leeturbo2000

iTrader: (7)

I really could do with some advice 'cos googles making me been thinking about getting out of this place for ages now , The whole nanny state thing and the cost of living ( for us hard workers!!) is beyond a joke now,anyway thats a different thread lol. Where do I start, I know we need a NIE card which we have to get from the police station( can we do this on holiday say?) and obv a job and accomidation(SP) should we buy or rent? Im 27 and the mrs 24 more than willing to learn spanish before anything BTW im thinking we want to be there by the time Im 30, how did you do it? sorrry there's so many Qs but I have no idea where to start with the process? Constructive advice welcome. I know its a major decision ETC ETC but help with the process please cheers guys

what would scooby do

FYI many brits that went to spain have had to come back as they can no longer afford to live there...

dpb

Constructive advice welcome

Build your own - and make sure you own the land



and as above - hope youve got a million in the bank

JackClark

Definitely rent, that way you can come home in six months when your out of cash.

Chip

That's right, and that way you will have no commitment to property etc. There are so many Brits who go over there and then return to the UK as they cannot settle there.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side.

Chip

leeturbo2000

iTrader: (7)

I think times are hard eveywhere, but we might aswel have a hard time somewhere else, at least there is no 2 faced government over there, theyre corrupt and know it but dont try and hide it! lol TBH I was more looking for process/procedure advice. cheers ps jack and chip I had that in mind about renting TBH they may be the plan to start with ...... but how? lol

scud8

iTrader: (1)

My parents went about five years ago when they retired. Initially they really enjoyed it, but now they would come back to the UK if they could. They took the time to learn spanish, but they're living in the Valencia region and a lot of the locals prefer to speak Valencian (similar to Catalan but don't let a Valencian native hear you say that). At times it seems like they are quite happy to speak spanish amongst themselves but prefer to make things difficult for UK expats.

A lot of the UK expats who were working have had to leave, and where my parents live it seems to have left them with a combination of benefit cheats and retired coppers.

It's also got very expensive because most of their income is in sterling but the euro exchange rate has gone from about 1.30-1.40 EU/£ when they first went out to around 1.15.

My advice would be to try it for a while, but don't commit yourselves until you are sure you can make it work.

Chip

Why not get on a flight over to the region where you want to go and seek out some help from an estate agent and speak to some of the ex-pats out there. Youll need to know rent prices, local council taxes, fuel costs etc etc,.

Chip

leeturbo2000

iTrader: (7)

Cheers for that, I think we would rent to start hopefully we will have 2 incomes like we have now and we dont have kids so no danger there *TOUCH WOOD* any chance of asking how your parents got there (i dont mean by plane lol )
Im guesssing they had a nestegg being retired but where did they start?

leeturbo2000

iTrader: (7)

Yeah as soon as my arms are better (broke both) were going on a "research holiday" lol

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

Just be aware that getting 2 jobs in Spain might not be that straight forward, given 21% are unemployed..

http://www.google.co.uk/publicdata/e...mployment+rate

leeturbo2000

iTrader: (7)

Yeah Iv heard that but its the same here I think.....thanks to benfits I would hope to get employed before we left tbh plus we are talking 3 years , it maybe better....or worse lol

billythekid

France.

scud8

iTrader: (1)

They had some savings from when my dad was made redundant about ten years before retirement and my mum inherited some money when her father died. They also sold their house in the UK (bought in 1973, sold in 2006 so a big tax-free capital gain). They also both have pension income from various places. They had a good idea of where they wanted to live because they used to go on walking holidays in the Valencian hills and found a village they really liked. They simply found a villa they liked and bought it, then sold their UK house and moved out. I think the savings were enough to buy the villa, and the plan was originally that they could live off the combination of the pension income and interest on the money from selling their UK house. The shifting exchange rate and low interest rates have screwed this plan up so they are having to eat into their capital.

EddScott

My mother has a house in Spain. It's more a town house on an estate rather than these little villa estates or self build which could have issues with land as mentioned above.

My brother lives in Gibraltar so it's handy to have a place where we can all meet up. Their flat in Gib isn't very big and theres 4 of them and 4 of us if we go with my mother.

She has friends who have been out there since the 90s and they are fairly well ingrained into the system as it were so haven't been affected too much.

what would scooby do

Rule #1 of emigration, if you have a **** life in the UK and emigrate, you will have a **** life abroad but have more sunshine.

leeturbo2000

iTrader: (7)

Thats enough for me! No but MY life isnt s**t but it could be so much more, am still young....ish lol Life is what you make it and if you put the work in you should have a good life....after the taxman obviously

austinwrx

the costa del sol was originally called the "windy coast" until marketing clever people re-named it the sunshine coast in the 50's to attract tourists !

its obvioulsy better than here, but I've been in winter: its not that great !

I'd say go for it mate, but oddly enough I know quite a lot of people who have come back to the UK following emigration: i.e spain, france, australia, USA,Canada.


equally my dad ended up in the UK in the 60's (he was a naturalised Australian citizen) and i was born here.

I've spent forever wishing he stayed and I was born over there !!!!!!!!!!

dan.evans

Bloke i know went there yeard ago for 6 years to live, the avarage was is 150 a week mate, only go if u got money to live of. And the spanish prob hate the brits for invading there country.

Chip

Are you dyslexic or something

PaulC72

Take 6months out of work and rent somewhere, if you like it after that consider doing it full time. In that 6 months see how hard it is to find work etc and do your research while over their you will find it far more honest that reading the internet ;-)

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

If I could get a job over there, I'd be living out there.

Some good property deals out there now the economy has gone pear shaped, but you still need to do your homework.

Anywhere near ex-pats resorts gets pricey, and they are full of those 'orrible Brits that you emmigrated to get away from

jods

hodgy0_2

so true

and god forbid you move to Ireland

RobJenks

You are the right age for qualifying for entry into Australia.
If your work skills are suited to mining or oil/gas you will get company sponsorship and your work visa expedited accordingly.
Oz is not perfect by any means , but I think most of the boxes get ticked here.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Ok it's not spain, i'm in croatia.

You won't know if it's for you until you try it.

It's not easy, but if it were everyone would do it.

Something like 70/80% of people that do go for it, end up going back to england with their tail between their legs for a multitude of reasons.

I did no research, went on holiday, liked it and bought a house, cheap.

7 years on it's still not easy, i'm very independant and at peace with myself so i don't need familiy and friends, and i also don't have much in the way of real friends anyway, so nothing or no one to miss just my son.

Language and cultural differences are the biggest problems, and no matter how long you are there you will always be an outsider especially if you go to a small place where everyone knows everything about each other.

It's not all doom and gloom though, iv'e made some good friends and had to seive through a pile of as$ holes, but thats no different to anywhere.

Just make sure you have a thick skin and big ***** you will also need to be very strong mentally, make friends easily and be very outgoing and open.

I would not choose spain personally as it's been done to death, you need to look in places like bulgaria, montinegro ect. somewhere on the up.

Stay away from expats, and get in with the locals, it's the only way.

so many leave their home land and try to recreate it somewhere else.

They should go back to where they came from if thats the case.

And bare in mind everywhere has it's problems, life is what you make it, sometimes you just have to grab your ***** close your eyes and jump.

If i would have done my research, learned the language and made loads of plans i would probably not be here now.

mattsan

We moved to Oz nearly 4 years ago, best thing we ever did. I could never live in the uk now after living here. It was difficult at first, with jobs etc but I'm glad we stuck it out. I really do think it's so much easier moving to an English speaking country rather having to learn an another language. Depending on what trade/skills you have you are at the perfect age being under 30 to apply for full residency in Oz, then citizenship. Sponsorship is a bit of a nightmare because if the company sponsering you goes bust or you lose your job then you have 28 days to get another sponsor or you kicked out of the country!

kbsub

Have a look here Probably get a more accurate view on living in Spain than a car forum TBH

FWIW We moved to Canada four years ago and haven't looked back , And if you don't do it you will never know. The move will be what you make of it , plain and simple .

Glynmitch

My parents emigrated to Canada around 8 years ago. They bought a small business to run and did that for 5 years. Now they have sold up and retired. They live in Kelowna, British Columbia during the summer and in winter they tour the US with their 5th wheel hitch on caravan. They actually sold their business to my older sister who emigrated to the same area so there is only me and my brother left here I wonder if they are trying to tell me something My folks wanted to move over there in the 70's but never did it because my father was too worried about leaving his elderly parents behind. He regretted never doing it.

I'm going over for a visit on the 20th for a month I work month on month off in the oil industry and am considering moving there too. Don't fancy Kelowna much (been there for a visit before) but Vancouver might be better for me.