes even though we have ALL the paperwork proving we are resident in Spain. 
As a result we have now changed our lawyers and tax advisors (after getting recommendations from other local expats) who are trying to fix the problems at of course more expense to us. 

This morning we have just had a visit from our president who told us that he was contacting the last owner for the debt and did not want the money from us. So now only our tax problem is to fixed by our new advisors

the message is try and get advice from local expats about who to use and what papers you n eed and how to get them and not the real estate agents.
Good Luck


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## PaulE (Sep 25, 2012)

Trevor Reeve said:


> Paul and all Beware un professional lawyers here in Spain (Torrevieja). Last week after 18 months of living in our fully paid for apartment we discovered that our so called lawyer had not checked to see if there were any outstanding debts on the property. Subsequently we recieved a letter from our new community president demanding payment of outstanding community charges run up by the last owner of our flat. Also our so called lawyer took money from our spanish bank account for non resident taxes even though we have ALL the paperwork proving we are resident in Spain.
> As a result we have now changed our lawyers and tax advisors (after getting recommendations from other local expats) who are trying to fix the problems at of course more expense to us.
> 
> This morning we have just had a visit from our president who told us that he was contacting the last owner for the debt and did not want the money from us. So now only our tax problem is to fixed by our new advisors
> ...




Thank you very much Trevor, much appreciated and of course your advice will be used. : )


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