Hoping to move my family and I to Spain!!

it is a bit of a hard living in spain to be honest.

not so bad for awesome people like me because we work on a computer so our money comes from usa and places like that.

but i would hate to think i depended on spain for a living

i think i would have to flee to the uk where things are slighlty better.

 Finally I work out that Mungrey is just a keyboard warrior ................... lol

of course i am

why do you think i have time to talk to you bums on here?.

i couldnt do that if i had a real job.

Bring loads of cash.

Dont register for anything and pay cash for everything.

Just have fun, the Spanish work for cash so the living can be easy.

Rossetti

The post from Rossetti sums up why Spain is in the mess that it is, and why other people trying to be legal are penalised.

no it dosent and if you think that you have a lot to learn about spain.

 In a sense you are correct, in that it is grossly over-complicated bureaucracy, general incompetence and corruption that make it almost impossible (and also risky) at times to do everything by the book. If the inference is that it is people like Rossetti who are to blame, I have to disagree. Rossetti has made his circumstances very clear previously, and frankly he would be insane to do things any other way. However, the OP has suggested that he is thinking of moving lock stock & barrel and making it permanent, with family in tow. In this case, Rossetti's advice is a little unhelpful, except that it may help the OP decide whether it is worth making the move at all. In the light of all the very realistic comments made here (including Rossetti's), it's hard to conceive why he would be considering it, but that's his business of course.

Roberto and Mungry-what would be your general advice about living  in Spain as regards income tax, reporting assets outside Spain etc Perhaps we have been doing it all wrong!

for starters i would never have setup a company in spain.

that was a huge mistake and it will cost me so much to close it thats i just keep it running.
without doubt i would have set it up in Gibraltar or even a Ltd company in the UK

rich expats dont own thier own homes or own anything.
they have a company in spain or outside of spain that owns them,

that i know for a fact

 Perhaps you're misunderstanding my views on this. My advice would always be, if you are intending to live here permanently, hope to work or run a business, access schooling or healthcare, own property, a car etc etc...to try to do everything correctly and legally. My point to the original poster is simply that he should research everything thoroughly and then make an informed decision on whether he really thinks that moving to Spain (or any foreign country where he doesn't understand the language or culture) is going to mean an improvement in his standard of living or not. If you are asking what my advice or opinion would be on that point, that would be a different issue.

Rossetti's comment, as I said, is rather unhelpful, since his circumstances are different to those I listed above, and those of the OP. He has made it quite clear his stay is temporary, he has no plans to buy a property or car, does not plan to work etc. As such, it would be better if he refrained from expressing such opinions as they are not really relevant on this thread, just as they are not relevant on the thread about overseas asset reporting, but it's a public forum, and he has as much right as any of us to post here.

P.S. Mungry, I think you are AWESOME!! 

But what advice  regarding income tax, assets reporting law etc would you give to the majority of expats who don't own companies but own a house in Spain  and possibly UK,and have savings in the UK.We are trying to comply with the law-we don't have clever accountants to find loopholes to avoid tax.

 I'm not suggesting anyone should avoid paying tax or complying with any laws, if they have already made the decision to become residents in Spain. I would advise everyone to do their level best to do everything correctly, difficult as it can be at times. 

at the moment camosol

to be 100% truly honest and yes i do love spain.

i would suggest people only live part time in spain and actually be resident in another country.

 Exactly. If you have the choice still, as the OP does, as Rossetti does. Many of us do not unfortunately, but you only have to see today's EWN to realise that many of us also would change our cirumstances immediately if it was at all possible. 

what are you referring to in EWN?

 Pages 69-72

 hi.

I would just go for it.I owned a home in Malaga from 2002-2007. It was so much better than life in Glasgow.

Your children will become bi-lingual very quickly.I watched families move out with kids.....mine were too old!

The kids loved it. When i bought, I had to learn Spanish very fast, as the house needed renovation and nobody spoke English or French! It can be done. It's an adventure but worth it. And its not just sun.....great electric storms!

Better than the greyness in UK.

 18 year olds are not children, and if it's fancy lights in the sky that do it for you, surely you don't have to head too far north from Glasgow for that?

i did a thread on here a while ago

are you happy in spain

and 90% of the people that answered answered yes

they also added that they only live in spain half the year.

spain was an awesome place

there was a boom and we were very welcome

i love it and i cant imagine going back to to the uk at all so i a now going to see about living in gibraltar.

i still have to keep a place in spain for complicated legal reasons but half the time in gib and half the time in spain will suit me.

davelyn

quote...Workwise, I have a bus/coach drivers licence and experience to go with it. Currently, I work in the transport training sector, primarily NVQ's and drivers CPC for those of you that understand that!  So question no.1 - What are the chances of finding work related to what I do here? unquote

One of the major public  bus and coach companies in Spain is ALSA.

They are a part of the UK's National Express group and it really would be worth your while talking to them re your specific query. I know that they follow the EU regulations regarding ongoing training; NVQs and CPC's are every bit as important as the basic Group D licence.

I am uncertain as to the validity of a UK issued EU vocational licence like Goups C and D and whether they are immediately interchangeable with the Spanish versions without some form of conversion training. Inter-City coaches are almost invariably bigger than their UK counterparts... 14.5 metre coaches are the norm; even rural routes on known difficult twisty mountainous roads are served by 12 metre coaches. Urban routes strongly feature Bendy-buses and I believe some of these are 18 metres in length. All coaches and buses are equipped with CCTV, GPS tracking devices and digital radios.

For more information on Jobs with ALSA see this link;

http://www.alsa.es/en/about-us/jobs-and-training/job-offers/driving/

Another thing is that on most of the rural routes, buses are left unattended overnight at remote villages in order to service early morning departures into the cities. Our village is a case in point. we have no bus service on a Sunday and the coach designated to the service is parked up in the village from mid afternoon on Saturday until its departure at  0715 on Monday morning. Such a thing would be unheard of in the UK,  the coach would be vandalised beyond all recognition.

The entire weekly service is covered by just one driver...

A Day In the Life...

For our village service into Granada, the driver leaves his home in the next village at 0630 by car and arrives at the coach at around 0650... he does the normal vehicle daily checks and boards the pax for an 0715 departure, arrival in Granada is scheduled for 0900.

He hands over the coach to the fitters for any routine maintenance and refuelling that can be carried out in the drivers two hour rest period before his next run at 1100 back to our village. The 1100 departure is the first of two quick succession return trips the second of which arrives back in Granada at 1745. There then follows a rest period until 2000 when he makes his last run back to the village arriving at 2130. After checking the coach over he locks it up and goes home. So...his day is from say 0700 until 2130 Monday through Friday. On Saturday the trip from the village at 1615 to Granada and return does not run and there is no service on Sundays or Public Holidays. That's 14hrs30mins every day with 9hrs 15 minutes actual driving. Mon-Fri and 7hrs driving on Saturday.  Long long days.... Tachographs are regularly checked by the Spanish Regulatory Authorities and the Guardia Civiil Trafficos can stop any vehicle at any time for a routine roadside check; they do not need "just cause". I have seen them in action at Malaga Airport and they are very thorough.

Passengers in Spain actually appreciate the job being done by the bus drivers, especially on the rural routes and middle distance inter-urban routes. Vandalism and graffiti is virtually unheard of. Not at all like the UK where drivers are seen as slaves to the whims of robbers, muggers, vandals, drunks and abusive passengers. I did a spell as a driver on Firstbus in Portsmouth... never again.

Anyway thats a quick insight... life with ALSA... have a chat with them if you are still up for it...

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