Morning All,

First post and looking for some advice on loads of questions that we have.....

A bit of background.
We are a family of 5 looking to make a change.
2 x Grandparents (both retired)
Myself 49 next (run a small commercial refrigeration and ac company)
the Wife 43 - stay at home mum
Son 8 lovely engaging lad, just going through a diagnosis of ADHD with him
2 German pointers

We are looking at moving over to the Benijofar area.
We are looking at being self employed again, by setting up another ref/ac business

Now we are out of the EU, I know this is going to be a nightmare as opposed to a few years ago. A lifestyle change is the main driver for the change.
Is it as hard as we are led to believe with reference to residency etc.

What is the general format to getting over there.

Many thanks 👍

First you would need to check the visas here: Visas (FAQ)

Self Employed: http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consula...RP%20ES-EN.pdf

I. APPLICATION FOR AUTHORISATION FOR RESIDENCE AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT:
1. Fill in the EX-07 form of ‘Autorización de residencia temporal y trabajo por cuenta propia’.
2. Fill in the ‘Autorización inicial de residencia temporal’ fee self-assessment form 790-052, to be paid at the Consulate on the day your application is accepted.
3. Fill in the ‘Autorización inicial de trabajo por cuenta propia’ fee self-assessment form 790-062, to be paid at the Consulate on the day your application is accepted.
4. Valid passport or travel document, recognised as valid in Spain. It must have a minimum validity of the duration of the stay and at least two blank pages. Photocopy of all passport pages.
5. Work Permits or Licenses that sanction the building, opening and operation of the planned project or the professional activity, including the information regarding the stage of the process and, if corresponding, certificates of applications filed with competent authorities.
6. 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.
7. Proof of having the legally required professional qualification or sufficient experience of carrying on professional activity, as well as professional registration when required.
8. 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.

Don't forget that Spain has been hit even harder and unemployment is rising, so lifestyle is the last thing to consider. What can your ref/ac business offer that Spanish can't?

The biggest change prior to 2021 and now is while before you could just up sticks, arrive in Spain and just do what you want (set up business, etc) and then simply register as resident with a minimum of fuss. Now you need approval prior to leaving UK in the form of a visa. To set up in self-employment, you need a business plan, approval by competent bodies in Spain, financial ability, police checks, private health insurance. Grandparents, your wife and son are your dependants. Basically if you are approved for a self-employment (autónomo) visa, and this is a big if, they can be included, provided you meet their financial and insurance needs. We don't have much hard data on self-employment visa for British citizens, as it has just been introduced and consulates are currently not processing application under Covid restrictions, but basically your plan must be viable, create local employment and it's a niche for which there is a real demand in Spain. As you can imagine, refrigeration and air conditioning are a well-developed industry here, electrical regulations are totally different, you probably require licence and certification, which means initially at least you need to hire local qualified staff, plus good Spanish to deal with suppliers and officialdom. From what I can see, it's a crowded marketplace, with both Spanish and expat businesses competing for customers, all under the devastating effect of the pandemic.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-spain

Unless you speak good Spanish this is not going to work. How are you going to be able to run such a business in English? Also you would need to do a Spanish driving licence. If you do speak good Spanish I would suggest reading up on everything in the relevant Spanish sites

Good luck :-)

Blimey.
Sounds like only those with a bottomless moneypit need apply.
Rishi Sunak should be OK.

Indeed and other routes require plenty of money:
VISA FOR INVESTORS – REAL ESTATE Foreigners who make an investment in Real Estate goods in Spain that are worth 500,000 € or more, without liens or encumbrances, are eligible to apply for this visa. The portion of the investment exceeding the required amount may be subject to liens or encumbrances.

VISA FOR INVESTORS - INVESTMENT OF CAPITAL. This visa is aimed at investors with an initial investment with a value equal to or greater than 2.000.000 € in Spanish government debt securities, or a value equal to or greater than 1.000.000 € in stocks or shares of Spanish companies with a real business activity, closed-end investment funds or venture capital funds, or bank deposits in Spanish financial institutions.

It seems the easiest option is to not work at all (NON-LUCRATIVE RESIDENCE VISA) or if you are a teacher, technician, reasearcher RESIDENCE VISA WITH WORKING PERMIT EXEMPTION http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consula...EE%20ES-EN.pdf

Hi, in addition to the other issues mentioned above, your son's ADHD may prove to be a big problem. He would have to be diagnosed by a Spanish Professional, involving speaking Spanish, and he'd probably have to go to a special-needs school, where it's unlikely that they'd speak English. According to Wikipedia, there are fewer than 3300 inhabitants in Benijofar and such a school might not even exist locally.
As for the grandparents, you should also make sure that there are medical facilities nearby - the older you get, the more you tend to consult (I speak from experience), and after a certain age, they'll need care. Retired expats who are fit tend to disregard this issue, and the fact of not speaking Spanish won't make for an easy move into old age...
Apart from considering the employment issue, imagine your son and his grandparents in 10-15 years' time....
Hope all this gives you food for thought. Fore-warned is fore-armed!

I suppose the next question would be why the OP is specifically looking at Benijofar. Maybe the grandparents own a property there, but that doesn't automatically make the place a good location for the business. Elche and Alicante are close enough though and Torrevieja has schools, so that doesn't seem to be a problem.

Honestly? It's going to be a logistical nightmare. As others have pointed out, you would need some kind of business visa which will be very, very difficult. What you are proposing would have been challenging enough before but now you have lost your rights to freedom of movement, nigh on impossible.

Have you looked into getting a golden visa? That's the easy way for UK nationals to move to EU states but you would need about €500,000.

And if you did, it may not include the grandparents as they are not dependants and would otherwise need to show an income of over €30k a year and full private medical insurance with no pre-existing illnesses.

I’m sorry, but I think you have missed the boat.

Hello again,
lots of research required by the looks of it!
We are looking at houses in excess of the €500k “Golden visa” requirement and also looking to invest around the same amount into the start up of a new business venture. We all speak Spanish to some degree, with the wife being fluent.

I didn’t think it would be as difficult!

Many thanks for your “advice”

Deséeme suerte, por favor

Good info on Golden Visa here

https://www.pellicerheredia.com/en/g...dsf6OdrRbdeXZM

Obviously you have enough cash, but wouldn't you be better off going for the non-lucrative visa? Why waste €500K on a property that's probably only worth €300K and then waste another €500K to start a business in Spain . You could keep the business in the UK, buy a cheaper property and don't have that huge risk. Then again, maybe you have so much that losing €700K is not a problem for you. Just saying.