# Hello



## chico's mam (Feb 26, 2013)

I joined the forum the other night and have 2 minutes to say hello.
We have been thinking about moving to spain for the past five years. And decided that if we dont do it soon we never will. We are aiming for April 2014. I am a dog groomer by trade and my husband installs fibre optic cable. I have been learning spanish for 6 months and driving everyone up the wall (especially my son).
fantastic forum and I am sure that the thousand questions that are running thru my head will be answered in the threads...
Emma :clap2:


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

chico's mam said:


> I joined the forum the other night and have 2 minutes to say hello.
> We have been thinking about moving to spain for the past five years. And decided that if we dont do it soon we never will. We are aiming for April 2014. I am a dog groomer by trade and my husband installs fibre optic cable. I have been learning spanish for 6 months and driving everyone up the wall (especially my son).
> fantastic forum and I am sure that the thousand questions that are running thru my head will be answered in the threads...
> Emma :clap2:


Optic cable ...... a dream ...... tell him to speak to Movistar so we can get some decent internet connections over here!!!!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Stravinsky said:


> Optic cable ...... a dream ...... tell him to speak to Movistar so we can get some decent internet connections over here!!!!


the techy dept only speaks Spanish though.............


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

chico's mam said:


> I am a dog groomer by trade and my husband installs fibre optic cable.


Welcome!

I know many people here are probably going to get pretty tired of me saying the same thing over and over, but it does need to be said regardless.

If you're planning on moving to Spain and supporting yourselves through income from jobs - have a very long hard think about what you're planning - and do your sums.

There's a reason for the 30% unemployment in Spain, there's also a good reason for why nearly 1 million expats exited Spain last year.

Now is not a good time to be moving to Spain.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

zenkarma said:


> Welcome!
> 
> I know many people here are probably going to get pretty tired of me saying the same thing over and over, but it does need to be said regardless.
> 
> ...


very sad but very true....


not sure about the 30% unemployment quite yet....but it's heading that way


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

I found this comment on another forum, The INE is the main Spanish statistics operator, used as gospel by the authorities. It lists the British living here from information taken from the town hall padrón which - as we know - doesn't mean anything. Not many appear to bother to register on the padrón and, often, they don't 'de-register' if they leave the municipality. 
The Spanish official number of British residents in Spain (from the INE here) is 391,194. The 'NatWest International Personal Banking Quality of Life Index' (known as WTF? for short) puts us at a heady 940,000. So, did the missing 550,000 Brits not register... thought they'd get away with hiding under the radar... went back last week to Grimy Britain... took out Spanish nationality... changed their name to Paco? Or did the NatWest get their sums wrong. Again. 
In short - when it comes to the European residents here, the Spanish don't know or care, so why should we?

So I would be interested to learn where the figure of "nearly a million expats left last year". Yes the number is high but according to the FO website there are still large numbers of Brits leaving for Spain and other countries. In our own experience we are aware of around 30 families heading away from Spain (not all back to Blighty), of those 12 have returned to Spain having found what they found not to their liking. And another 18 families have arrived that we know of. But what is important, very important, for anyone wishing to move here is that if you need to find work and haven't got a contract sorted, don't come but if you have a source of income (retired for example) then Spain still offers a very good lifestyle and alternative way of life to UK.


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## Allie-P (Feb 11, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> the techy dept only speaks Spanish though.............





The OP is 6 months into learning Spanish, though....

I am sure they have researched & may well be retiring in 2014.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Allie-P said:


> The OP is 6 months into learning Spanish, though....
> 
> I am sure they have researched & may well be retiring in 2014.


let's hope you're right about the retirement - it doesn't sound that way though.....


& lol - after 9 years speaking Spanish & even now _teaching _it, I have trouble with the movistar techy stuff


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

xabiachica said:


> let's hope you're right about the retirement - it doesn't sound that way though.....
> 
> 
> & lol - after 9 years speaking Spanish & even now _teaching _it, I have trouble with the movistar techy stuff


I am still having trouble with the stuff....


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## karenangell (Feb 6, 2011)

Just wanted to pick up on your post. You say it isnt a good time to move to spain. But if people move and generate income and live and settle and put money into the system thru an income that they have based in england then that surely has to be good for any country they will be buying food and paying electric and water rates putting money back into the coutry??


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

karenangell said:


> Just wanted to pick up on your post. You say it isnt a good time to move to spain. But if people move and generate income and live and settle and put money into the system thru an income that they have based in england then that surely has to be good for any country they will be buying food and paying electric and water rates putting money back into the coutry??


Its good for Spain yes .... but Spain is not going through a good period at the moemtn and if anyone intends to move to Spain and need an income from work here, then thats definitely going to be difficult ... and therefore not a good time to move to Spain


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

karenangell said:


> Just wanted to pick up on your post. You say it isnt a good time to move to spain. But if people move and generate income and live and settle and put money into the system thru an income that they have based in england then that surely has to be good for any country they will be buying food and paying electric and water rates putting money back into the coutry??


Great for Spain, yes! Things may not be so great for the person who has moved to Spain though...


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