What are my chances !!!

Hello Red.......

Firstly you will need to apply for a non lucrative visa from the Spanish consulate in London, Manchester or Edinburgh. 

As a single person you will need to prove that you have an income of around €28,000 per annum and have full private healthcare paid for a full year. After your first full year here you can apply for healthcare through the S1 healthcare scheme which is paid for by the UK government. 

There will be some other documents that you have to show but easily obtained. 

If you are successful with your non lucrative visa you can move over to Spain and apply for residency.

How to apply for a Non-Lucrative visa (NLV)

Steve 

Are you a British Citizen?If you are Its now quite difficult to retire to Spain.You will need a Non Lucrative Visa which you have to apply for at the Spanish Embassy or Consulates in the UK.If you are a EU citizen (Irish) just hope a plane and turn up.Wish you luck.

Are you aware of the need for a visa and the associated financial requirements, i.e. around €28k/pa for a single person?

Thank you for your prompt reply. It was helpful and I liked your cheerful optimism about the next plane, because I have 

an Irish Passport as well as a a British. My hope now is that I get many more replies with as much optimism.

Once again thank you. 

Welcome to the forum, but I’m a bit confused by your question. Are you thinking of moving to the Costa Brava as per the beginning of this post and/or the Costa Blanca.

I can’t advise on moving to the Costa Brava, but as I think you are looking more at Costa Blanca, then Alicante province is a great area to retire. However it’s a huge area and you need to look at a number of things.

First you’ll need to ensure you meet all the criteria to enable you to obtain residency. 

So much easier to obtain residency with an EU Passport, but you still need to meet health and financial cond

if you meet the criteria you need to consider if you want to live In Costa Blanca North or Costa Blanca South, two totally different areas. Both beautiful in their own rights,  both have lots of expats, but they just feel different.
Once you’ve decided North or South I’d suggest a quick viewing trip to see what locations feel right for you. Lots of information available on  Google & YouTube if you want to have a virtual look round first. Lots of tv programmes currently showing  A Place in the Sun, A New Life in the Sun, Bargain Living Brits, Sun sea and selling houses, they’ll give you an insight into the area. I’d take what the presenters and estate agents say with a huge pinch of salt! The Costa Blanca has so much more to offer than Benidorm, Quesada Arches and Villamartin Plaza. 

Most expats tend to live away from the beach, as those areas can be horrendous busy in summer with a huge influx of both cars and people. Most people live within a 10/15 minute drive to the beach  in areas that can be dominated by expats rather than Spanish. But at least in those areas it’s easier to meet and make friends and there’s always lots to do and new hobbies to try.

So, as long as you fit the criteria to obtain res, pick yourself a location, you’ll get lots of good advice from the people on the forum.

Lynn

It would be nice and helpful if poster say they have an Irish/EU passport in their first post, it would save a lot of time and effort from other members who try to help!!

Steve 

Jump on a plane,rent somewhere,see if you like it.Nothing to lose.Take it from there.You’re luckier than many with your Irish Passport.

I agree Steve, it does get a bit tedious having to ask all the while if they’re British or Irish?

We can only presume that people don’t realise how different the procedures are for EU and non EU passport holders for both applying for residency or looking for a  job.

Threads then usually end up with the whole Brexit argument rearing it’s ugly head.

We should have a competition, first forum member to reply British or Irish ten times wins a lollipop!

Lynn

A couple of sites that may help are:

Citizens Advice Bureau Spain for bureaucratic stuff, and

N332 for anything to do with driving in Spain.   This site is run in conjunction with officers of the Guardia Civil for English speaking people and has an English version of the Spanish equivalent of the Highway Code.