# UK citizens moving to spain



## DiamondColors007 (Aug 10, 2010)

Hello!

Me and my husband been to Barcelona to attend a work-related event a while ago and we liked the place there. We are both exploring moving from the UK to another country to improve our income. (we are both UK citizens)

My question is, how does spain compare to the UK when it comes to living expenses, income, and the labour market?


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

In short - living expenses generally cheaper in Spain than in the UK, but Barcelona is one of the most expensive cities in Spain so housing costs in particular would be higher there than most places. Salaries much lower in Spain than in the UK. Labour market much, much worse in Spain than in the UK - unemployment in Spain stood at 17.22% nationally at the end of the second quarter of this year.


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## daveunt (Sep 7, 2017)

As above, basically. Difficult to offer much advice without knowing what you currently do for work in England. Presuming that you don't currently have much Spanish, your only real options for employment are going to be teaching English (for which you'll need to do a course) or working in the tourism industry with English companies. I doubt that will provide you with a higher income than you are earning in the UK, but if you were living in a cheaper area of Spain, it might provide you with a better quality of life than is possible on the same salary in the UK.


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## DiamondColors007 (Aug 10, 2010)

Me and my husband realise that the pay is much less but we are trying to improve our quality of life. I'm an engineer and I guess that will require some licensing or registration. Learning Spanish is on my todo list too.

My husband is considering teaching English since he did it before, but we don't know which course he needs to have before being able to teach?

Cheers.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

Although we (the longer standing forum members) are correctly very negative about employment prospects in Spain, we should also not forget that some people have moved, leant the language and had a succesful career in "other" fields.

By "other" fields I mean work where the status of English native is not the prime skill.

On this forum I believe we have computer programmers, and I have a relatively decent career in a major civil engineering company. Just don't expect the profesional life to be like the UK, nore the salaries!!!

The ones that struggle are usually the ones who say "I can do anything, bar work, gardening etc".


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

DiamondColors007 said:


> How do people reach employers and the other way around? Employment agencies? Websites?
> 
> I'm in engineering and my husband might be able to teach english there.


Most employment in Spain is given through word of mouth contacts.

But you can start looking for opportunities on Infojobs. Some will be real, some will be fake.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

Remember also that if you do a "regulated profession", you will need to get your qualifications recognised formally before anyone will employ you do do that work.


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## daveunt (Sep 7, 2017)

DiamondColors007 said:


> Me and my husband realise that the pay is much less but we are trying to improve our quality of life. I'm an engineer and I guess that will require some licensing or registration. Learning Spanish is on my todo list too.
> 
> My husband is considering teaching English since he did it before, but we don't know which course he needs to have before being able to teach?
> 
> Cheers.


There isn't a requirement to have a qualification to teach in a language school/academy but most reputable ones would want a new teacher to have done TEFL or CELTA. However, if your husband already has some previous experience teaching English and/or has obtained a similar qualification in the past then I'd imagine he'd be able to find work.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

For some time I found myself very busy teaching maths to English students at International schools where the standard of maths teaching was very poor. It was good money and enjoyable particularly when they passed their GCSE with a C or higher. Never had a failure so I must have been doing something right...


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

DiamondColors007 said:


> Hello!
> 
> Me and my husband been to Barcelona to attend a work-related event a while ago and we liked the place there. We are both exploring moving from the UK to another country to improve our income. (we are both UK citizens)
> 
> My question is, how does spain compare to the UK when it comes to living expenses, income, and the labour market?


This is your original post. The part that raises flags is 


> We are both exploring moving from the UK to another country to improve our income.


If that really is your objective then I really don't think Spain is the place. As others have said, in some areas living costs are lower than the UK for example, but then so are the salaries. I believe salaries in some areas are perhaps recovering, but most people I know working in Spanish companies still recognise that earnings are below many other European countries and the USA.
TEFL teaching in general is *not* thought of as well paid and often has a lousy timetable to go with it


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