There is two very big advantages, but they are UK advantages, and that is the free NHS, and a welfare system, neither of which exist in Spain, certainly not for people over there working without a legal contract or being self employed and paying the dues. Even then the Spanish NHS isn't free, and welfare is extremely limited.

I realise that the OP has to start asking questions somewhere, but I'm amazed at the naivety of some of the posters on these forums, they would appear to have done zilch research about life in Spain. I'm sure many will have had a few weeks holiday in the sun, and thought "I'll have some of this!" It's general knowledge Spain is on the bone's of it's arse, it's skint, unemployment almost the highest in the EU, the Spanish leaving in droves to try and find a job, any job, anywhere. There is no financial help for Brits like there is in UK, if you've got plenty of money to retire on, fine, if you need to work and have no special skills to offer, forget it! The situation in UK is so much better, but even so I have just been reading of Spanish working in London in their forum, and people are asking about moving to London and the Spanish are telling them, it's full of Spanish, forget it! Try somewhere else!
Por cierto, para el nuevo forero, los spaniards somos una plaga en Londres. (it's that word "plaga" again!)
Cuantos inmigrantes puede absorber UK? Yo creo que por lo menos Londres ya está llegando a sus límites, quizás otras zonas estén mejor.

I don't know how they can afford to live in London as I would choose London over Spain but we can not afford too, and trust me I have tried.

I guess as some ex pats love Spain, some españoles love Londres, the music, the culture and the 9-5, we all different, some prefer REM to David Bisbal !!!

Other areas ??

not for me

I suspect a lot are hotel workers etc, and most will live in bedsits in the less salubrious parts of London. There are also thousands of Spanish working in hotels in Bournemouth, according to our local news at the start of summer, amny of these will be university students earing a bit of holiday money.

A report, written by the EU states there are 600,000 unemployed migrants living in the UK. Many of them seem to manage to live in London

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...migration.html

IDS with the support of other Northern nations with similar issues and the tacit support or Merkel is trying too introduce a 6 month qualifying period before benefits can be claimed.
He faces opposition from the EU commisioner for employment.
The EU is also trying to take the UK to court over current pre conditions such as having a permanent address before qualifying for benefits.
It is not just a UK problem.

And flat sharing, sleeping on friend's sofas etc

All the Spaniards I knew in London 6-7 years had very good professional jobs, but things are very different now. 10,000s have come to London in the hope of getting any job, improving their English and then once their English is better, to try and find something related to their degree. Almost all are 25-34 who have spent a couple of years in Spain after university and havent found any work at all.

The Spaniards in London are way better qualified than the Brits who tend to come to Spain. The only way for a non-qualified, non-fluent Spanish speaker to make money in Spain, is to clean the toilets of other Brits, to con other Brits, or to pick up any crumbs they may throw at you

The best thing to do is to run an online business or work remotely in a job/business that is already doing well in the UK. Then simply get an internet connection in Spain.

ok..so i started this link and now i have a completely different view on starting a business up in spain...not all its made out to be then!!! thats where these forums come in useful i guess, though i'm sure some brits have been lucky and made it. One other question i have is, someone i know is selling her house and business. she works from home teaching english..she says she's inundated with work as people are desperate to learn english, she has run it for 9 yerars and is selling it as a going concern..is this something that is thriving in spain...or not...thanks for reading nikki

You have to ask yourself why someone would be selling a successful business if it's "indunated" with work Most going concerns in Spain turn out to be pie in the sky. People don't walk away from good businesses, they put in a manager.

You've hit it spot on!

I think shes coming back to the uk for personal reasons

it might be true - but that's what they always say

the 'personal reasons' are more often than not that they can't afford to stay here any more

or if they are retired its usually one of the grandchildren needs them at home
or one of them has to go home for medical reasons

although one retired couple I know are just selling up to move from 1700m asl to the coast for medical reasons - but are staying in Spain