ukwlf

hi can anyone give me or let me know the best resources to find out info on living in Spain / procedures you have to go through, health cover / banks/ opening a business etc, me and my wife are British and been in the states for 18 years but wanting to be a bit closer to family back home, also have a 10 yr old that would have to go to school there, we are looking at buying or opening a business in Mallorca , any help would be appreciated, thanks

amideislas

Hi there,

OK... as short as possible:

There are lots of resources just google "living in Mallorca". But Anglo Baleares has some pretty good local info.

Being British, getting residency is pretty easy. I won't attempt to explain it here, but you will have to prove you are financially solvent, and you will have to declare all of your assets worldwide and pay tax on them.

Health insurance is a fraction of the cost that you pay in the states. The quality is good (although not quite as good as in the US, but you get what you pay for).

Cost of living can be as cheap or expensive as you want - but after you figure out where to shop and who to trust, your cost of living index can become really inexpensive.

But it's up to lifestyle choices. For example, you can live in the southwest in a newer suburban area and pay as much for a 3 BR apartment as you would in Malibu, the advantage being that you will have more expats around you. Or you can live further out and pay a fraction of that for 3x the space and a private pool and 2 acres of land. But you'll likely be surrounded by natives .

Schools: Easy. 2 choices:

1. Child learns Spanish and goes to a public school (and they're good here). Cost: almost nothing.
   
2. Child does not learn Spanish and therefore has to go to private international school: Cost €15K per year (+ expenses), and you have to live in the expensive southwest becasue that's where the expat schools are.

I hope that helps. Please feel free to PM me if you need any help.

--Ami

ukwlf

Thanks Ami, for the info, we are looking at moving to Mallorca in about6 months to 1 years time to try it for a couple of years our biggest concern is our 10 year old he does really well at school right now and am worried his learning will be affected, we don't necessarily want to live around palma but that's where the international schools are , we are having Spanish lessons for him so maybe he can learn enough to go into a state school as 15k a year is a bit pricey, a few people have told us 10 is a bad age to adapt to a new culture and language, again thanks for the reply what part of spain are you in?