# Thinking of moving to Spain need some info



## Lukeee333 (Jul 3, 2020)

Thinking of taking the move I have thought about it for a few years now, I have about 8k, I was thinking to take a little trip for a month or 2 first to see what it’s like trying to find work and stuff, does anyone have any good tips on what area would be best, property, jobs?? I’m only young this is juts a spontaneous move even if things don’t work out I don’t mind I just think it would be much better quality of living rather than the uk...


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

I afraid you are perhaps leaving this all a bit too late. If you wish to live and work in spain and are a uk citizen then you have to have have official residency , at least , being processed before 31st of December. Not sure what you think you are going to do for work. Unless you speak Spanish you are pretty much limited to cash in hand work in places like the Costas which wont allow you to register for residency even if you found such work


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## Lukeee333 (Jul 3, 2020)

That’s exactly where I am thinking on the costas, how easy is it to find the cash in hand work


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Spain was already in trouble before the pandemic with high unemployment especially among the young. Covid-19 has magnified the problem manifold. Many businesses have ceased training and those that have reopened aren't recruiting - they are looking to reduce overhead. So chances of finding a cash-in-hand job (which is illegal) are close to zero, especially if you don't speak Spanish to a good standard. 
Also with Brexit, unless you can find a legit job with contract and social security/healthcare payment, you won't be able to register as resident before the end of the year and become a third country (non-EU) national with no right to live and work without a visa. And such work/long-stay visa will be very difficult to secure as you need sponsorship and employer has to demonstrate you have skills which no other Spanish, EU and resident workers have.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Lukeee333 said:


> That’s exactly where I am thinking on the costas, how easy is it to find the cash in hand work


Working cash in hand isn't legal. 


While you might find some short term low paid bar work or similar - you'd have no healthcare or employment protection. You also risk high fines if caught

Of course bars etc will now need fewer staff than pre-covid19, because tables etc have to be further apart & premises have 50% to 75% of previous capacity.


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## tebo53 (Sep 18, 2014)

Lukeee333 said:


> That’s exactly where I am thinking on the costas, how easy is it to find the cash in hand work


Hi Lukeee333,

Here in Benidorm it used to be quite easy to obtain a cash in hand job like bar work or a bit of manual labour but that all changed some time ago and now employers like to see that you are legal with an NIE number and sometimes personal insurance. 

With the Covid situation just easing a little the bars and restaurants are beginning to open but at reduced trade and reduced employees. The bar owners are doing most of the work and making staff redundant. Benidorm and surrounding Costa towns have a very high unemployment rate. 

You are still young and I'd like to suggest you spend the next few years learning Spanish and hone any skills you have and then certainly try again in the near future when we all know what is required for 3rd country nationals to become legal here in Spain. 

Best of luck

Steve


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## Melosine (Apr 28, 2013)

Have to endorse all the above advice. It was hard enough 15 years ago and know many in your situation had to return to UK Since Covid, now and for the foreseeable future it is impossible to contemplate.


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

As has been said cash in hand is not illegal per se provided the company register it and you declare. However, any job just giving you money with no contract is illegal. That said, any job paying you like this is going to be treating so badly it isnt going to be work ..more like slavery. I am afraid that Brexit has put and end to many persons dreams and worse denied many young Brits a wide range of opportunities. If you wish to live and work in spain you will now need to be very well skilled and educated to move you to the top of a list that will obviously always be favouring EU members


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## 95995 (May 16, 2010)

kaipa said:


> *As has been said cash in hand is not illegal per se provided the company register it and you declare. *However, any job just giving you money with no contract is illegal. That said, any job paying you like this is going to be treating so badly it isnt going to be work ..more like slavery. I am afraid that Brexit has put and end to many persons dreams and worse denied many young Brits a wide range of opportunities. If you wish to live and work in spain you will now need to be very well skilled and educated to move you to the top of a list that will obviously always be favouring EU members


And the company meets minimum wage and other industrial obligations.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

This is a link to the latest employment figures in Andalucia. The red lines refer to the areas where *unemployment is highest, 37+% - 32+%.* The green lines refer to where _*unemployment is the lowest, 16+% to 21+%*_.
https://datosmacro.expansion.com/paro/espana/municipios/andalucia
I think these figures speak for themselves. 

For _*under 25's the % are in the 40's*_


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

Agree with all the above but if you still have itchy feet about trying a new country without being treated as
a 3rd country citizen by your newly adopted country, have you considered the Republic of Ireland ?

As the Republic of Ireland together with the UK are and still will be in the Common Travel Area both now
and after the 31/12/2020 and it almost goes without saying they all speak English ( albeit with an irish accent )
in the Republic.


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## Mark s (Jun 6, 2019)

According to the link Pesky Wesky kindly provided, Benidorm has an unemployment rate of 26% out of a population of 68,000 which was more than likely pre covid19


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

Mark s said:


> According to the link Pesky Wesky kindly provided, Benidorm has an unemployment rate of 26% out of a population of 68,000 which was more than likely pre covid19


True employment particularly in the catering and hospitality sector, in fact anything dependent on
tourism have been poleaxed by the pandemic crisis.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Mark s said:


> According to the link Pesky Wesky kindly provided, Benidorm has an unemployment rate of 26% out of a population of 68,000 which was more than likely pre covid19


 It's given as May 2020.
Here are more revealing figures
Unemployment Spain May 2020 - 14.5%
Unemployment UK April 2020 - 3.9%

Unemployment Italy May 2020 - 7.8%
Unemployment USA June 2020 - 11.1%
https://datosmacro.expansion.com/paro
Spain is really bad


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## MataMata (Nov 30, 2008)

"much better quality of living rather than the uk..." 

You won't get too many disagreeing with that but unfortunately for people like you just wanting an adventure I'm sorry to say the last transports and avenues to that particular experience have long since departed and disappeared - I'm sure you know who to blame for that.


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

The " quality of living" is no doubt better for a retired uk pensioner but would disagree if you are having to work in Spain.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

kaipa said:


> The " quality of living" is no doubt better for a retired uk pensioner but would disagree if you are having to work in Spain.


Totally agree. We would not have come over six years ago if we had to work, the UK has no more or less problems than the U.K. I’m staggered that people think working here is a better option than the U.K.


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

If you have to work in spain then your wages reflect the real living standards and I am afraid it is significantly lower than the UKs. People work longer hours here and have very few safety nets. It makes me shudder when folk consider moving here with their families saying that it wont be a problem because they are willing to work hard to make their dream come true. If only it were that easy


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

kaipa said:


> If you have to work in spain then your wages reflect the real living standards and I am afraid it is significantly lower than the UKs. People work longer hours here and have very few safety nets. It makes me shudder when folk consider moving here with their families saying that it wont be a problem because they are willing to work hard to make their dream come true. If only it were that easy


On the plus side you might get a job in Spain that adhere's to the Spanish working hours ( rather than 9 to 5 ) 
and think wow 3 to 3.5 hours off in the afternoon to go surfing on the beach. Although there again your
hours could be something like 9 to 1.30 pm or 2 pm and back to do 5 pm to 8 pm.

Better to be your own boss and get into the Digital economy and become something like a Website achitect guru
or other technical job where your services are much in demand & can work from home. Although you need to
do your homework to establish your own business & clients of course & hopefully develop a niche market 
for yourself to get there of course.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

kaipa said:


> If you have to work in spain then your wages reflect the real living standards and I am afraid it is significantly lower than the UKs. People work longer hours here and have very few safety nets. It makes me shudder when folk consider moving here with their families saying that it wont be a problem because they are willing to work hard to make their dream come true. If only it were that easy


Or as seen and heard on TV we want to move to Spain/France et al to work and spend more time together as a family


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Williams2 said:


> On the plus side you might *get a job in Spain that adhere's to the Spanish working hours *( rather than 9 to 5 )
> and think wow 3 to 3.5 hours off in the afternoon to go surfing on the beach. Although there again your
> hours could be something like 9 to 1.30 pm or 2 pm and back to do 5 pm to 8 pm.
> 
> ...


What working hours are those Williams?


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## 95995 (May 16, 2010)

Williams2 said:


> *On the plus side you might get a job in Spain that adhere's to the Spanish working hours ( rather than 9 to 5 )
> and think wow 3 to 3.5 hours off in the afternoon to go surfing on the beach. Although there again your
> hours could be something like 9 to 1.30 pm or 2 pm and back to do 5 pm to 8 pm.*
> 
> ...


It actually does suit some people, but "might get a job" could be a very remote possibility.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

Williams2 said:


> On the plus side you might get a job in Spain that adhere's to the Spanish working hours ( rather than 9 to 5 )
> and think wow 3 to 3.5 hours off in the afternoon to go surfing on the beach. Although there again your
> hours could be something like 9 to 1.30 pm or 2 pm and back to do 5 pm to 8 pm.
> 
> ...


I have had a total of 5 different full time jobs in my 13 years living in Spain. None of them have allowed my this mythical 3- 3.5 hours off in the afternoon, none of my Spanish friends have this either...


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Overandout said:


> I have had a total of 5 different full time jobs in my 13 years living in Spain. None of them have allowed my this mythical 3- 3.5 hours off in the afternoon, none of my Spanish friends have this either...


I presume that Williams is thinking of some civil servants who have a morning (by Spanish standards ) timetable of 8:00 - 3:00 with no lunch break, but the Spaniards I know (except OH who is a state school teacher are more likely to work 8:30/ 9:30 - 7:00/ 8:00/ 9:00/ 10:00pm... And a few hours on the weekend too! Even my daughter who is a teacher but in a private school, works 9:00 - 5:00


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

Overandout said:


> I have had a total of 5 different full time jobs in my 13 years living in Spain. None of them have allowed my this mythical 3- 3.5 hours off in the afternoon, none of my Spanish friends have this either...


Well I've gone past plenty of Shops & Supermarkets on SP hours that put all the security shutters down
between 2.30 & 3 pm in the afternoon and the security shutters & barriers are not wound up again until 
the late afternoon hours - maybe they lock all their staff inside at the same time ? although always looks 
empty to me before the security locks and barriers come down.

Maybe someone would care to enlighten me as to where all these retail staff go in the afternoon or are
they simply stock taking / shelf stacking but they cannot get out until the manager opens the shops 
padlocks in the afternoon ?


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Williams2 said:


> Well I've gone past plenty of Shops & Supermarkets on SP hours that put all the security shutters down
> between 2.30 & 3 pm in the afternoon and the security shutters & barriers are not wound up again until
> the late afternoon hours - maybe they lock all their staff inside at the same time ? although always looks
> empty to me before the security locks and barriers come down.
> ...


It's true that some shops keep these hours, it very much depends on where you are and what shops. In my town the supermarkets are actually the ones that are open all day and don't close at lunch time. Hairdressers also seem to stay open. Smaller shops tend to close. 

I was referring to office workers in my previous post with their seemingly ever expanding timetables.


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

Pesky Wesky said:


> It's true that some shops keep these hours, it very much depends on where you are and what shops. In my town the supermarkets are actually the ones that are open all day and don't close at lunch time. Hairdressers also seem to stay open. Smaller shops tend to close.
> 
> I was referring to office workers in my previous post with their seemingly ever expanding timetables.


Thanks Pesky as I've seen 'with my own eyes' what time the retail shops are keeping like the DIA Supermarkets
in local towns ( many shops do this in Asturias & some businesses eg Estate Agents here ) and that's before we 
start moving onto the subject of 'local festivals' where the shops in one town could all be closed whereas
in the next town it's business as usual.


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

I had a Spanish friend who worked in a bank about 45 min drive from her home. Some days the bank opened again after the siesta. She used to sleep in her car. She hated it


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

Williams2 said:


> Well I've gone past plenty of Shops & Supermarkets on SP hours that put all the security shutters down
> between 2.30 & 3 pm in the afternoon and the security shutters & barriers are not wound up again until
> the late afternoon hours - maybe they lock all their staff inside at the same time ? although always looks
> empty to me before the security locks and barriers come down.
> ...


Don't think the siesta is as prevalent as it used to be. Decades ago people used to work closer to home and could go back and eat/sleep/do the washing etc. A friend of mine worked in an office in Puerto Banus which closed 1-4pm. She lived 25 mins drive away. She often went home as expensive to eat close to office but by the time she had lunch and freshened up was time to set off back. She had extra travelling costs and hated the fact that after hanging around killing time she had to work until 7pm.

Many in the ayuntamientos have ideal hours straight through 8-3 and some health centres.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

Williams2 said:


> Well I've gone past plenty of Shops & Supermarkets on SP hours that put all the security shutters down
> between 2.30 & 3 pm in the afternoon and the security shutters & barriers are not wound up again until
> the late afternoon hours - maybe they lock all their staff inside at the same time ? although always looks
> empty to me before the security locks and barriers come down.
> ...


Yes, good point., I hadn't thought of the traditional retail hours. When I came to Spain it used to annoy me so much!!!

But at least in Madrid this is virtually a thing of the past. All supermarkets / food shops are now open 12 hours a day if not 24 hours. 
Only small speciality shops seem to keep these old ways alive and are probably responsible for only a very small minority of employment contracts.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Overandout said:


> Yes, good point., I hadn't thought of the traditional retail hours. When I came to Spain it used to annoy me so much!!!
> 
> But at least in Madrid this is virtually a thing of the past. All supermarkets / food shops are now open 12 hours a day if not 24 hours.
> Only small speciality shops seem to keep these old ways alive and are probably responsible for only a very small minority of employment contracts.


Same in my dark little corner of Spain. All major supermarkets etc open 12 hours plus. Independent shops tend to close in the afternoons as do small businesses.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

In my area the larger supermarkets are open from 9.00 am to 9.30 pm (some until 10.00 pm in summer). The only other shops open in the afternoons are bakeries. Smaller supermarkets (the Coviran type) still close in the afternoon, as do other kinds of food shops (butchers, greengrocers, etc). The Moroccan or Chinese run bazaar shops close in the afternoon. Ironmongers, furniture shops, paint shops, clothes shops all close in the afternoon. Some very small kiosko shops stay open all day. Professional offices like lawyers and accountants close in the afternoon. 

In resort towns many more clothes and accessories shops, plus souvenir shops, stay open all day.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

I have to confess that I had also overlooked one very beneficial factor of working in Spain which Williams' post touches on (but wasn't possibly his intention): Summer working hours.

Although being phased out slowly, this is still widespread in Spain amongst office workers and goes some way to make those long hours during the rest of the year worthwhile.

I am currently enjoying the combined benefit of the homeworking, summer working hours and the fact that there are no extra-curricular activities being run in Madrid in Madrid this summer by spending two weeks on "semi-holiday" in a finca in Extramadura. Today Mrs Overandout and I worked until 3pm, while the kids watched a film, played with their water pistols and rode their bikes, had a light lunch and now having an iced coffee waiting for the sun to go down a bit before heading to the pool!
Just don't tell my HR department!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Overandout said:


> I have to confess that I had also overlooked one very beneficial factor of working in Spain which Williams' post touches on (but wasn't possibly his intention): Summer working hours.
> 
> Although being phased out slowly, this is still widespread in Spain amongst office workers and goes some way to make those long hours during the rest of the year worthwhile.
> 
> ...


Some people I know are doing the same in Portugal and Murcia. Seems like a great idea and one that might catch on for the future!


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Some people I know are doing the same in Portugal and Murcia. Seems like a great idea and one that might catch on for the future!


before I retired last week. I worked for a large company based in Italy, during the summer months they reduce the factory hours and in August just a skeleton staff are in the factory. We never did a big install or machine overhaul in August.


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