jay
 

ive been told that work in spain would be really hard to find as neither myself or my husband speak spanish, is this right. some of the advice ive been given on this forum is making me wonder whether moving to spain with my husband and 3 kids would be such a good idea. we are basically coming over with a car, 30,000 euros and hoping for the best. long term rental is what we have been looking at. we own a house in uk which we are currently renting out. dont want to sell just in case we need something to come back to.:confused:

Re: jay
 

Hi,
It is not that hard if you are willing to work in call centres etc etc.

We found quite a lot of jobs were available to us.

Where abouts are you going to be?

xxx

Re: jay
 

to be honest we will just go where the work and schools are.anywhere in spain has to be better than bradford west yorkshire. costa blanca seems the most reasonable when it comes to long term rental. but for the weather almeria seems like the place to be. any help anyone

Re: jay
 

We constantly hear of people returning to UK due to the inability to find work. People who are free from responsibilities of a dependant family have returned due to not being able to support themselves even when they have loads of qualifications and speak Spanish well.

The average wage in Spain is 12000 - 13000 euros per year. Things used to be cheap here but the Spanish are finding it difficult to manage on the low wage. Most live with extended family due to this and appear to be having smaller families.

Everyone on this forum has different experiences of life in Spain, depending on their own personal needs but I think most agree that it would be very difficult to find work without having learnt Spanish.

No-one can make the decision for you, you will need to weigh up the pros and cons of what a move will mean to your family. When doing this do not forget to add in what it will mean if the move fails, what the financial and emotional costs would be and also the effect that it will have on each individual in the family.

Rosemary

Re: jay
 

thanks for that. it must be a woman thing. my husand is a bit like sod it lets just go. but i have to admit that the thought of being there for a year then when our funds run out we have to come home coz we cant support ourselves, doesnt really appeal to me. coming home £20k lighter and having disrupted my children bothers me

Re: jay
 

i used to work in a call centre here in the uk. whats the money like though. could we live on the wage. dont want to leave uk to be totally poor in spain. not that we have a great deal of money in uk due to taxes and everything been so expensive here..

Re: jay
 

If you want to save your money then I would personally not bring the car. It will cost you to have it transfered and after a bit of research I have found some quite cheap cars for sale, and they are Spanish.

As others have said Spanish is fairly important, if you just want bar work or odd jobs in Brit areas then you will be ok with the language, but not for money. It is so easy to learn Spanish, just start now, buy a CD, or a course and whenever you drive somewhere play a 10 or 20 min bit of it, the more you surround yourself the easier it will be. My OH is now spoken to in Spanish, at home and at work, and she is getting the hang of the way it is spoken.

Dont know where your house is in the UK but I cant see that you will have problems renting a place in Spain with what you earn in the UK, how you would stand regarding tax I'm not sure, but someone will be able to tell you.

Re: jay
 

You need to think about why you are moving to Spain. If it is to earn lots of money and be better off financially then it isn't going to happen, but if you want a lifestyle change and somewhere different and relatively safe for your kids to grow up then you may just make it.

Life isn't easy, where ever you are, but if you never take a risk you will never know, you always have a house to fall back on.

Re: jay
 

Hi,
It depends where you will be based, hubby was offered a job at 800 euros a month and i was going to do the opposite shift so it would of been 1600 euros a month that way one of us was always at home with kids etc etc, however things happened and we came back to the uk.

xxxx

Re: jay
 

no not moving to earn lots of money. just wanted nicer life than we have here. but on the other hand dont want to move to spain and be on the bread line. i am in the process of buying a sandwich shop here in england but didnt know if to keep the money 30,000 euros and bring it to spain and see how we get on there

Re: jay
 

Well I'm not going to advise you on your life, but if it was me, and I wanted to move to Spain I wouldn't, the money will keep you afloat in Spain while you look for something that will provide you with the life you are looking for.

Re: jay
 

As I said in my earlier post no-one can really give you advice as it is down to the individual or family. All you can do is find out as much as you can and then weigh it all up. Financially it looks like you could be in a very similar situation here as you appear to be in UK except you speak the language in UK. 30000 Euros sounds a lot until you start dipping into it to pay your way and then it soon disappears. The various documentation required in Spain runs away with some of it.

You mentioned the diruption to your children and this to my way of thinking is the major factor. It could be that they settle into Spain very well, learn the language etc and then you find that they do not want to return to UK but you have to due to lack of work. So difficult for you all.

We took early retirement, we survive on a small pension and we have both said that we know that we would not have had the courage to come to Spain if the family were not grown up and self sufficient. Others on here have made a success of bringing a family out and do not necessarily understand why some people are reticent.

I do not envy you the working out whether it is feasible for you and wish you luck in your deliberations.

Rosemary

Re: jay
 

It seems to me that its an enormously difficult decision. We came here as early retirees, but I'm not quite sure if I would have had the courage to bring a family here and have to find work.

From what I've read over the last few years there are a great number people who come here in the same situation as you, run out of money, and have to return.

BUT, you have a house in the UK and that is income which is a start. You have well over 12 months worth of savings to support you. I'm not sure the funds would purchase you a going concern business, but who knows. The cost of living over here is less than in the UK and you will find a number of couples here who live on around 1000 ish euros a month. But then again you have to pay rent over here.

If you got a job over here earning 800 euros a month each making 19200 a year then your tax would be minimal / zero as you have three kids but then I don't know your personal circumastances fully.

General allowance 5,050 euro pa

Wage earners allowance 4000 euro

Child allowance
First child 1,800 euro
Second child 2,000 euro
Third child 3,600 euro

No one can advise you what to do ..... you just have to do your research. and don't jump into anything with your eyes closed!

Good luck

Re: jay
 

The only people I know that are not struggling to some extent are those who had a lot of money to start with & invested wisely, those who are retired with a decent pension (which will go further here), or those where one of the partners (usually the hubby) either works in another country, or has business in another country & commutes.

30,000 will not go as far as you think

There are a few - and I mean a few- exceptions, but they are constantly complaining that they have to work harder here than they ever have before in their lives!

sorry to sound negative - but you did ask.

having said that..I still wouldn't want to live anywhere else!

Re: jay
 

don't forget though if they are both working they would have to organise & pay for child care.....no extended family here....unlike the spanish families where the grandparents step in in the evenings & those looooooooong summer hols.