# Moving to Spain



## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

A few questions:

We are moving to Spain hopefully within a couple of months.We are in the process of buying a property. 
1. Any recommendations for good currency exchange companies.
2. We lived in Spain about 15 years ago and worked and were registered. Does the fact that we had residencia and paid tax mean that we would be entitled to Spanish health care? ( Worked for over 5 years with contracts)
3 We intend to go autonomo. I have read on the official site that if you have a family member as a co-worker there is a 50% discount for 6 months. Does this mean that I would only pay half of 250€?. What happens after this? Do we both need to pay 250€?
4. Given that we will need to reactivate our residencies is it better to do this before signing the escritura?

Thanks for any suggestions


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

kaipa said:


> A few questions:
> 
> We are moving to Spain hopefully within a couple of months.We are in the process of buying a property.
> 1. Any recommendations for good currency exchange companies.
> ...


I'll answer those which I can & leave number 1 to others

2. No - however being registered as autónomo will
3. The discount is for the co-worker & then goes to the full amount. It might be worth both registering independently because there are other longer lasting discounts for new registrations. ‘LOW START’ TARIFA PLANA AUTÓNOMO PAYMENTS | Learn-Aprender
4. You will need to re-register completely. For that you will have to show income & healthcare. If you are registered as autónomo that covers both, so I'd do that first. Owning property might help with the financial requirement, but not the healthcare, so just wait until you register as autónomo.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

and for (1) - CurrencyFair or TransferWise


(4) but use your existing NIE's !


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Could I please ask when it comes to moving money from UK bank to a Spanish bank- why do people use exchange companies rather than just a bank transfer from their own bank- are exchange companies cheaper? ,faster? Thanks


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## tebo53 (Sep 18, 2014)

Rabbitcat said:


> Could I please ask when it comes to moving money from UK bank to a Spanish bank- why do people use exchange companies rather than just a bank transfer from their own bank- are exchange companies cheaper? ,faster? Thanks


I've been using Transferwise for about 3 years transferring money from uk to Spain every month usually the same amount but occasionally a little more. Usually gets transfered within a day. Very reliable and never had any problems. 


The cost using my bank to transfer the same amount of money is prohibitive. Example being say €700 transfer with Transferwise costs about €3 as opposed to €35 using Barclays Bank transfer. 

Steve


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

As well as the much lower transfer charges, the exchange rates offered by the currency firms are much better than those from the high street banks. From Currency Fair, for example, if the inter-bank rate is say €1.5050 I would get €1.15 from Currency Fair. Compare that with the exchange rate your bank would give you.

It really is a worthwhile saving to use one of these companies. I was dubious about them at first, so I used to use my bank (First Direct). They were very efficient and it only took one phone call to arrange the transfer, but everything can be done online with the currency firms and it has saved me a lot of money.


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## tebo53 (Sep 18, 2014)

Lynn R said:


> As well as the much lower transfer charges, the exchange rates offered by the currency firms are much better than those from the high street banks. From Currency Fair, for example, if the inter-bank rate is say €1.5050 I would get €1.15 from Currency Fair. Compare that with the exchange rate your bank would give you.
> 
> It really is a worthwhile saving to use one of these companies. I was dubious about them at first, so I used to use my bank (First Direct). They were very efficient and it only took one phone call to arrange the transfer, but everything can be done online with the currency firms and it has saved me a lot of money.


Are you sure that's right Lynn? Transferwise give you the interbank rate!

Your qouted exchange rate is what you could get in town:confused2:

Steve


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

tebo53 said:


> Are you sure that's right Lynn? Transferwise give you the interbank rate!
> 
> Your qouted exchange rate is what you could get in town:confused2:
> 
> Steve


Sorry, typo! I meant to put I would get €1.15 from Currency Fair if the interbank rate was €1.1550.


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## lesfonts (Sep 3, 2016)

When we moved to Spain we had a disastrous currency experience as we used currencies direct and after giving them a month to sort it out we had to fly back to the UK two days before notary to sort the banks out ourselves. They did reimburse us for the cost of the flights but I would not recommend them to anyone!


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

We had a very good experience with Currencies Direct
They were efficient, straightforward, the money transferred no problem
Everyone I know who's used them had the same experience
Guess you were just unlucky!


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