Goodbye to all......with a sad heart

 I wish you all the best and know personally how devastating it can be to be forced back to somewhere you don't really want to be.

I have some very good friends who are having to leave to return to the yUK and it is very upsetting for everyone,in fact i have my doubts that come the day one of them will have to be physically put on the plane.........

They are going with a mindset of coming back when they have a little more finanacial security behind them.

It's strange, you don't see many threads with "Whooopee,we are going back to the Uk" do you....

Sorry.....I should have said,we are on the CDS. So glad things are'nt so bad where you are. Maybe we should head there when we eventually come back!!

Anyway......

I will have a few household things for sale if anyone is interested? Sky dish ect. Feeling a little morbid about it all today. Been on the phone to the housing people ect. in the UK and it all feel very real and I am accepting I cannot keep hoping for a miracle! If anyone is in need of any household or baby/childrens items please let me know as we need all the money we can get when we land in the snow!!

Don't know about tax inspectors but the amount of gestoria's, Bank managers and notarys on remand and on bail is enough to make your eyes water.

Thank you Sanchez.

But that does not help the self-employed who are perhaps uncomfortable and unused to declaring only 25% of their turnover.

I suppose it is rather like the "under the table" payments and the general corruption, all part of the relaxed culture.

I think it would require living with for some time to fully understand and accept it.

But if everyone knows about it and understands it , does that include the tax inspector????

Makes you wonder?????

Regards

Norman

Hi Norman,

Surely social insurance payments in one country should count market wide.

Social security payments in one EU member state can actually be used as a basis for claiming unemployment benefit in another member state. 

I was able to use my contributions from the UK, and my 6 months working in Spain to claim unemployment benefit here in Spain.  I was given 19 months entitlement, of which I only needed to use 1 month ( I got another job quite quickly), leaving me 18 months should I find myseelf without a job again.  The dole I got in Spain was a hell of a lot more than what I would have got in the UK (JSA is currently £64.30  per week). 

The high dole payouts and the large burden on employers to pay social security are no doubt one of the reasosn Spain is in such a mess.

Dear All,

thank you Justin and Guslopez, that explains exactly why the family are on course to return.

I take it the fight for vaccinations was perhaps also equality in action.

It no doubt explains also why there is always a huge queue at Calais.

Regards

Norman

They haven't been treated differently to any other family in Spain.  If you are self employed here and your work dries up there are NO benefits available to you.  Doesn't matter what your nationality is, the same applies to everyone.

This is why all the Spaniards work on the "one through the books, three for me " principle. They know that no one is going to help them and they also don't spend it rashly.

I actually met an English guy the other day who had moved over here with his family 2 years ago. He invented (and patented) those round sun loungers which turn(seen in posh hotels) and started a business selling and renting them. He is doing amazingly well and has just opened offices in Florida!! In the space of 2 years!! He was a really lovely guy and very humble and I wish him all the luck in the world. Just goes to show, people can make it living in SPain,no matter what doom and gloomers may say!

I see that GLUM and GLUMMER are again hi-jacking a very interesting   thread

neither of them has lived in Spain but use any tale of misfortune to justify

why they  thinkSpain is such a bad country to live in.

Both have lost money through their ignorance and dishonest practice in Spain.

they have told us many times in many threads

A lot of people come to Spain and make a success of it.

A lot has to do with timing and some luck.

Good luck and best wishes to those going back you are young enough

to re-build your lives and when the time is right return.

Good luck Vicci!

 Norman, I'm not sure where you're coming from.

They haven't been treated differently to any other family in Spain.  If you are self employed here and your work dries up there are NO benefits available to you.  Doesn't matter what your nationality is, the same applies to everyone.

There is a facility available whereby you can get 450 Euros per month but you have to go on some training courses...which is a problem for some people.

Justin

Good post David W.

Whilst wishing the op well and sorry to see that they have to leave Spain, many people don't realise that the soc. sec. payments are for pensions only . I have a friend who paid in here for 6 yrs. and was entitled to nothing and now works in the UK, whilst supporting his wife and son's here. UK self-employed cont. are the same, but the difference is you can sign on as unemployed in the UK and get various benefits,which you can't here. Just to clarify a point re: UK  ni. contributions. When it was introduced the contributions were for health & pensions, then the gov. changed it to payment of tax in the UK was required to benefit from free healthcare hoping to disenfranchise many expats, without realising that far more paid tax than soc. sec. contributions! When the penny dropped they changed it to residency in the UK, without the need for payment of tax or ni. contributions. The hypocrisy of the situation is compounded by when you wish to leave the country and want reciprocal health cover in another country, it's based on your ni. contributions!!  If you apply to the NHS they will send you a document ( which i'm looking at ) of 'who is and who is not' entitled to healthcare. 20 pages, right across the top. " National Insurances contributions in no way entitle you to free healthcare, only residency in the UK".  By the way the only people who are not entitled to healthcare are people under retiring age, who have left the country and then want to return. They have to wait 6 mths. or get a job immediately to be entitled.

Once again, best wishes to the op and may you return asap.

Dear All,

come on Justin, don't be coy.

"benefit system here that's (not) akin to a third world country"

can this be true of Spain?????

what is certainly true here is that things are not so wonderful if a builder's work load is intermittent, the system is not flexible enough for the in/out of work scenario

we need some balance here.

Regards

Norman

EPM

my son is learning Spanish at senior school, but I think it's a shame they don't teach another tongue at an earlier age.

Good luck with the move back, building work is pretty scarce in the UK also, but as has been said, at least we have a legal/justice/benefit system here that's not akin to a third world country!, and will probably help you get back on your feet?............if we don't freeze to death first!!

Sanchez1

I think you are probably right?, it needn't be that way though. Just how hard is it for those in power to admit why the current situation in Spain is the way it is??

EPM,

Going back to Dean's post, think positive! I think it's a great idea sending your child to a Spanish club and showing her Spanish cartoons. Don't worry, she won't lose here Spanish. She'll improve in her Spanish!

I also agree with you when you said 'I chose to ignore it as I don't see the need for this thread to turn bitter or nasty'. Just ignore it!

So as Dean's says keep smiling!

Think positive
Stay on EOS

And we'll speak to you soon on EOS!

Happy New Year!

I was feeling a little judged! However, I chose to ignore it as I don't see the need for this thread to turn bitter or nasty. Dean In York thanks for your post, I do intend to claim everything i'm able to so that we can get back here quicker. Some people may think this is wrong but I really don't care. I will only claim what i'm allowed!

My 2 1/2 year old has been attending Spanish nursery for a year and is already speaking Spanish very well. We are sad she will lose that and I am hoping to find some sort of Spanish club I can send her to to keep it up a little. I also get Spanish cartoons for her to watch on youtube so I am trying!!!

Can't see any light at the end of the tunnel in Spain yet regarding work but for the sake of Spanish people and the rest of us I hope it picks up soon.

Thanks again all. x

Dear All,

what makes a great post if it just encourages nothing but hope.

great post Sanchez for it's realistic content.

 to fight the good fight we need proper intelligence.

we also need help with information that you may have.

why Justin was this family treated differently to Spanish families???.

will that ever change, whatever Brussels says?????

stir your stumps Justin.

Regards

Norman

Hi Dean,

As i mentioned in an earlier posting this recession isn't permanent and is beginning to show signs of recovery and the building trade is always one of  the first trades to recover.

You're talking about the UK here aren't you?  There's definitely no improvement in Spain and there doesn't look like being any for the foreseeable future.  I think it's going to be a tough decade for Spain to be honest.