Joe King

Not sure if it's just us, but it seems like more and more of our friends are leaving Spain to return to the UK (hopefully it isn't because of us!). Another lovely couple who we know have told us this morning that they won't be coming back after Christmas because work has dried up.

All are going home for different reasons so it isn't just one thing and I think most would stay in Spain if they could so it's not a reflection on the country.

Very sad though because they have all invested so much in terms of energy and money to make it work out here.

onlineamiga

Sadly its the way it goes. Living in spain is great, but with my job being uncertain in February (my contract ends) and stuff. If i dont find anything else ill be offskies too. But hopefully theyll renew the contract and if not theres plenty of work in Gibraltar.
A couple of guys i worked with have headed back to the UK. A lot of it is individual circumstance.

I think people come out to spain expecting to be living here for the rest of their lives. When really thats not always possible. It can work for a few years but quite rarely forever. People come and go, its the nature of the beast. But its a big world out there

Joe King

Yes, the ex-pat community is very transient, but this year seems to have been a turning point for a lot of people that we know unfortunately. Every year we have said goodbye to friends, but not as many as this year.

It's worse for families because they have had the upheaval of coming out here only to have the same again a few years later.

Hope you get your contract renewed by the way!

Mitzyboy

Why should this be do you think? Is it that people eventually feel the pull of home, and just have to go back to where they have often spent much of their lives?

I know many people around here that say they would never go back, but I've never said that as I just don't know how I will feel in, say, 5 or 10 years time.

Joe King

Strangely the people who say they will never go back are the ones who disappear after a few years.

Family ties, illness and financial reasons are the big three reasons for returning to the UK from my own experience of people going home.

Mitzyboy

Financial reasons are the reasons for NOT going back for me.

Joe King

That's because you are loaded Mitzboy

No seriously, retirement living in Spain is one thing as we both know, but if you have to work here to make ends meet and have a family to support it can be very difficult indeed.

Mitzyboy

Heh heh ... I wish that this was so.
No ..... I mean that I couldn't live the lifestyle in the UK that I do here. Yes, you are right ... for the retired it is a much easier life here. We are "earning" in sterling and spending in euros. It makes a huge difference I would guess if you have to earn in euros, and I suspect thats the biggest reason for returning .... that well paid work is difficult to find and sustain.

Beachcomber

After nearly twenty five years of living very happily in Spain I have to say that the current socialist government has finally broken my spirit and enthusiasm for the country.

If there is not a change of regime in March I may very well be joining the exodus.

Mitzyboy

How has it effected you?

Beachcomber

It has affected me mentally rather than physically or financially and, in common with many Spaniards, I have found many of the policies of this government to be offensive and untenable but I think the breaking point was a recent situation which I have related in another post.

Maybe the answer would be to stop watching Spanish television, stop reading the Spanish press and live, like many foreigners, in total oblivion of the current political and economic situation.

Happily, I am in a position of being able to live more or less where I choose and it is unlikely that I would return to the UK but many people who have moved here have invested every penny they have in what they hoped would be a new life and will find it very difficult to pick up where they left off in their home country.

jackytoo

I have noticed that more friends than usual seem to be heading back. Lots of different reasons as you say. Spain is more expensive than it used to be and unemployment is rising.

I have had a house here for about 20 years and lived here permanently for 7, but I must admit I don't think I would move here now. I don't know if I could live in the UK in the winter though. No-where else I would like to live all the time except Florida and thats impossible unless you marry an American! Like the caribbean but not forever

lee8

For me the return to the UK was financial, the promise of good income and working conditions i was given by the company in Spain didn`t materialize at all, Spain is a retirement home, it only offers a slightly better lifestyle compared to the UK.

Having said that I have met in Spain plenty of people who retired there but got sick of the weather and hassle and returned back to the UK.

Comes back to knowing what your used too and the color of the grass.

Spain for the Spanish has always been a hard place to earn a decent living, many have been below European poverty levels and only recently this has changed.

XTreme

If you come here and need to earn a living (as I do).....you need a plan, you need the skills to back it up, and you need to have the determination to succeed.
Without all three you're gonna fail.....and most Brits come here with none of the above!

jackytoo

A friend of mine has lived in Spain 15 yrs. (Married to a spanish man) She very rarely goes back to the UK. I asked her if there was anything she missed and she said yes but not sure what, maybe just the familiarity.