Hiya all, newbie here after any advice on livng and working in Spain please.

Hello everyone,

I hope you don't mind me gatecrashing!  I'm after any advice about living and working in spain.  We currently have 3 properties here in England that we want to sell and invest in a home in Spain, we have two children a 9 year old and a baby.  The tax laws in this country don't do anything to helps us as a working family and to top it all off we get up daily and it's flippin' cold!!!!!   DF is a qualified Driving Instructor and i'm a Finance Administration Manager.  I'm worried about our pension returns as MiL has just had hers valued, she's paid into it for 25 years and it's only worth £10k a year

I've lived abroad before (Malta) but came home to get married (how stoopid, now divorced!)  As the years have passed i've realised that my future is not in the UK, i love spain but to be honest i have no idea where to start! i need advice on jobs, schools, residency permits, tax laws, affordable areas (not to touristy)........ Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, sorry if i've gone on a little!

Amanda

We live in Manilva which is on the coast but is still very Spanish and not packed to maximum capacity with Brits. With regards to work, lots of Brits in this area commute to English speaking Gibraltar for work where salaries are comparable in the UK. Job wise in Spain itself is very dodgy although there may be scope for driving instructors for expats learners who can't learn to drive in Spanish but this is something that you would have to look into. Salaries in Spain are far lower than the UK but this is supposed to be compensated by a lower cost of living but it isn't. My advice would be to come out with enough money to live on without working for at least a year, rent for six months to a year, plan your budget but be prepared for the very many unforseen expenditures. We have seen so many people return to the UK. We watch them come and go on our urbanisation. From our own experience it is impossible to set yourself up here until you are actual living here and the more money you have to fall back on the better.

Susan

Oh I also forgot. Have a read thtough the articles as there is absolutely loads of information on everything:

articles


Susan

Thanks, i think the best place for us to start is by setting up a bank account to get some money put away.  Then maybe look into which area is going to suit our choice of lifestyle best.  Thanks Susan.

Amanda