POLL : Biggest concerns for expats living abroad - Results

 Hi All

Here are the final results from last week's poll. So as you may know,  "Bureaucracy/Red Tape took first place, followed by "Health Concerns" and then "Language", which surprised me a bit. I thought language would have scored more.

It was great to see so many people participating (over 500 unique participants) and all the comments people left over the weekend can be read on my Poll blog page. 

So what is it with the bureacracy that is so horrible? I do agree it is a nightmare, but more so when you don't know what to do, first time round, don't you think? Were the results a surprise to anyone?

 I have also posted the full results on the Poll Blog page

GO TO MACPOLL BLOG PAGE

This message was last edited by mac75 on 12/11/2012.

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What about the time taken for an issue to be resolved?

Beaurocracy:

Different answers to the same question from "experts"

Lack of communication between departments

Pettiness

Too much paperwork, much of it unecessary

Lack of common sense and logic

Anachronistic laws/ lack of regulation

Lack of information, where to go, what to do, changing laws without passing it on.

Is this enough to be going on with?

 

 

 

 

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 Yes, you are quite right !!! It never gets better, I suppose I've just got used to it.

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BUMP !!!

I think the concern about bureaucracy is interesting. It's probably the most common moan on the forums. Many people complain that ther is MORE bureaucracy, or more COMPLICATED bureaucracy than in the UK. But is that really true? For people born in the UK you don't need to be told how to transfer a car to a new owner - the form is in our first language, we vaguely know we can ask about car-related things ata Post Office, and even an 8-year-old could probably say that it's all done in Swansea. We know these things because parents, friends, older brothers, and people on soap operas have talked about it (usually mentioning Swansea). We just soak up this information from birth, and dredge it out of our memories when needed.

Now imagine being Turkish, Latvian, Spanish or Moroccan in the UK and you want to sell a car. The system is entirely different from your own, it seems really strange, and it will FEEL more bureaucratic, whether it is or not. Because it is different and therefore more cumbersome and time-consuming. Oh and the form is not available in your own language, and it uses lots of incomprehensible initials such as DVLA and form PO-something-or-other that you're not used to.

Yes some things in Spain take me longer than the same thing in the UK. But l see each of these as a free Spanish lesson! I invariably come out of an encounter with "the system" without some improved colloquiallisms! But then l'm lucky and don't have to work full-time, so am more than happy to go to the town hall and spend an entire afternoon trying to book onto the free town coach trip to Málaga.

The biggest problem with Spanish bureaucracy is our failure to have had it imbued into us from birth.

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 See this article from the writers of "In the Garlic" for ten ways to survive Spain!

http://www.expatica.com/es/essentials_moving_to/essentials/Ten-things-to-know-before-moving-to-Spain-.html

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Language isn't a problem for me, as it shouldn't be after 21 years in Spain, on and off - and six of the off years spent in Miami, where you have to speak Spanish too.

The bureaucracy in Spain is no worse than in the UK or the USA. Smile and speak Spanish and most bureaucrats fall over backwards to help a guiri. It took me just two months to get my Andalusian Social Security card and register with a doctor at my local clinic, but my European Health Insurance Card has to come from Britain, and when I phoned an office in Newcastle they told me it could take up to six months to send the card. When I renewed my residencia after returning from the USA it took me just 30 minutes, including going to the bank to pay the fee.

Two things bother me:

• I'm receiving pensions in pounds but spending euros. £1 = €1.25 I can live with, but in September last year the rate was £1 = €1.13 and I remember a low of £1 = €1.03.
• Inflation. This could destroy the lives of people like me with pensions only going up a few percent every year and a little bit of money put by for a rainy day. The good point is that I bought my apartment for cash (a bit over 7 million pesetas, or about €43,000) in 1998.

These are the only issues that bother me. I'm incredibly lucky to live in a city like Málaga, with an apartment paid for and enough money to live modestly but comfortably. I can go out at 11 pm to a bar where there's live music till 3 am (flamenco, jazz or rock), no cover charge, and a beer only costs €3, even after midnight. In my local bar a beer or un tinto is just €1.50, and it's not a cheap bar.

Despite my divorce last year (after 15 years married to a Spanish woman) I've no intention of returning to the UK. My ex and I are very good friends, we go out together now and then, and I can find plenty of other Spanish women to go out with, and even the occasional foreigner. I still haven't found that someone special for a lasting relationship, but I'm working on it, even though I'm in my late 60s.

Sometimes I think I live in a different Spain from expats. I don't think of myself as an expat. This is my home now.

 

 

This message was last edited by mdavidfrost on 19/11/2012.

This message was last edited by mdavidfrost on 19/11/2012.

This message was last edited by mdavidfrost on 19/11/2012.

This message was last edited by mdavidfrost on 19/11/2012.

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I voted that bureaucracy was the worst problem for us in Spain; the intransigence of some people and the ever-shifting goal-posts make it so difficult to get things done.  We've come across crazy, illogical nonsense when trying to do things like sell a cortijo or get electricity connected and these have cost us a fortune over the years.  It wouldn't have bothered me if I'd led a simpler life in Spain.  But having said that, it seemed that whatever we tried to do - even things I would assume would be straightforward - there was always a piece of paper missing.  Even selling a second-hand car was so complicated.  It is not complicated to sell a second-hand car in the UK.  And the difficulties we experienced with Spanish bureacracy were not  because of any language barrier as we can speak Spanish well enough.  Having said that, I am surprised it came top of the poll as I would have suspected health problems to maybe come top (I may be wrong but I think the demographics of the Forum may be slightly skewed to those further along the path of life!).

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 I too was surprised, but then again when you think about it it is the only thing that you can't really sort out in your own time, you have to follow the rules and comply, this can become very stressfull if you are not in control or to don't have a good command of the language. Everything else can take more or less time, you are in control, ther is no real rush. The red tape controls you and there is no escaping it.

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