Nige29

My wife and I are retiring to Spain from Leeds in the UK, I am 62 my wife is 64, I used to live in Spain in Marbella in the mid to late 70s, we are looking to move to Almeria or Mojacar . We have spent the last 6 months on wed sites looking at Villas. We have a small Shiz Tzu female dog aged 6 . We will look at renting for a month or two and buy one we like and we are going to make the drive down after lockdown.

Joppa

To stay longer than 90-in-180 days, you need a visa. For a non-lucrative visa suitable for pensioners, you need income of around 33,894 euro/year for a couple, full private medical insurance with no co-pay and exclusions and no criminal record. This must be applied for at Spanish consulate before leaving UK, and currently consulates aren't processing visa applications under Covid restrictions.

Barriej

You can come here to look at properties (and even buy one) but you only get 90 days in every 180 now. So once you have found the place to live, you will have to return to the Uk to process the visa to move here permanently.

Other things to consider are.
You will need to take a Spanish driving test if you wish to continue to drive (no exchanges now) and once resident you cannot drive a foreign plated vehicle you own. Nor can you continue with your Uk licence.
Also as you are both under retirement age, you will have to maintain private healthcare or pay into the conveneo especial for the rest of your lives as you are no longer eligible for the S1 which would mean the Uk will pick up the cost of your healthcare once retired.

For someone over the age of 65 its €157 a month. So multiply that by 2 and you will need to factor that into your budget as well.

As Joppa says the visa will require €34,000 income for the first year and then you have to show 2x that amount at the renewal and again 2 years after. (that figure may increase as its a multiple of the IPRM which could be raised each year)

Unfortunately even if you were resident in the 70's that wont help now.

Littleweed60

There may be some good news on the S1. I am in a very similar position - hoping to retire to Spain on a non-lucrative visa. At a recent Q&A session (24th Feb) with British Embassy, one of the staff members said that the S1 form would continue to be available to British pensioners arriving in Spain after 01/01/2021 (or at least that's my understanding of it). Unfortunately, as new member I can't post a link but it is on the Brits in Spain Facebook page under videos on 24th Feb @ 2mins.

Joppa

Wish it were true. S1, which is a certificate stating that UK government will continue to foot your medical bills for life, will only be issued to those who are beneficiaries of the withdrawal agreement, i.e. either those who were resident in Spain by 31st December 2020, or who is a close family member of those who were, such as spouse or partner.

Littleweed60

Yes, that is what I thought too until I saw the video. It is presented at the start of the video as a piece of good news. I have listened to it several times simply because it was so surprising.

Joppa

On further searches, it does appear that UK and EU have struck a last-minute deal to continue covering their citizens' healthcare cost in each other's territory, so S1 will continue to be available to UK state pensioners moving to EU after 1st January 2021.

TomAllen

I'm thinking of moving too! I'm looking for the best area to live in!