# Moving to a village in Catalonia



## Anne HM (Oct 13, 2013)

Hi everyone! We are a family of 4 (my husband, myself and our two daughters aged 3 and 5), currently living in Nairobi, Kenya. We plan on moving to Catalonia in Spain next summer and would welcome your advice on which location to choose.

We're looking at living in a village or just outside a village, as we love nature, quiet and the great outdoors, but not too far away from a town, as I am a yoga teacher and need access to students (also thinking of our daughters who will one day be of age to attend secondary school). 

My husband is a whitewater expert and rafting/kayaking professional, so he needs some whitewater within a reasonable range of our chosen home spot (a couple of hours' drive).

Our last criterium is that our daughters have always attended Waldorf Kindergartens, which they love, so ideally we would like to keep them in a similar schooling environment, Waldorf/Steiner, or some alternative to a more traditional educative system.

We would really appreciate any suggestion as we start planning for the next phase in our life. We would go to Catalonia one month in advance to explore and choose and organise everything. We would rent a house first, with the idea of later on purchasing a piece of land. Oh, and we're both fluent Spanish speakers, just for info 

Thank you very much in advance for your kind replies (and apologies if I've made any mistake, as English is not my mother tongue.) Thank you!!!


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## Anne HM (Oct 13, 2013)

Two additional questions come to my mind:

1) could you please give us an idea of the average budget we would need on a monthly basis being a family of 4 and not particularly frivolous?

2) where could we get the information we need to start and register a business in Spain?

Thank you!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Anne HM said:


> Hi everyone! We are a family of 4 (my husband, myself and our two daughters aged 3 and 5), currently living in Nairobi, Kenya. We plan on moving to Catalonia in Spain next summer and would welcome your advice on which location to choose.
> 
> We're looking at living in a village or just outside a village, as we love nature, quiet and the great outdoors, but not too far away from a town, as I am a yoga teacher and need access to students (also thinking of our daughters who will one day be of age to attend secondary school).
> 
> ...


As long as you have an independent income, you should be fine. You need to prove income and healthcare arrangements to enable you to become residents. 

Catalonia is a lovely area tho, we do have a couple of posters who live there, so they may be able to tell you about schools, land etc

Welcome to the forum


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## Anne HM (Oct 13, 2013)

jojo said:


> As long as you have an independent income, you should be fine. You need to prove income and healthcare arrangements to enable you to become residents.


Thank you very much for your prompt reply, Jojo. My husband is British and I am French, so even as Europeans, we would need what you mention to become residents? What exactly does independent income refer to? Thanks again!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Anne HM said:


> Thank you very much for your prompt reply, Jojo. My husband is British and I am French, so even as Europeans, we would need what you mention to become residents? What exactly does independent income refer to? Thanks again!



Yes, due to the recession and the economy, European citizens wishing to live in Spain need to prove they have an income and that they have healthcare provided - the income would need to be enough to cover your living costs. By independent, I mean money that you either have coming in from annuities, pensions or employment. Theres little work in Spain and I dont think you could earn enough to live on if you were looking at the things you previously mentioned - altho that would be something you'd need to look into. If you were both going to be self employed, you would need to become autonomo, which would cover the healthcare costs, but it also means you have to pay around €260 a month each (I dont know if theres a discount for two??)+ insurances etc. So any income you might make would have a serious dent in it and may not be enough to live on??????

Jo xxx


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## Anne HM (Oct 13, 2013)

jojo said:


> Yes, due to the recession and the economy, European citizens wishing to live in Spain need to prove they have an income and that they have healthcare provided - the income would need to be enough to cover your living costs. By independent, I mean money that you either have coming in from annuities, pensions or employment. Theres little work in Spain and I dont think you could earn enough to live on if you were looking at the things you previously mentioned - altho that would be something you'd need to look into. If you were both going to be self employed, you would need to become autonomo, which would cover the healthcare costs, but it also means you have to pay around €260 a month each (I dont know if theres a discount for two??)+ insurances etc. So any income you might make would have a serious dent in it and may not be enough to live on??????
> 
> Jo xxx


Thank you, Jo, this is extremelly helpful. We were totally unaware of these requirements, so need to look into it. Huge thanks!


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## mickbcn (Feb 4, 2013)

Anne HM said:


> Two additional questions come to my mind:
> 
> 1) could you please give us an idea of the average budget we would need on a monthly basis being a family of 4 and not particularly frivolous?
> 
> ...


1) 1500 /2000 euros month (minimum

2) Take a gestor.

You are welcome.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Anne HM said:


> Thank you, Jo, this is extremelly helpful. We were totally unaware of these requirements, so need to look into it. Huge thanks!


as jojo says, yo do have to prove that you have sufficient income & healthcare provision in order to register as resident

there have been changes to the _autónomo _payments though, just a couple of weeks ago

they have introduced a 'start-up' scheme for new registrations, where you pay just 50€ per month (rather than the 260€ + ). This is I think for the first year/18 months & then it goes to the full amount. I guess by that time if you're not earning enough to pay it, the business isn't really viable....


It is per person working, but if you're working & paying the autónomo, then you're covered for healthcare


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> as jojo says, yo do have to prove that you have sufficient income & healthcare provision in order to register as resident
> 
> there have been changes to the _autónomo _payments though, just a couple of weeks ago
> 
> ...


Did you see my last post on this thread?
http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...acion-private-teaching-rules.html#post2041361


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Hi Anne,

There are a handful of Steiner/Waldorf schools in Spain (you can find them with Google) but you are going to need a lot more than €2000 a month if you put your children into "alternative" education.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> Hi Anne,
> 
> There are a handful of Steiner/Waldorf schools in Spain (you can find them with Google) but you are going to need a lot more than €2000 a month if you put your children into "alternative" education.


Here are the prices of a Waldorf school in Madrid
Escuela Waldorf Aravaca
And Denia
waldorfdenia.com - Cuotas
From just a quick read it seems to totally different!

As far as number of centres go, there are lots.
Iniciativas Waldorf en Espaa y en el mundo

Ps Was just wondering why Catalonia? I presume you know Catalán is the first language in Catalonia. Some people find Catalonia a little difficult to settle down in.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

There are two near Barcelona/Sabadell in Catalunya and that's it. And it's likely they would all be in Spanish although I can't say for sure.

Montessori have more options but then that's not really the same thing, for instance Montesorri actually want children to read.


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## Anne HM (Oct 13, 2013)

mickbcn said:


> 1) 1500 /2000 euros month (minimum
> 
> 2) Take a gestor.
> 
> You are welcome.


Ok! Thanks for the info and tip!


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## Anne HM (Oct 13, 2013)

Thank you for all the info provided, all so helpful and important to know. Thank you!


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## Anne HM (Oct 13, 2013)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Here are the prices of a Waldorf school in Madrid
> Escuela Waldorf Aravaca
> And Denia
> waldorfdenia.com - Cuotas
> ...



Thanks for this information, I'll get in touch with the two schools around Barcelona to have an idea of their cost, since it seems to vary so broadly!

As for Catalonia, I really liked this area of Spain when I visited it a couple of years back, including its wonderful weather and the fact that it has whitewater not too far if you go up in the mountains (my husband's a passionate kayaker). We don't mind Catalan being the dominant language (having lived in different areas of the world - including right now in Kenya where the first language is Swahili, which we're a long way from mastering! - we are quite adaptable).

But this said, at this stage of the game, we're still very open to suggestions 

Thanks again!


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## Anne HM (Oct 13, 2013)

Pazcat said:


> There are two near Barcelona/Sabadell in Catalunya and that's it. And it's likely they would all be in Spanish although I can't say for sure.
> 
> Montessori have more options but then that's not really the same thing, for instance Montesorri actually want children to read.


Thanks, I'll look into these! 

Both methods have their pros and cons of course. The issue we encountered with Montessori in the different places we've lived in is that the name Montessori belongs to the public domain, which means that literally any school can attach Montessori to its name, even if their methods are far from following Montessori's guidance. But maybe this is an issue in developping countries only, where there isn't any serious control. So if you know any trustworthy Montessori school that you could recommend in this area, we'd be very grateful and interested in checking these too.

NB: children do learn to read and write in Waldorf schools, only at a slightly later stage and following methods that differ to the current mainstream educational system. But let's not start this debate here, it is quite off topic and a never-ending discussion...


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