# moving to gran canaria



## nickywoza (Jan 17, 2011)

hi all, 
can anyone give me some help as im looking to move my family to gran canaria next year 2012! me, hubby 2 teenagers, and a 16 month old, i will be comming with enough money to last 6-8 months for rent and living. 
i know you can claim unemployment benefit if you work for 6 months or more but what about paying your rent if further down the line if you get made-redundant, are there any benefits to cover this as i presume job seekers will not. 
i have no intention of loosing a job if i get one that is but need to get all the info i can. so any canaries out there that can help i would be so gratefull.x.x.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

nickywoza said:


> hi all,
> can anyone give me some help as im looking to move my family to gran canaria next year 2012! me, hubby 2 teenagers, and a 16 month old, i will be comming with enough money to last 6-8 months for rent and living.
> i know you can claim unemployment benefit if you work for 6 months or more but what about paying your rent if further down the line if you get made-redundant, are there any benefits to cover this as i presume job seekers will not.
> i have no intention of loosing a job if i get one that is but need to get all the info i can. so any canaries out there that can help i would be so gratefull.x.x.


If you can get a contracted job and you pay into the spanish system they will pay you a limited amount of social security and its on a sliding scale. I think the minimum is 3 months and thats if you've worked 3 months, the maximum is for two years and then it stops! But they dont pay any other benefits, housing, health...... child allowance and you cant bring that with you from the UK. Its not until you leave the UK you realise how well you're actually looked after there

Jo xxx


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

I live in the Canary Islands, but I cannot help you regarding unemployment benefit, I have never been unemployed. But I understand that unless you have a contract of employment and pay into the system you cannot claim any benefits, including health care.

Whilst Gran Canaria is a wonderful place to live, Unless I had strong employment prospects on the island, I would not under any circumstances move a young family 2000 miles to a foreign country in the faint hope of employment in the future. I have friends who are bilingual Canarians who were employed in the tourist Industry, they have been unemployed for quite some time. The tourist industry is still in recession.

Sorry for being off putting, but I am stating the facts as they are at present. If you have security in the United Kingdom, stay there until the recession lifts,

Hepa


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## nickywoza (Jan 17, 2011)

jojo said:


> If you can get a contracted job and you pay into the spanish system they will pay you a limited amount of social security and its on a sliding scale. I think the minimum is 3 months and thats if you've worked 3 months, the maximum is for two years and then it stops! But they dont pay any other benefits, housing, health...... child allowance and you cant bring that with you from the UK. Its not until you leave the UK you realise how well you're actually looked after there
> 
> Jo xxx


hi jo, 
many thanks for your quick reply, i understand i would have to contribute to the system to get anything back which is great, i just want a better life for my chldren which is not happening here, yes im finding it scary knowing what i am giving up but think it could be worth it for the kids. 
i would definately go for a contracted job to be secure, and will bring enough money to be secure for a good few months, just dont want to sell everything here and have to come back to nothing!! if it doesnt work out, but at leat i could say i tried. what do you think am i just in dream world


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## nickywoza (Jan 17, 2011)

Hepa said:


> I live in the Canary Islands, but I cannot help you regarding unemployment benefit, I have never been unemployed. But I understand that unless you have a contract of employment and pay into the system you cannot claim any benefits, including health care.
> 
> Whilst Gran Canaria is a wonderful place to live, Unless I had strong employment prospects on the island, I would not under any circumstances move a young family 2000 miles to a foreign country in the faint hope of employment in the future. I have friends who are bilingual Canarians who were employed in the tourist Industry, they have been unemployed for quite some time. The tourist industry is still in recession.
> 
> ...


hi i would like to hope that in 14 months the prospects would be looking better, i understand that it would be a huge move but people are doing it all the time and i will not live with regret and say in 5-10 years i should have done it sooner. i apreciate you telling it as it is and thats the best way i do not want to be deluded into thinking it will all be ok, but then life is never ok, especially here in england! i just want as much info as possible to make the right choice for my family. x.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

nickywoza said:


> hi i would like to hope that in 14 months the prospects would be looking better, i understand that it would be a huge move but people are doing it all the time and i will not live with regret and say in 5-10 years i should have done it sooner. i apreciate you telling it as it is and thats the best way i do not want to be deluded into thinking it will all be ok, but then life is never ok, especially here in england! i just want as much info as possible to make the right choice for my family. x.


I hope that you are right!! Do you or any in your family speak the language? if not perhaps you should all start to learn.

Best of luck,

Hepa


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## nickywoza (Jan 17, 2011)

Hepa said:


> I hope that you are right!! Do you or any in your family speak the language? if not perhaps you should all start to learn.
> 
> Best of luck,
> 
> Hepa


hi hepa, 
we are currently starting to learn as i love the language anyway, thankyou for your honest reply i just want what is best for my family and if that means going to gran canaria and it going wrong i would rather not put them through it, but i would like to think it would work and i will do as much research as possible before making the decision, and with peoples help like yours i will do the right thing.x.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

While I appreciate what you're saying, I think you need to have a good years worth of finances behind you before you go, dont sell up anything in the UK incase you need to return and you need to make a good few fact finding missions/feasability studies (not holidays) and try to lay down some plans, areas, schools, possible ideas of work before you come over! 

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

nickywoza said:


> hi hepa,
> we are currently starting to learn as i love the language anyway, thankyou for your honest reply i just want what is best for my family and if that means going to gran canaria and it going wrong i would rather not put them through it, but i would like to think it would work and i will do as much research as possible before making the decision, and with peoples help like yours i will do the right thing.x.


My advice: stay put. It's far too risky to bring your family to a foreign country before you have a secure job fixed up. Things will most probably get far worse here before they improve. More people are leaving Spain to return home to the UK -if they can - than are coming here because there is simply no work for people who are Spanish, let alone non-Spanish-speaking immigrants.
If you are retired with a good income, have a secure job here or a UK business you can run from Spain: no problem.
But at this time it is, frankly, a bad idea to up sticks and come over with a family. 
There are two periods in the year when we get a lot of posts similar to yours: post summer holiday time and after the New Year. I can understand why as it's those times when people get depressed and start dreaming of sun, sea and sand.
But the so-called dream can become a nightmare and as Jo said there is no support as you would get in the UK. no child benefit, no income support, no housing benefit and no free health care until you have paid a lot of contributions into the Spanish system.
I work as a vlunteer at a dog rescue centre and every day I meet people who have lost their jobs - Spanish and British people. Some are desperate.
There is over 20% unemployment here.
I would hate to see people make big mistakes because they imagine life is easy here. Even if you get a job you will work longer hours for less pay.
Think very carefully.


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## nickywoza (Jan 17, 2011)

mrypg9 said:


> My advice: stay put. It's far too risky to bring your family to a foreign country before you have a secure job fixed up. Things will most probably get far worse here before they improve. More people are leaving Spain to return home to the UK -if they can - than are coming here because there is simply no work for people who are Spanish, let alone non-Spanish-speaking immigrants.
> If you are retired with a good income, have a secure job here or a UK business you can run from Spain: no problem.
> But at this time it is, frankly, a bad idea to up sticks and come over with a family.
> There are two periods in the year when we get a lot of posts similar to yours: post summer holiday time and after the New Year. I can understand why as it's those times when people get depressed and start dreaming of sun, sea and sand.
> ...


thankyou for your honest reply, i have wanted to move there for years so it isnt just a seasonal thing like most, and feel i want t to do it now before age creeps up on me and life passes you by. i would make sure i done all my homework before i took the big step and got a decent job lined up first or i wouldnt even consider it, i could not put my family through taking them there and it all going wrong. its finding the right people to be in contact with over there to get the ball rolling, but i really apreciate your honesty and thankyou for your time to reply, if you have any suggestions as to who to contact over there i would very much apreciate it, many thanks, nicky.x.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Nicky,

Perhaps you should visit your chosen destination on the island of Gran Canaria, and see for yourself the opportunities available in your field of work.

I am sure that you are aware of the diversity of the island, from the rolling sand dunes of the tourist areas in Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés in the south of the island, the green and agricultural interior of the island, to the bustling cosmopolitan capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the north. Because of the diversity and not knowing your preferences we cannot really point you in any direction, and even if we could the final decision can only be made by yourself,

Hepa


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## lynn (Sep 25, 2008)

nickywoza said:


> thankyou for your honest reply, i have wanted to move there for years so it isnt just a seasonal thing like most, and feel i want t to do it now before age creeps up on me and life passes you by. i would make sure i done all my homework before i took the big step and got a decent job lined up first or i wouldnt even consider it, i could not put my family through taking them there and it all going wrong. its finding the right people to be in contact with over there to get the ball rolling, but i really apreciate your honesty and thankyou for your time to reply, if you have any suggestions as to who to contact over there i would very much apreciate it, many thanks, nicky.x.


Hi Nicky,

You state that you want to bring two teenage children with you. Will they be going to school, or are they post school age? Be aware that if the job prospects are tough for you, they will be much much tougher for teenagers. Unemployment for young people is chronic in Spain, and yours will have limited language skills. 
If they are of school age, they would really be too old to go into Spanish state school, which means you would need to pay for an International school, which isn't cheap. And after they finish, you should consider where the best opportunities for work really lie for them if they are not going on to further education.
I'm sorry to post a reply which seems negative, but you do state that you are doing this move for the best interests of your children, and as such, you should be aware of the reality of life for the older ones at least at the present time.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

nickywoza said:


> thankyou for your honest reply, i have wanted to move there for years so it isnt just a seasonal thing like most, and feel i want t to do it now before age creeps up on me and life passes you by. i would make sure i done all my homework before i took the big step and got a decent job lined up first or i wouldnt even consider it, i could not put my family through taking them there and it all going wrong. its finding the right people to be in contact with over there to get the ball rolling, but i really apreciate your honesty and thankyou for your time to reply, if you have any suggestions as to who to contact over there i would very much apreciate it, many thanks, nicky.x.


I know we must sound very negative but the situation here is not good and as Lynn points out, it's even worse for young people. Youth unemployment in Spain overall is over 40% and worse in some places.
This may sound daft but if you really want to make a big change in your life before you're 'past it' - which I understand because I did it! - then I'd say stay put, get as much money behind you as possible, make loads of combined holiday/fact-finding trips and plan for the medium and long term. I honestly don't think a move in the near future is sensible.
I have just had a conversation with a colleague who has several children and up to now has been a full-time mum. Bevause of the rising cost of living here she is desperate to find work to augment the family income but although she speaks fluent Spanish, is IT skilled and presents well, she has not yet found work of any kind.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Ok, so we're on the mainland, but I doubt things are much better on the islands. We've been here for three years, my son was 13 when we arrived and we put him into an international school - all is well and he's about to take his IGCEs, however, what then??? We could keep him here for another two years to do his A-levels and then send him back to the UK to either work or go to uni or we could all return to the UK when he's completed his IGSCEs and then he can go to 6th form college in the UK - where at least he could possibly get a part time job and get back into the British way?????

I think its fair to say that there is no way he'd get any "proper" work here should he decide to leave education this summer and stay in Spain. If he's really lucky he may get some holiday work, bar/hotel work ? But he'd be up against some fierce competition

Jo xxx


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