sheerdrop

The above I hope says it all, I have posted a few things on some other forums and have received comments like "most people talk about it and never do it etc lol"

My wife, 10 year old daughter and I have made the decisions to move over to Spain, pretty much the reason is I have always fancied living abroad and a heart attack at 39 last year made me realise life is too short and in the afterlife (which I hope exists) I dont want to think I wish I had done that.

Plan is to get a job in Gib (looking at the mo and getting pretty good feedback that due to my IT experience I should get one) As it stands we plan to move in March/April next year, we are at the point of no return nearly so all going well

Problem we are having is trying to find rental accommodation, we have seen lots of it but no-one is coming back to us I plan to have enough cash to live for 6 months plus and initially thought of living in La Linea, but cost of accommodation looks better in Estepona (and the place is nicer ). Short question I am asking is if anyone knows of any rental companies I can speak to? (English speaking as my Spanish is coming along but want to make sure I know what I am getting into)

We have hired a van and are bringing personal things such as clothes, daughters toys, personal items, my Humidor etc Ideally we can arrange it from over here, not sure if thats feasible though? If not how did you guys do it?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

Cliff

jojojojojo

You need to make sure you have a definite job offer and a work contract within 90 days of arriving, so that you can become residents in Spain and to enable your daughter to go to school there - thats something you need to think about, at 10 she may find it difficult to go to a spanish state school. There are international schools around, but they can be costly, or there are schools in Gib, but unless you actually live in Gib, you have to pay. You will also need to get the S1 form from DWP Newcastle to enable you to have reciprocal healthcare in spain. To become residents in Spain you must have proof of income and healthcare provision!

Spanish letting agents are notorious for not responding to e-mails etc. The best thing to do is to go over there and visit them, then they'll show you round their properties - dont do anything til you've seen the properties - photos lie!!!!!!!!!

As for removals, we used an international removals company

Jo xxx

agoreira

As Jo said, without the firm offer of a job I wouldn't even contemplate it.

sheerdrop

jojojojojo (hope I got the right amount of jojo's there ) You mention that the photos lie etc, not sure if it possible for us to come over before renting, would it be better getting a 4 week holiday let (for example) and then trying to sort out where to stay longer term? That being the case is there local removal companies that we could use to transport our stuff? Thanks for the info on the schools no one has mentioned in the past that we could not enroll her without residency, unplanned as that sounds. I am being honest when I say I am all new to this, and plan to get round it all one way or another, so really really appreciate your comments

sheerdrop

Bit of a catch situation, I am in a position of hiring people over here in the UK, if I received a application from someone living in Spain I would disregard it, if it was a Spanish person living in the UK the nationality would not bother me, I totally know where you are coming from though.

lynnxa

companies on Gib are used to hiring people from the UK who don't already live here - they might well expect you to go for a face to face interview, but I have heard of many cases where they interview by skype

seriously - don't give up what sounds like a good job on the offchance

if you can secure work, then go for it - if not it will be an expensive long holiday - you cannot register as resident here in Spain now unless you can prove that you can financially support yourself & your family & have healthcare provision in place - & if you can't register you can't access services such as education

jojojojojo

Its my opinion that you slow down (you sound just like me, impatient and wanting to get on with it lol) There is still time for you to go over for a visit - Go over, go for a job interview or two and look at properties, distances, queues to get in and out of Gib (it can take several hours to cross the border - both ways), transport needs, schools, etc. It really is important you know where and what you are looking at.

Holiday lets are horrendously expensive and I'm not sure that you would be able to bring a lorry load of stuff to them.

Planning and knowledge is vital if you want this to work!!!

Jo xxxx

Rosemary

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

steviedeluxe

Hi,
You mention your IT experience. If it includes web stuff you're in luck as many IT startups in Spain (same as other countries) are finding it difficult to recruit decent developers. Most of those will be in Madrid or Barcelona.
Here are a couple of sites where those startups are looking for IT bods
http://www.jobfluent.com/
http://betabeers.com/
Some are now looking for project managers, data analysts, designers etc. so it's not all Android or iPhone developers.
Good luck!

flotsum

We used an international remover from the UK, we were not moving straight into our property so our things went into storage and the company brought them over to their storage depot in spain with several other consignments. Then when we had a date to move they brought it to our house, this meant the cost was reduced as they could plan it into moving several shipments in one go! My husband then brought our daughter, personal paperwork, cat etc in our car over on the ferry, I followed with our son on the plane. We then replated our car to make it legal in Spain this meant we had transport and all the essential paperwork to get on with sorting everything out. My daughter was 10 when she started Spanish state school, it was hard going and she needed lots of support at home.

Lionda

If only the Uk would adopt the same rules

Richie1892

Haveing fairly recently moved to Spain I know how exciting the whole thing is and despite a few problems I'm really glad we did it but I agree with Jo, slow down, take your time and make sure you have a job secured before you move out to Gib. I know that's not easy(I was straining at the leash) but it took a couple of years for us to finally decide to take the plunge, bearing in mind that my wife is Spanish, we can manage(just) without work and have no dependant kids. The biggest stress for you is probably going to be getting work so if you can remove that one thing before coming over then your on your way. As Steve mentioned, there "may" be jobs in your line of work in parts of mainland Spain, is that something you'd consider or are you set on Gib?
Jo's also right about house photos not telling the truth, we are just nearing the end of our house buying "adventure" and clever photography or years old pics from a when a house was newly decorated seemed to be the order of the day We found that photos were a better indicator of what we wouldn't like rather than what we would.
Whatever you decide, I wish you and your family the best of luck and hope it's everything you hope it will be

billgates

If you are only 40 then you will have to pay for private health care or go autonomo to access the Spanish NHS. Both will cost you.

Don't dump your 10 year old into a Spanish state school unless she is already fluent in Spanish. She will hate it, struggle to make friends, probably be bullied, probably fail. International school will be much better but will cost you.

Don't forget that unemployment is over 25% in Spain and you will struggle to get anything local without fluent Spanish. Bigger IT companies often require English but they usually advertise for Madrid or Barcelona. Gib is good for online gaming.

For ad-hoc haulage you could try www.shiply.com
Only heard about this company the other day but it sounds like a good idea - you provide collection and delivery details and hauliers bid for the job. Kind of like ebay in reverse.

If you have a job in the UK and can do it remotely I would suggest keeping it, at least until you get settled in Spain because it solves all the residency conditions and means you still have an income until you get one locally.

steviedeluxe

Just come across this article on getting IT work in Barcelona. Some very good tips on there (eg using Linkedin groups, twitter etc)

http://bcntechtalk.com/2012/11/21/jo...ech-companies/

flotsum

My children went into state school with hardly any spanish, not from our lack of trying but purely because they really did not want to try at their spanish lessons in the UK! However they were fine, made friends, in fact everyone wanted to be their friend, we worked closely with the teachers and director to make sure they were ok, we invested the time at home to help them with their homework and keep up, as they are the only English speaking children they were totally immersed from the word go, they were not put under any pressure at school and within 6 months they were verbally almost fluent, 9 months on they passed all their written exams and now 3 years are both in the top 5% of their respected classes. However we did have an emergency fund for extra lessons at local academies if they needed it, international school was too far away for us, in hindsight it was something that we should have considered when we moved but the town we moved to had 4 afternoon academies for extra help and classes if they had needed it. If they had been older than 10 I would not have considered a state school, to be honest we would not have moved if my daughter had been older.