# Moving to Ibiza..



## Sarah 1982 (May 12, 2021)

I’m looking for some advice about living to Ibiza from London.

My husband lost his job during covid and it got us thinking how we can turn this into something positive. I have always been really keen to move to Ibiza and I’m hoping this is now our time. After researching the legalities of moving to mainland Spain (this is also a possibility) it seems you ideally need jobs to go to or a considerable amount in earnings each month from an income via Britain. 

I’ll be really honest here as only way to get accurate advice. We have calculated that if we sell our home and a rental we have we would have close to £800,000 to buy a property and to start a small business in Ibiza. We are hoping if we can find a reasonable property and buy outright, a new business will bring us on enough cash to live and to put some away for savings etc. My husband is more keen on Spain as the property is cheaper where as I feel Ibiza is better for our two teens. I love the idea of a smaller island community and the lifestyle. My parents are back in London so the our eldest would commute back and forth for university. We would also have to pay for 2 children to go to an international school which I understand is quite expensive. 

Am I being mad is this possible at all on our money pot of £800k? I run an events company here in London that I’m hoping to transfer over to Ibiza. This currently brings in £25,000 -£30,000 per annum here but no idea how well it would do over there/competition etc. I decorate for weddings/parties etc.. 

Would love to get some feedback. 

Many thanks


----------



## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

Sarah 1982 said:


> I’m looking for some advice about living to Ibiza from London.
> 
> My husband lost his job during covid and it got us thinking how we can turn this into something positive. I have always been really keen to move to Ibiza and I’m hoping this is now our time. After researching the legalities of moving to mainland Spain (this is also a possibility) it seems you ideally need jobs to go to or a considerable amount in earnings each month from an income via Britain.
> 
> ...


Welcome to the forum.

The important thing here is what Passports do you both hold?
If Uk then you will have to apply for a visa from the UK before you can live here or on Ibiza.
If an EU one (including Southern Ireland its easier, but Im going to give info for UK ones.)

The money required is not that much less than €25,000 for the main applicant and about €6500 for each extra applicant for the first year. For an NLV visa.






Visas (FAQ)







www.exteriores.gob.es




This details the visa process, if you choose NLV (retirement) YOU CANNOT WORK.
So you would need one of the others. 
Also at the moment there is no agreement for the exchange of drivers licences so you would need to take Spanish tests after being here for 6 months.

Please give more details of where in Spain and maybe one of us who lives near can tell you more about the area (unless of course you have already done this bit or research)?


----------



## Sarah 1982 (May 12, 2021)

Barriej said:


> Welcome to the forum.
> 
> The important thing here is what Passports do you both hold?
> If Uk then you will have to apply for a visa from the UK before you can live here or on Ibiza.
> ...


Thank you for your reply. Yes we all hold British passports. We definitely want to work. 
We haven’t looked too much at location as yet as this would be around the school we send them to. I’ve looked a little into this so it narrows it down a little but my main worry at the moment before we start looking at locations is if this is financially viable.

So if we are both looking to work we need to show we have either savings or an income of £25k pa and then £6,500k pa for the other family members ?
Re taking a driving test shouldn’t be too much of a problem as we’ve both driven in soon and Ibiza a lot over past 15years, although might need some lessons to get grid of bad habits lol.


----------



## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

Sarah 1982 said:


> Thank you for your reply. Yes we all hold British passports. We definitely want to work.
> We haven’t looked too much at location as yet as this would be around the school we send them to. I’ve looked a little into this so it narrows it down a little but my main worry at the moment before we start looking at locations is if this is financially viable.
> 
> So if we are both looking to work we need to show we have either savings or an income of £25k pa and then £6,500k pa for the other family members ?
> Re taking a driving test shouldn’t be too much of a problem as we’ve both driven in soon and Ibiza a lot over past 15years, although might need some lessons to get grid of bad habits lol.



Don't think with a proposed £800k you will have any issues, you could put £300k into a bond and draw the money required every month as a guaranteed income and that would still leave you with half a million to play with. This would cover the visa with money to spare.
I doubt many of us could compete with that. 
You could even go with the Golden visa which requires a property (or properties) to the value of and above €500,00 so you would still have £300k to play with which would last years if invested. Don't think you can work.

If you come here on a working visa it will depend on your business plan, but the figure I quoted may be the minimum required (we don't have many, if any people here that have applied for and been successful with the visa to give you any certainties)
But from the self employed visa guidance it says this.


*Business Plan of Activities that will be carried out, with the anticipated investments shown, your projected profits and the possible amount of jobs created and proof of sufficient economic funds, or contracts of investments or loans from financial institutions. There must be evidence of sufficient funds to establish and maintain employment indefinitely.*
*Proof of having the legally required professional qualification or sufficient experience of carrying on professional activity, as well as professional registration when required.*
*Proof of having sufficient economic funds for covering maintenance and accommodation costs. If the origin of these funds is the self-employed professional activity, it will be evaluated after discounting the necessary costs to cover the maintenance of professional activity.*

Where we are you can buy a good sized brand new villa with 4 beds, 3 baths, gardens a pool etc for about €350,000. (older properties about the same level start from around €200,00)
This one is in our village, there are a couple of international schools not that far away.


Buy town-house in XIRLES (ALICANTE) CP209


Our flat here cost us €78,000 (Ok we live about 10k from Albir in a tiny village in the hills)
Other stuff is cheaper than the Uk. We lived in Shoreham (near brighton) and a two bed flat had a council tax of £185 a month. We have a three bed, two bath flat and the years IBI is just over €400 (so less than a third)

With the driving the test is in Spanish, so your experience don't count for much (and you have to take lessons because they are the only ones who's car you can use for the test).

I think you need to decide on areas and then research further.


----------



## Sarah 1982 (May 12, 2021)

Thank you that’s really helpful. Definitely going to look into this although as this would be all our savings really don’t want to dip into them too much. It’s just good to know it’s do-able. Thank you


----------



## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

Definitely doable with that amount of money. Not sure about the business plan as for any business you probably need Spanish ( as you haven't mentioned it I assume you dont speak it). Probably better looking at properties to rent as an income source which would be doable in Ibiza as there are so many English tourists. Driving test maybe a problem as you have to do test in Spanish ( at moment, this might change though). One thing however to keep in mind that if your kids are teenagers taking them away from friends can be very tough on them and many dont adapt to well. Dont expect them to want the sun and beach- they bore of that quickly and often spend days online chatting to friends in England. That is what mine does and he hates Spain and just wants to return to UK. Of course, it is very age dependent thing. Anyway good luck. One last thing sell your house before January then move in new year. If you sell during the calendar year even if its before you move you could be taxed CGT in Spain so it's very important you get your dates right. Get a good tax advisor as it is s large amount you are going to be moving with.


----------



## Sarah 1982 (May 12, 2021)

kaipa said:


> Definitely doable with that amount of money. Not sure about the business plan as for any business you probably need Spanish ( as you haven't mentioned it I assume you dont speak it). Probably better looking at properties to rent as an income source which would be doable in Ibiza as there are so many English tourists. Driving test maybe a problem as you have to do test in Spanish ( at moment, this might change though). One thing however to keep in mind that if your kids are teenagers taking them away from friends can be very tough on them and many dont adapt to well. Dont expect them to want the sun and beach- they bore of that quickly and often spend days online chatting to friends in England. That is what mine does and he hates Spain and just wants to return to UK. Of course, it is very age dependent thing. Anyway good luck. One last thing sell your house before January then move in new year. If you sell during the calendar year even if its before you move you could be taxed CGT in Spain so it's very important you get your dates right. Get a good tax advisor as it is s large amount you are going to be moving with.


Thank you that’s really good to know. Yes it’s a tricky one re moving teens although my youngest will be starting secondary and the other 6th form so a good time to move in my eyes and they want to move more than us. Lots to think about thank you.


----------



## haymarket (May 23, 2010)

I am in a similar position, but no idea what to do about retaining bank account in uk. Also how to transfer large amounts overseas seems there is a cap 10000 per transaction. I do t want hsbc expat too expensive and I lack some skills.


----------

