Hi There,

Any help appreciated for new arrival in Benalmadena. I want to work self employed as a personal trainer and will also be running Buggyfit classes along the costa. Do I need my personal trainer certificate translated and verified. I need to register with Social security and self employed. Does anyone have any idea how long that may take. I guess I may need to see a gestor. Anxious to start work quickly. Daughter starting school next week and all paperwork sorted. I dont think it is a legal requirement to be qualified as a PT to work as one in UK. Any help would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

Sally

A Gestor should be able to do what you require on line in a very short space of time - mine was done within a week and yes you should get your qualifications translated and verified. These will have to be done professionally not by a friend.

Don't know about the qualifications part, but registering with the SS and the Hacienda takes as long as it takes you to drive there and back. It is done in an instant.

Unless of course you decide to use a gestor, in which case it will take as long as it takes the gestor to get around to doing the job. In both cases you just have to fill out one form and get them to stamp it. About 10-15 minutes each I would say.

Thanks guys. I think I will go and see a gestor make it a bit easier. Thanks for the help.

Dont start paying / register until the day before you start work in case it dose not happen!! or you will end up paying gestors bills left right and centre!

Hope you have looked into the social security payments, get lots of clients lined up before you go legal, it's bloody expensive here.

If you can find time to go to your local Instituto de la Mujer before 2 March (I think) you can submit an application for a grant to cover 50% of your set up costs (which could include athe purchase of a new vehicle if you need one).

You need to fill out a form with very basic details...name, address, what your business is and what you think your set up costs will be.

They take an age to approve it, but hey, it's free money so worth a bit of patience I think!

And also make sure you keep up the social security payments. Otherwise they will be considered a debt and this may cause you some problems in the future.

If you want to stop working as self-employed, make sure you see the signed confirmation from the Tesoreria that they have deregistered your company.

Thanks for all the help guys and girls. I am putting everything in place before registering. Good to know all the ins and outs of the system.

Sally

Very true, I know someone who had a SS debt attached to his car

He forgot to tell them he had stopped working ,the debt got to 3k ,the car was worth 2 k!!!

They can no doubt attach a debt to your property as well and in many cases help themselves to your bank account without prior notice

Watch out