Hi All,

New to this place, but would like to pick your brains on this subject.

My wife and I have always longed to move away from the UK. My job has always restricted the availability of destinations being a bricklayer. We were going through the visa applications to move to Australia 7/8 years ago but my wife fell pregnant with our 2nd child and it put the brakes on that.

What we are considering doing now that I have built my business up and have a few lads working for me, is to rent or sell our place here and buy in Spain. Can I still run a UK ltd company from Spain and have that as my income? Would we qualify for a Visa if we done it that way? I would be travelling back and forth regularly for work.

I understand it's not all sunshine and roses. We realise it won't like being on holiday. But our hearts have not been in the UK for a long time now and we want to move our children away from it.

Thanks

Hi - posts similar to yours appear regularly on this forum - fortunately you already understand that you need visas now in this post-Brexit era. So it is much more complicated to relocate and live in Spain these days.

As I have lived here for years I have not personally experienced the visa application process and so can only point you at authentic (beware of unreliable/out of date sites) information sites:-

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

https://www.pellicerheredia.com/en/open-library/

https://www.ageinspain.org/moving-to-spain

Please research carefully and base any decisions on accurate current information from genuine professional sites.

Good luck.

Agree with spainrico and there have been several posts about this over the years. Plenty of people do it, the difference is always what type of business you are running and Brexit. While it might be easier with digital work, how will you maintain a certain standard from abroad? You might be willing to fly back and forth, it's not really great for the family and would be stressful long-term. How would your staff and clients feel if you live abroad in the sun? You might not be setting a good example and staff can quickly feel frustrated. I only have a 2nd home in Spain and am not affected by Brexit, these problems can come up everywhere though and shouldn't be ignored. Same with kids and just because you are desperate for sun won't mean the kids will automatically adapt. Good luck

Unfortunately there is no visa which would permit you to do what you propose so I'm afraid your idea is a complete non starter.

Nail on the head !

Here is a full list of available visas. Have a look to see if one would suit:

https://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consul...c9fR_Pv-3QFrhM

Steve

'Unfortunately there is no visa which would permit you to do what you propose so I'm afraid your idea is a complete non starter.'

Really?

I thought the non-lucrative visa meant you could live in Spain but not earn a living/work in Spain but obviously, you need to prove income which could come from outside

The OP is suggesting that they run the company from spain- that obviously is work so they answer is no for the NLV. Your income must be " passive". The owner would have to resign his role in the company and then set up a new system where they draw dividends or something similar. Every other way would be fraud in the sense that your tax return would have to place your income in the non work category. The only way the OP can do this would trying to get a self employed visa ( which would be hard as you would need to change alot in uk) or alternatively simply sell the business and retire.

Ah OK Ronnyone - thanks for that - I naively assumed if the company and income was non-Spain based then all would be OK for NLV - so things are more complicated than I realised - thank God I am retired!

Just my opinion on this ( Interested to know why you don't like uk?) Irrespective of the visa you need to seriously think about the children. Often parents think that moving children is a good thing but from my experience ( have lived a long time in spain and my child similarly moved here) it is not really going to improve things and frankly you will most likely be limiting many things about their future lives. Firstly there is the language. Your child will need to learn Spanish and the myth that they pick it up easily is not true. Many British kids have little Spanish or very bad Spanish even after spending most of their lives here. Unless they are fully immersed in spanish culture they won't learn it and as many Brits congregate around enclaves in the costas this isn't really a Spanish culture. Secondly kids don't like being moved to different countries. They might be happy on 2 week holidays but once they realise they aren't going home to their familiar friends and surroundings they get very upset and anxious and these things can stay with them even into adulthood. They won't spend their time outside like adults either. They will sit in their rooms with a screen the same as UK. They won't want to go out in the sun- as in reality it's uncomfortable. Sending them to private schools to follow GCSEs and Alevels is now a waste of money. In 2028 all UK nationals in EU will be international students if returning to UK for college and university plus apprenticeship also often require 3 years residency in uk. That means your kids ( if they don't speak Spanish ) and don't have Spanish school qualifications will not be able to access any further education or job training in Spain and will effectively be stuck with nothing. Remember unemployment in spain is the highest in EU for young people and most young Spanish remain with their families until quite late in life- something Brits probably don't want. So all in all you need to be honest and ask " Is this what me and my wife want or is it was is best for my children?.

The NLV also puts severe restraints on the amount of time you can be out of the country, a maximum of 5 months in the first 5 years, so regularly flying back and forth from UK would be out of the question.

Better to revisit the idea about OZ if still qualified by age etc.

I am going to ignore the posters who have gone out of their way to give life and parenting advice to myself. This wasn't the question or information I came on here for.

Back to the posters who actually took their time out to reply to what was asked, greatly appreciated.

My wife will be getting a non lucrative visa after several conversations with a lawyer this is the best route for her and the children. I will not be spending the days required in Spain for me to warrant a visa, as my time will be split between nations favouring the UK. The business will be registered in the UK and work conducted in the UK. In regards to the poster who questioned my capabilities of running a labour only bricklaying business to nation wide house builders. With me being in the UK Mon-Thurs. I am very very confident they will not care where I am spending my long weekends. I do not ask them what they do in their spare time, so I am sure they will not question me.

Again, many thanks to positive and non judgemental posters.

Another thing you need to consider is your tax residence. Other than spending the majority of your time in Spain (you need to work out your days in Spain over a calendar year carefully), having your family living in Spain can make you tax resident in Spain and subject to tax on your world-wide income. Depending on your income including business income, this is something you need to give a serious consideration and work through accountant familiar with UK and Spanish taxation.

I assume you are aware that you will be a Spanish tax resident irrespective of where you live. If your family live permanently in spain then that is your centre of financial interest , no way round that

If you think these are judgemental posts, you might be in the wrong place and every post is valuable here. If you think you've got it all sorted out, then probably best to do it your way.
People here are not lawyers, tax advisors, they give general advice and share their thoughts from experience (positive/negative).