We are a family of five hoping to move to Sax with three dogs and find work - Page 4

Spain do help to ease new autonómos by having a starting rate of contributions on what they call the tarifa plana of €60 a month, working up to the standard ~€300 a month over a period of time.

Anyone who wishes to become autonómo in Spain might as well take advantage of the tarifa plana scheme.

Hi Niki,

Do not despair all is not as bleak as people here make it out to be. People here with all the best intentions will give you advice as they see it pertaining to your situation. What you need to take into consideration is the majority are retired never had jobs in Spain for extended periods and certainly very few have families to bring up. That being said some of the advice is pertinent.

I am 45 ish living and working in Spain teaching English. 

O.k let's start with you, you have a TEFL and you have some Spanish, great you can find lots of work. Your starting salary won't be great but when you get established and find some private clients you will be alright. You need to go where the work is namely "Alicante city"

Bilingual schools also have opportunities for language assistants.

Your husband with no Spanish will need to be near to the large ex-pat communities, maybe go the self-employed route tree surgeon, landscape gardener.

Your accommodation, I agree with one of the replies on here and that is to Rent. Rent somewhere very british to start where you can find other people in the same situation make friends and network. When you both have jobs then you can start thinking about buying in an area you like which is a commutable distance from work.

If moving here is your dream then you will find a way to make it happen.

You can p/m me if you need more advice on teaching in Spain.

All the best

Philip

Niki my husband and I moved to Spain in March of 2019 from Britain. We were so tired of the weather and wanted something new. So we planned for about a year then decided to finally go for it. We moved inland to a small rural village where we rented for a year. When it came time to decide where to go next we couldn't leave our little village the people here have been amazing to us. My husband speaks Spanish better than I do but as long as you try they are very grateful. Our village has about 120 residents but have only seen around 50 at a time other than special events. We have found most things to be cheaper here you just have to learn where to go in your area. Our electric has never been more than 78.00 and that was during the coldest month and the hottest one running aircon. We use gas for our cooking which is much cheaper we found. As far as work my husband is a self employed courier but I am retired and receive a pension. It just really depends on what type of life you want. For us it's much simpler we sometimes struggle with Spanish but are learning it's been a wonderful place to live. We are 35 minutes to the beaches and takes us about 20 minutes to go into the closest big town. 

After (35) posts I am interested in their opinions.

I have sent you more information (PM). Feel free (or all is good advice).

When I moved here with ( aprox, UK families 20 yrs ago, 12 families) in our town, It has changed.

I am happy to explain MY (mostly) experiences. All good!

V 

Hi there,

I live within driving distance to Sax although I do not know the town at all. However, I have had different British tradesmen come to my house recommended by others to do jobs, which include pool maintenance, plumbing, etc., that come from that area. It might be a good idea for your husband to get in touch with all the estate agents in the area, above all the British ones, and ask them to recommend you to their British buyers who will generally prefer gardeners and other tradesmen who speak English.

I’m sure he will find work in this sector but may have to go free-lance. I can give you a couple of names and addresses if you inbox me (left column, ‘personal message’). I live between Villena and Yecla and there are quite a few Brits living in this area. 

Alicante or the big cities aren’t the sole areas in which you can teach English. You may be surprised to know that there are schools in a lot of smaller towns but people are willing to travel from other villages to learn English. Perhaps after gaining experience in your respective comfort zones, your husband could set up on his own and so could you! 

Don’t give up on your dream. I know how it is in the UK, my partner and I are Londoners and have seen how life is becoming in what was once our favourite town. I lived for 40 years in Italy but it is definitely cheaper to live in Spain. I wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else.

If I can be of any assistance, even if it’s just to pick my poor brains 😂 don’t hesitate to get in touch. Good luck. 

Janice

I have just looked up this payment as we didn't know anything about that..

Thank you Janice, I cant give up or I will spend my life being miserable. I have wanted to move to Spain for five years or so, there is nothing where we live and as you know from seeing the news or speaking to friends its getting so much worse. 

Ya, when we first started to get serious about our move a few years back that one took me by surprise too! The VAT thing too. But, better for you to discover this now than a month after you've moved and had a big hole put into your finances. Least now you'll have like I did, time to cost the additional expense in. 

I've spoken to lots of people who base their businesses in the UK but live in Spain, invoicing in GBP, paying tax (or not) in the UK then bringing their money to Spain via various methods. I did look into this but whilst I'm not entirely sure if it's actually illegal (I never got that far into research: I suspect somehow it can be done legally if you spend enough on exploiting loopholes!) it does, from what I can work out, open you up to getting taxed on the money twice: Once in the jurisdiction the money is made/banked and again when you move it to Spain. 

I once got chatting to a tradesperson who mostly worked for Brits on their holiday homes. They paid him into his UK bank account, he transferred it to his Spanish bank and thought this was all fine and dandy. I suspect though sooner or later he's going to get a very nasty Spanish tax bill. 

Anyway, I digress. Bottom line is if you or your partner are going to go the self-employed route ensure you do all the research as there are costs involved that you might not be aware of. For instance, on top of the monthly payments you need to make quarterly tax returns, and I think these must be done via an accountant, who will charge. 

Again, not trying to put you off or be negative, just passing on the hidden self-employed "nasties" I've discovered in the last few years as we researched our own permanent move to Spain.

So is that payment for just self employed or all adults? Seems harder to work self employed there :-(

I believe that particular payment is for self-employed. I suspect/believe there are other payments "regular" residents will be needing to make. Not least for healthcare. I don't fully understand how it works with healthcare and Uk residents in Spain pre/post Brexit, I've never looked into it as it won't affect me. Others will be better placed to advice on that one, and of course, you can read Jims guides.

I think a lot think moving to Spain is easy: Rock up, rent a house, live. But there is far more to it. Even with the UK in the EU there is more to it than that. My understanding is that while you have(had) freedom of movement you don't have freedom of residence. Or at least the ability to just rock up in a country and stay there permanently no questions asked. You still need to fill forms, apply for fo residency, etc. Unless you do what many do which stay illegally.

I think I read somewhere that there is something like 500k illegal brits in Spain. Some I've read have even bought houses, although I've no idea how that works. I'm obviously not condoning such a step. But then it's not for me to condem it either.