Help and Advice needed for move!

Feb 26, 2010 · flexy123 · 5 replies · 1754 views

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Hello Guys,

the negativity here is a little shocking, to say the least.

Me and my wife are planning to move to Spain/Canaries...and we can need any tips/advice you can give. Highly appreciated!

*) I am an EU citizen (Germany), wife is US american w/ temp. residency permission here in Germany. (Here for 3 years already)

( We are sick of many things in Germany, the people, weather etc...and we just cannot for the live of it see that spain is as bad as some forum posters make it seem.)

My first question is in regards to paperworks we need, since i am EU resident and she is married to me i *assume* there wont be any big problems with residency in spain???

*) I am making my living online, i am a freelancer/internet marketer, therefore we don't need work in spain. But here the question in regards to what to operate a business in spain respective work as a freelancer/intener entrepreneur.

*) Wife speaks more or less fluently spanish, which i assume is good.

*) we have three cats!

*) THE MOST IMPORTANT THING: We need reliable internet. Is this even available on the canary islands? I own and operate websites so the availability of DSL/cable is a must!

*) we have a 52" plasma big screen TV...and some (very) little furniture...would you simply sell it here in Germany and buy new stuff in Spain?

Thank you very much for any tips/help you can give us!

What is a good site for long term rentals? We just found a site where we saw a VILLA w/ 4 bed rooms and 3 bath rooms for something like EU150/month WITH POOL on lanzarote....and this just sounds unbelievable...where the heck is the catch here?

We really would not even mind (actually ENJOY!) being on an island as long as there is internet and some way to get groceries once in a while.

Georg / Chrysten

Edit: as for the "EU150/month villa"..the lady just replied per email telling me this a DAILY price...while on the site clearly marked as MONTHLY RENT. What is going on here? Why are they advertising like this?

Feb 27, 2010 · Expatriator

Hey,
You got a lot in here but I'll see what I can help you with.

You probably won't have a lot of problems with your wife staying with you. Can she apply for German citizenship yet? That might help. Either way thought, just apply for the family reunification for her once you have your NIE and register yourself.

You'll probably want to set up as autonomo for your business. There may be more tax advantageous ways to do this though, so talk to a lawyer (recommend: www.strongabogados.com)

I think you can get okay/decent Internet on the islands. When I was out there my hotel had a decent connection (probably around 2Mb/512Kb).

Leave the TV, in fact, just forget about TV man. Life is better without it. :)

And yes, of course the 150? was a daily rate. Some websites don't offer a daily rate field, so if the owner is renting by the day they'll just put in their daily rate. That same place would probably go for about 2000? per month from the sounds of it. My fav site for apartments/pisos is www.loquo.com. craigslist.com also has some. Others on the forum here prefer others like kyero.com.

Good luck! Spain's definitely better than Germany. ;)

Feb 27, 2010 · flexy123

thanks,

i also posted on the other board ("moving to spain") since its not clear whether we actually do need a residency permit *at all*. I came across a couple or so posts where i read i don't need a res. permit as Eu citizen, neither does my wife because shes married to me? And, thanks, didnt even think about craigslist :)

Mar 20, 2010 · SpainExpat member

Hi, we need some help with the internet issue as well - my husband and I run a small online business from home, and intend to move to Spain with our daughter (she is 4 at the moment) within the next 2-3 years. where we go will be totally dependant on 2 main factors, :
1)Excellent broadband internet connection
2)Proximity to a good school (preferably a British one, as I would like the failsafe option of being able to return to the UK without interrupting her education should things not work out for some reason)
Other things that are important to us are to be fairly close to the sea, or at least lots of open space (I really don't want to live in a city, or even a town!) and to be no more than about an hour or so away from a main airport so as to make popping back for the odd weekend to visit friends and family possible.
Not much of a wish-list! But I'd really appreciate some advice on where to start looking.
Thanks!

Mar 20, 2010 · Santi

I read "negativity" on all the Spanish forums, it should speak volumes.

Many expats who live long term in Spain do so either as a second home, run a home business or have retired.

Nearly all the Expats I've come across who worked in Spain for normal jobs have either been made redundant or have left because the work Vs lifestyle was not what they wanted or expected.

Sorry if its negative, I worked for a Spanish company and daily had to call to both Spanish and other EU clients, so I've meet hundreds probably close to a thousand expats, most unsatisfied and disappointed with the change and conditions in Spain.

There are successful expats, many, but it does depend on your attitude and personality, although I noticed that the successful ones were not running away rather that they just had a need or feeling that Spain was for them.

Anyway good luck.