Hi everyone! I am new to this forum and wanted to know the experiences of the users in becoming self employed in Spain. I am hoping to relocate to Spain for about a year in January and I know there are not many jobs available at the moment which is why I wanted to register as a self employed person within the initial 90 days. I want to know how I would go about it and what is the bureacy like in Spain for this? What proof or documents will I need? I am going to be starting an internet business and wanted to show this as evidence of self employment plus accountant's letter - would this be sufficient to get the residency?

Any replies would be appreciated.

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

you would need to find a gestor who would set things up for you. You would need to pay approx 250€ a month, but this would cover you for health care. You would also need to prove a liveable income to the Spanish authorities

Jo xxx

How can you prove a livable income when you are just starting to work as a self-employed person?

If you are not buying property here there is hardly any advantage in registering or being legal.

You are likely to get two sorts of reply. One is the legal way, pay your autonomo fee (€260 per month whether or not you are earning anything) - this would then give you health cover and eventually some sort of minimal support if you need it. Register for residency and to do so prove evidence of income (acceptable to the functionary that you happen to come across) and evidence of health cover.
The second way is to come to Spain, start up your business, take out private health insurance and get on with your life.

Given the above is slightly simplified, it is your choice and the choice that a lot of people have to make.

If you are going the illegal way then make sure you dont use any Spanish services e.g. hospitals, schools or buy a car or house. In fact, anything that may leave a paper trail. Then hope for the best that you dont get caught, and make sure that you sleep well at night knowing that some parents are struggling to feed their children while you save on your taxes

Its really quite unbelievable, who on here would recommend going underground in the UK?

agreed

Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, Indians, Pakistanis, Russians, the list is endless and they are doing it right now and just across the road from you in the UK.

Gangmasters employ people to work the factories and fields, paying cash in hand, they pay no employers NI, the worker pays no employee NI, the company getting their labour just gets a bill at the end of the week/month, nothing itemised except the VAT (sometimetimes).

want a car ? borrow a friends!
want somewhere to live ? share a property with someone else.
backpackers are doing it all the way round the world, little work here, little work there, so all of a sudden it is wrong that someone comes to BE Spain and actually is asking how to do it properly

the OP wasn't wrong in asking how to do it properly

IMO a couple of the replies suggesting how to do it illegally were wrong/out of order

Whilst we argue about legal / illegal lets also look at the OP

I am hoping to relocate to Spain for about a year in January and I know there are not many jobs available at the moment which is why I wanted to register as a self employed person within the initial 90 days.

It would appear they are trying to do things right.
But is it possible/worthwhile taking a time frame of one year considering.

What proof or documents will I need? I am going to be starting an internet business and wanted to show this as evidence of self employment plus accountant's letter - would this be sufficient to get the residency?


Starting a business usually means little or no income for some time, therefore no proof for the authorities that they could support themselves, although I am not sure what the accountant's letter would show.

Fred, at least I am seeing this as a potentially practical person, who is perhaps not telling us enough, but....
why should they, they may have the next biggest thing to fall off the tree of social contact marketing and to tell all us greedy competitors would mean staying in a dingey flat in Clapham (or wherever) .
I have a couple of possible, potential opportunities sitting in my back pocket at the moment, but I will give you the non-floating rubbish bag for yachts for free, its not cost effective nor environmentally friendly.

we are not knowing, and again reticence is good, what the solicitors letter will show, but it could be confirmation of €ooodles in the bank, letters of credit etc etc enabling the individual and business a chance to prosper.

I have railed against the high negativity attitude on BE Spain before, there is no talk of children, cats or dogs with paternity rights or education. If the individual wants to take a punt and give it a try then let them, with a little bit of help and support from the Forum, instead of the negativity.
Perhaps we could one day be able to say we actually helped someone.

rgds

Domino I was not being negative I hope, but more practical.

With reference to rubbish on yachts I sorted that out years ago, it's called the "Floatation test" you throw it overboard, if it floats it's rubbish, if it sinks it was useful

on the OP's other thread there is mention of bringing over non-EU grandchildren live here - that in itself will be difficult/costly inasmauch as needing to prove that the parents (if the grandchildren are minors) are happy for them to be here

even without having to prove that there is enough income to support them all

well hopefully you have read my reply to that other post....

we are getting more savvy posters, splitting up their circumstances into small bite sized pieces, non related, to confuse the BES Sceptics as they know what sort of response others have had who have given the full picture in one go.

looking at it in these bite sizes,
yes being self employed in Spain is potentially a possibility that could work subject to meeting all the requirements of life and living.
no to bringing grandchildren into the equation, how can you run a business and children - I know women have been doing if for centuries, but from a birth home place, not an ideal situation in a new country, new language, new rules. Will lead to unhappiness as I said elsewhere.