# Cost of living in Spain



## kansan (Jul 25, 2011)

I've read recently that a couple can live very comfortably in Spain on less than $50,000 a year. True?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

kansan said:


> I've read recently that a couple can live very comfortably in Spain on less than $50,000 a year. True?


$50,000 US? so a bit over 34,500€ depending on the excahange rate ..............


it depends what you call comfortably, and where in Spain - but I'd say so - not living the high life, but OK

have a look at http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/2717-cost-living-sticky.html

more importantly, as a US citizen, can you easliy get a resident visa?


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

We can and do!


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## Seb* (Mar 22, 2009)

kansan said:


> I've read recently that a couple can live very comfortably in Spain on less than $50,000 a year. True?


Yes, no problem!:clap2:


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2011)

Bwahahahaha! Seriously!? How many Spanish families make that much a year? 

It's definitely doable.


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## kansan (Jul 25, 2011)

We are thinking away from the coast (probably interior of Andalusia), 3 beds, 2 baths, modern kitchen and domestic help once a week. As for the visa it is my understanding that if we have clean records & can provide proof of retirement income we can get a visa fairly easily. No?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

kansan said:


> As for the visa it is my understanding that if we have clean records & can provide proof of retirement income we can get a visa fairly easily. No?


Ah no. Since US isn't in EU so Spain can put up any kind of barriers to discourage people from living or retiring in their country. With high unemployment, recession, public services in perilous state (look at another thread about winter of discontent) and the country already home to millions of retired from Northern Europe, they just don't want any more residents who have no legal rights to be there. Of course they will welcome millionaires who will make a positive impact on local economy. So don't be surprised if the consulate you apply to (the only one that can issue you a visa depending on where you live) stipulates you need $100,000 a year in cash or savings.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Joppa said:


> Ah no. Since US isn't in EU so Spain can put up any kind of barriers to discourage people from living or retiring in their country. With high unemployment, recession, public services in perilous state (look at another thread about winter of discontent) and the country already home to millions of retired from Northern Europe, they just don't want any more residents who have no legal rights to be there. Of course they will welcome millionaires who will make a positive impact on local economy. So don't be surprised if the consulate you apply to (the only one that can issue you a visa depending on where you live) stipulates you need $100,000 a year in cash or savings.


it would be great if someone came back & said - I'm a US citizen, I got my retirement visa to Spain, I had to prove I had _x thousand €_ a year, these are the steps I had to go through......................etc.

the fact that no-one ever does - that I'm aware of anyway - makes me think that these visas arent that easy to come by.


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2011)

Visas can be a real pain even for _students._ I haven't heard of any legal American retirees.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

halydia said:


> Visas can be a real pain even for _students._ I haven't heard of any legal American retirees.


nor me

we have a Canadian woman who owns an apartment on our urb, who 'lives' here - but in fact she is never here for more than 90 days at a time nor more than 6 months out of 12

she just goes back & forth


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2011)

We are currently working on our retirement visa for Spain. So far we have not run into any problems. We have the same sort of visa here in Colombia. I don't know why they would throw up any obstacles to our visa considering we will spend our money there. As it concerns the amount of money needed, it is pretty low, 10k USD a year and I think an additional 1,700 USD for a dependent.

Here are the requirements in Spanish (the Spain Embassy New York website has it in English).

Residency visa: to retire in Spain
- 3 Impresos de solicitud EX01 (Disponible para descarga en esta web)
- IMPRESO DE SOLICITUD DE VISADO NACIONAL (3 EJEMPLARES) con 3 FOTOGRAFIAS con fondo blanco (PEGADAS EN CADA UNA DE LAS HOJAS DEL
FORMULARIO) 
- PASAPORTE con vigencia mínima de UN AÑO (2 FOTOCOPIAS) de la hoja donde aparece la fotografía y las hojas donde aparezcan rectificaciones al pasaporte. (No visas
ni sellos de viajes). Si el solicitante es mujer y figura en el pasaporte con el apellido de casada, deberá presentar el Registro Civil de Nacimiento.
- PASADO JUDICIAL expedido por el D.A.S (ORIGINAL APOSTILLADO Y 2 FOTOCOPIAS) 
- CERTIFICADO MEDICO EXPEDIDO EN COLOMBIA por uno de los Centros Médicos autorizados por el Consulado. (ORIGINAL Y DOS FOTOCOPIAS) (Ver directorio de
Clinicentros) 
- ACREDITACION DE RECURSOS ECONOMICOS SUFICIENTES, que vaya a recibir periódicamente siempre y cuando no provengan de actividades laborales en España.
Deberá especificarse la procedencia de dichos ingresos y acreditar los movimientos bancarios realizados en el último año. ORIGINAL Y DOS FOTOCOPIAS 
- ACREDITACION DE VIVIENDA EN ESPAÑA (ORIGINAL Y DOS FOTOCOPIAS) del Contrato de arrendamiento o de Escritura Pública de Propiedad, o Acta Notarial de la
persona con la que va a residir en España. 
- POLIZA DE SEGURO MEDICO (ORIGINAL Y DOS FOTOCOPIAS) que cubra la asistencia médica en España durante al menos tres meses contados desde su llegada. 
- Impreso 790 (código 052) cumplimentado. (Disponible para descarga en esta web).
- Consignación original de la tasa de residencia realizada en cualquier oficina del BBVA. 
NOTA: si presenta junto a su solicitud de visado, la de su cónyuge, pareja de hecho e hijos, deberá presentar para cada uno, los documentos anteriores además de los
registros civiles apostillados de matrimonio y de nacimiento de cada uno de los solicitantes (ORIGINAL Y DOS COPIAS)


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

xabiachica said:


> it would be great if someone came back & said - I'm a US citizen, I got my retirement visa to Spain, I had to prove I had _x thousand €_ a year, these are the steps I had to go through......................etc.
> 
> the fact that no-one ever does - that I'm aware of anyway - makes me think that these visas arent that easy to come by.


There are even some EU states that require proof of assets or income for retired people.
I had to provide that info before I was issued with a Temporary Residency Permit to live in Prague.
We owned property and have relatives in Canada but I doubt very much that we would have been granted resident status. 
We would have had to hop over the U.S. border and back when our legal time was up.
As for retiring to the U.S.....no way. You could die whilst waiting for the process to be completed. Even entering the U.S. as a tourist can be a rather sour experience as Immigration Officers seem to have power to refuse entry without going through all the procedures common to most EU countries.
Internationalism is a mere romantic ideal in times of mass migration and job shortages, I guess.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> There are even some EU states that require proof of assets or income for retired people.
> I had to provide that info before I was issued with a Temporary Residency Permit to live in Prague.
> We owned property and have relatives in Canada but I doubt very much that we would have been granted resident status.
> We would have had to hop over the U.S. border and back when our legal time was up.
> ...


for retired EU citzens?? I know Spain used to.....

& they definitely do for non-EU citizens still - & I think the requirement is at least as much as Joppa suggested - I have read figures 2.5 x that.......but have never seen anything 'official'


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

xabiachica said:


> for retired EU citzens?? I know Spain used to.....
> 
> & they definitely do for non-EU citizens still - & I think the requirement is at least as much as Joppa suggested - I have read figures 2.5 x that.......but have never seen anything 'official'


Yup, that was the case in Prague in 2005.
However.....since I spent ages in a dirty, smelly foreign police office explaining I was British and therefore an EU state citizen *and *had handed over my British passport but they STILL said as an American I should get a Visa...
Some EU states immigration officials seemingly don't know the rules and seem to make them up as they go along....


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## kansan (Jul 25, 2011)

Folklore - would very much appreciate any useful info you could pass along. I'd also really appreciate hearing about your success. Wife and I are about 5 years away from retiring and giving this serious consideration. If it can't be done we will look at plan B.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

folklore said:


> We are currently working on our retirement visa for Spain. So far we have not run into any problems. We have the same sort of visa here in Colombia. I don't know why they would throw up any obstacles to our visa considering we will spend our money there. As it concerns the amount of money needed, it is pretty low, 10k USD a year and I think an additional 1,700 USD for a dependent.
> 
> Here are the requirements in Spanish (the Spain Embassy New York website has it in English).
> 
> ...


now THAT is excatly the sort of info I was talking about

let us know how you get on


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2011)

kansan said:


> Folklore - would very much appreciate any useful info you could pass along. I'd also really appreciate hearing about your success. Wife and I are about 5 years away from retiring and giving this serious consideration. If it can't be done we will look at plan B.


Well being originally from Missouri I've mellowed enough to help a Jayhawker.  Plus two of my kids married Kansan's and have a grandson who is half Jayhawker.

We have had nothing but very receptive correspondence with the Spanish embassy here in Colombia. They are very professional and there is a list of todo's that they provide. We are 50% complete with the todo's and should submit all our paper work to the Spanish embassy in Bogota in about six weeks or so. Spain is famous for their rules...we see no reason to fear them making stuff up after the fact.

We really like latin culture but after a two month visit to Spain this March, well lets just say now we like 1st world latin culture.

Don't hesitate to investigate via your Spanish embassy (in France). Your US embassy can provide your financial documents (apostilled)...

my wife is a retired legal professional and is excellent at visa work...and speak five languages with Spanish being her 1st language. This helps as long as they don't think she is from Argentina. So if you need extra assistance just message me here and I will give you her email address....this of couse is gratis

As for living expenses...our figures show that we can live in many places in Spain for less than in Colombia. Also the private health care is very reasonable (required).


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## kansan (Jul 25, 2011)

Folklore - THANK YOU! Finally a positive note! We have been trying to find someone who has been or is going thru the process. BTW we still live in KS. One of the KC burbs. How long have you lived in Colombia? We have also been pondering Ecuador but much prefer Europe as a destination. Thanks again!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> it would be great if someone came back & said - I'm a US citizen, I got my retirement visa to Spain, I had to prove I had _x thousand €_ a year, these are the steps I had to go through......................etc.
> 
> the fact that no-one ever does - that I'm aware of anyway - makes me think that these visas arent that easy to come by.


Unfortunately there are a lot of 'takers' in this world who will take all the help and information you can give them, but, sadly, forget to say "thanks"

My m-i-l (suegra) is a US citizen. She has no income, no assets, no other relatives, nix nada. She came to live with us in UK and was granted "leave to remain". We then moved to Spain where she was given a residency visa, no problems.


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2011)

kansan said:


> Folklore - THANK YOU! Finally a positive note! We have been trying to find someone who has been or is going thru the process. BTW we still live in KS. One of the KC burbs. How long have you lived in Colombia? We have also been pondering Ecuador but much prefer Europe as a destination. Thanks again!


You are most welcome. We initially looked at Ecuador as well. But after a lot of study...we made a visit to Medellin in 2008 for 10 days. Let's just say we fell in love with the weather and people. We will be here three years next Feburary.

This forum is geared and populated with a majority of EU'ers, but it is the most helpful site in general on Spain but not in particular to the yanks. This is true even for the guide books which again are geared towards the brits. Well, it's closer for them, we US'ers have ton's of choices and are being welcomed as retiree's in many countries where they even wave the filing fee's (like Colombia).

Also, they can't keep the brit's out becaue of the EU agreements.  But there is a process for retiring in Spain, it's simple, straight forward and the Spanish are very very prompt (more so than our own embassy) in answering questions. And flat out Spain is freaking great! 

During our two month exploration of Spain this year, the locals thought I was either from 1) Germany 2) Scottland or 3) California...they never confused me as being one her majestys subjects...jajajajajaja...


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

The OP's Spanish consulate is in Chicago:
Consulado de España en Chicago
There is an application form there for a retirement visa, but it gives no further details about exact requirements. You will have to get in touch with them and ask. Each consulate conducts its business independently and requirements may well vary between the one in Bogotá and Chicago. I think one of the requirements is approval of the local government in Spain where you wish to settle, and all applications are referred to Madrid for approval. So while another person's experience may well be useful, there is no guarantee that someone applying at another consulate will be equally successful given similar circumstances.
Also there exists advantageous visa and naturalisation procedure for those from Iberoamerica.


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