How to move to Spain

Moving Our Family Overseas: Two Years of Expat Life in Spain

August 26, 2020 by familymoveabroad

Moving our family overseas was something my husband and I had always talked about. Like, from when I was pregnant with our older child. Yet that vision lingered in the background for most of our kids’ childhoods. Finally, the time had come. Our sons were 8 and 12. Act now on our dream of moving our family overseas, or it might pass us by.

However, it quickly became apparent we had no idea how to move abroad. My husband had lived in multiple countries before we met, but he’d always gotten work visas. We, on the other hand, were moving just because we wanted to. And, initially anyway, we weren’t totally sure what country we wanted to move to.

Spain was a top contender from the start. I’d fallen in love with the country the one time I’d visited nearly thirty years earlier. But more importantly, our most well articulated concrete goal was to bring our kids home bilingual. Spanish was the most obvious contender for that. Of course, that made us wonder, should we consider South or Central America? Hmmm. No, we want Europe. Spain it is.

The fact remained, however, we had no idea how to move to Spain. We had zero personal contacts to guide us. We knew nothing about how to get Spanish visas. And even less than nothing about education in Spain. But even more fundamental to our quest, Spain is a wondrously diverse nation. Where was the best place in Spain to live as a family?

A Podcast Interview on Moving Our Family Overseas

Admittedly, looking back on our sheer lack of knowledge at the time, it’s hard not to question our sanity. And yet, after more than two years living in Seville, Spain, I know we’re not the only crazy ones. In this interview with BigDreamsBoldMoves podcaster Malia Russell, I speak honestly about our expat life in Spain, including:

The challenges we faced researching how to move to Spain
Our crazy journey to get the Spanish Non Lucrative Visa
The many problems getting settled in once we got there
Education in Spain and issues you might consider for your kids as non native Spanish speakers
Getting our kids adjusted
Adaptation considerations your kids might face moving to Spain from the US
Additional psychological and logistical advice for expats moving to Spain as a family

Looking back on our journey to move our family to Spain for a year, it’s easy to see where we could have made better choices. But despite the many hardships before, during and even after, the experience changed our lives forever.

https://player.acast.com/5cac8e6ff08339e732709ad1/episodes/expat-family-life-in-spain-an-honest-assessment-after-two-ye?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1&fbclid=IwAR0eSrl_yKHwQmrcsr3dHJ55TMScE0dO-PrzYOlAcElpoBIBmGmmkSjukTU

Listen to the interview on Spotify and iTunes.

Moving to Spain as an American Family – 7 Tips for a Smooth Transition

August 19, 2020 by familymoveabroad

Moving to Spain as an American family will be one of the most formative experiences of your children’s lives. (And yours too!) And yet, your move abroad will present many hoops to jump through. Hoops unique to moving to Spain as an American family. Hoops that many EU expats might get to avoid.

First off, how to move to Spain. You’ll face a daunting visa application process your future EU expat friends get to skip. In addition, you’ll need to manage all the other relocation practicalities from here in the US. In particular, things like looking for housing or finding a school will be inherently more challenging from a continent away. Above all, you must manage your children’s social, emotional, and educational well being. While all expat families must deal with this, the task will be more difficult compared to, say, children arriving with some Spanish.

Advice for American Expats Moving to Spain

Compared to European expats, as an American family moving to Spain, you’ll likely be less well connected to your new locale. You’ll be farther from home, making a quick homesickness fix more difficult. You might not have any personal connections, let alone friends. In fact, when my family first arrived in Spain, we didn’t know anyone at all! From cultural differences to language barriers, moving your kids to a foreign country is not for the feint of heart.

These 7 tips are written specifically for the American family moving to Spain. I share information to help ease your transition, including:

Learning how to recognize culture shock
Researching and planning your move to Spain
Managing your children’s adaptation
Building support networks
Seeking paid guidance
Choosing Schools in Spain
Understanding the impact of a language barrier
And much more.

Moving to Spain from the US will without a doubt be challenging. But, done right, it will be an unforgettable experience for everyone in the family. Originally published for Torrevieja Translation, read the 7 tips here.

Living Abroad for a Year as a Family: How We Moved to Spain

August 14, 2020 by familymoveabroad

My husband and I had always dreamed of living abroad for a year as a family. In fact, we’d talked about it before our first child was even born. And yet, this notion to move our kids to a foreign country had never really coalesced beyond the idea stage. Notably, we hadn’t even thought about what country to stage our dream of living abroad for a year. And even when we did hone in on Spain, we still had no idea where within that beautiful nation we should make our home for the year.

Life had us on the go with two active boys. As such, it wasn’t until they were 8 and 12 that we finally got them to Europe. All of sudden, it hit us. We’d all but forgotten that dream of living abroad for a year as a family. One afternoon, as the boys kicked a soccer ball around a plaza in Barcelona’s El Born, we realized we needed to act now, or our dream of living together as a family in a foreign country might never happen.

My husband turned to me and said, “Let’s do it. Let’s move to Spain for a year. As soon as possible.” We raised our glasses together with a little clink, and the deal was sealed.

Then came the questions. Lots of them.

Living Abroad for a Year — Exactly How Do We Go About That?

That initial “Whew-hoo!!! We’re moving to Spain for a year!!!” quickly segued to “Hmmmm… there’s a lot of stuff we need to figure out to move to Spain for a year…” to “OH. MY. GOD. Will someone please just tell me WHAT we need to do to go live in Spain for a year???!!!”

Several months of googling every keyword combination I could think of had yielded little in terms of actionable results.

Living abroad for a Year. How to move to Spain for a Year. How to move your family to another country. Where can I buy Spanish health insurance. What is education like in Spain. Best places to live in Spain as a family.

I wanted tangible, step by step directions. Even better, an all in one instruction manual. Certainly, there must be some road map to tell us how to move to Spain for a year?

After several weeks of random searching, I’d finally learned that we would be facing a formidable and somewhat costly undertaking to even apply for what we now knew was called the Spanish Non Lucrative Visa. Further, we had no clear sense of whether we’d be granted one.

In this expat story, I share our journey as we researched how to move to Spain as an American family. To begin with, I talk about our difficulties figuring out how to apply for the Spain Non Lucrative Visa. I then share our rather circuitous path to find the best place for us to live in Spain, where to send our children to school, and finally, some unexpected discoveries about languages spoken in Spain.

Advice for Expats Moving to Spain

In the end, our struggles to move to Spain for a year became the inspiration for this website. As a result, I now apply that same determination to move my own family to Spain to help other people find their way to living abroad for a year. After all, sometimes the best wins are gained from other people’s mistakes.

How To Move to Spain from the US as a Family – Our Expat Story

August 14, 2020 by familymoveabroad

Making the the decision to move to Spain for a year was easy. My husband and I had spoken of living in a foreign country with our children when I was pregnant with our first child. Yet our sons were 7 and 12 the first time we got them to Europe. That’s when it hit us — act now, or our dream to live overseas as a family might never happen.

I remember the day vividly. The boys were playing fútbol in a plaza in Barcelona. Dave and I were delighting in yet another array of mind blowing tapas. He turned to me and said, “Let’s do it. Let’s move to Spain for a year. As soon as possible.” We raised our glasses of vino tinto together with a little clink clink, and the deal was sealed.

But that was a short lived moment of glory.

Figuring out how to move to Spain from the US would become a far more daunting journey than I had ever have imagined.

An Honest Assessment of the Ups and Downs of Our Move to Spain

In this story, originally published in Where Can I Live, I share our journey of how we moved to Spain as an American family. I speak honestly about our experiences after two and a half years living in Seville, including:

What inspired us to move to Spain for a year
How to move to Spain from the US
Our confusion applying for the Spanish Non Lucrative Visa
How we researched the best place to live in Spain as a family
How we chose a school for our children
Things you might consider when it comes to education in Spain as an expat family.
Additional advice for expats moving to Spain to keep sane as you wade through logistical hurdles and emotional decisions

Our 10 Biggest Mistakes Moving to Spain – And What We’d Do Differently Next Time

April 29, 2019 by familymoveabroad

Our biggest mistakes moving to Spain from the US as a family. I’d never moved kids to Spain before. In fact, I’d never moved to or lived in any foreign country before. Truly, I thought I’d researched everything. Far more went wrong than right. These are our 10 biggest mistakes moving our family to Spain (there were far more!), and here’s what what we’d do differently next time.

Mistake Number 1: We Didn’t Come Straight to Seville, the Setting for our Year in Spain.

Everyone I’d ever spoken to who knew Seville always said the same thing. “Amazing city. Hot as hell in summertime.” My husband and sons hate the heat, so I flew us into Barcelona to spend August traveling up north. Well intended, but backfired. None of them had been to Seville before. Their anxiousness to see their new city made it hard for them to just enjoy the vacation time. And though we’d packed light, there was plenty we could have stored if we’d stopped in Seville first.

Next time we relocate kids to a place they’ve never been, we’re going straight there, no matter what the season. Find housing, store bags, then travel.

Mistake Number 2: We Delayed Filing Our Immigration Paperwork (All Thanks to Mistake Number 1.)

I knew we had 30 days from our date of arrival in Spain to present ourselves at the local foreigner’s office. Yet not fully understanding the process, this weighed on me. (Much as much as not having seen Seville weighed on the boys.) It also meant waiting longer to get our foreigner’s identity card. Having that card leaves you with an unbelievably satisfying feeling after nearly a year of immigration mayhem.

Next time I move to Spain, or any other foreign country, I’m finalizing immigration matters as soon as I land.

Mistake Number 3: I Didn’t Sufficiently Research the Local Rental Market. Then We Lost Our Short Term Housing.

Of all our biggest mistakes moving to Spain, this one takes the prize. In fact, we could just call this two mistakes rolled into one. Despite scouring the most used housing rental websites in Spain, the perfect apartment did not just fall into our laps. (And no, I wasn’t being too picky.) Apparently, furnished two bedroom apartments were plentifully available. Furnished three bedrooms, not so much. Subsequently, I discovered tourist season picks up promptly in mid-September. The vacation rental we were staying in was already booked per our originally scheduled departure. Now we needed new short term and long term housing. The pressure did not go unnoticed.

Next time, I’ll talk more to local realtors to get a sense of the local housing market. I’d also try to get a handle on short term housing constraints. If I were put in contact with a reputable relocation assistant or realtor, I might even consider committing to a long term lease before arriving. Kids and not knowing where you’re going to live don’t mix well.

Mistake Number 4: I Only Contacted Housing Listings By Email, Not Phone.

Yes, I’ll admit it. I was too scared to speak over the phone in Spanish! But I learned the hard way that the locals here in Seville are more inclined to call back then email back. No doubt, my phone fear exacerbated our house hunting woes.

Next time I move to Spain, I’ll still use the form on the housing websites to contact advertisers. But then, I’m going to call. Right away. Multiple times. Until I get a human on the line. And if my language skills aren’t good enough, I now know it would be worth hiring a Spanish speaker to make calls for me.

Mistake Number 5: I Didn’t Set Up A Bank Account Right Away Because I Thought We Needed Our Residence Card In Hand To Open One.

Initially, I hadn’t expected to need a Spanish bank account, and per mistake number two, I still didn’t have our identity card. Turns out you only need your NIE number, not the card, to open banking and utility accounts in Spain.

I had assumed we could charge our mobile phone and internet service to a credit card, as we do in the States. I also thought a landlord would keep utility service accounts in their name and have us reimburse with the rent. Our current landlord is fine with this arrangement, our first one wouldn’t hear of it. That’s when we learned that all onoing service accounts in Spain — mobile phone, internet, health insurance, electric — are debited from your “cuenta corriente.” My lack of knowledge about this put us in a huge crunch to get the bank account open in time to set up the services we needed upon move in.

Next time I move to a foreign country, I’ll know to ask about their banking and bill payment models in advance, and get whatever accounts I need going right away.

Mistake Number 6: I Purchased International Health Insurance. I Should Have Bought Spanish Health Insurance.

The coverage on the international plan was fine. In fact, if we’d been spending a lot of time outside Spain, or hadn’t had so many unexpected illnesses and accidents that first year, I might never have noticed the inconveniences of my international plan compared to policies from Spanish health insurance providers. What I learned? Spanish health insurance ROCKS! Go to a network provider. Give receptionist your card when you walk in. Pick it up when you walk out. And that’s that. No forms to fill out. No claims to file. No waiting for reimbursements. And get this… many of the Spanish health insurance plans include a housecall service. Yes! A doctor comes to you. When you’re sick. At no extra cost.

Next time I move to Spain, I’m getting Spanish health insurance from the start.

Mistake Number 7: I Hadn’t Fully Educated Myself on the Many Useful Tech Tools that Make Expat Life Easier.

From language translation to making international calls, the right technology will make your expat life easier.

From translation and money transfer apps to VOIP tools that let you call any mobile or landline phone, these services save time, money and lots of frustration.

Next time I move abroad, my phone, laptop and cloud drive will be primed and ready to support our expat escapades before I leave home.

Mistake Number 8: I Failed to Educate Myself on Some Critical Spanish Vocabulary.

Case in point: the Spanish word for the @ symbol. Might sound silly, but it’s kind of an essential term with no real work around when you need to provide your email address. Especially when you’re talking to a person, you guessed it… over the phone!

Brushing up on the Spanish alphabet so I could easily spell my strange, American name wouldn’t have hurt either. I’ve yet to meet a Spanish person get the correct spelling of Jackie on the first guess.

Next time I move to a foreign country, there’s some basic, critical vocabulary I’ll commit to memory before I get here.

Mistake Number 9: Despite What Felt Like Exhaustive Research, There Were Many Questions I Didn’t Ask the School in Spain I’d Chosen for My Children.

Free Guide to Your Child's Expat Education — Questions to consider for your child’s education abroad.

Pleading ignorance on this one. I’d never lived outside my home country and certainly hadn’t parented in one. Now I know there are a lot of nuances to consider when educating your child abroad. I never would have understood this before living here.

Next time I move to a foreign country, I’ll have a much better understanding of the challenges we face as expat parents and the kinds of questions to ask prospective schools. Read more about that here in my free guide to Your Child’s Expat Education.

Mistake Number 10: I Didn’t Do Enough to Develop My Kids Spanish Before We Arrived in Spain.

Our younger son had been in a dual language immersion program in the States. Not so the older one. We’d forced some time on online learning sites as well as some Spanish camps during those travels in northern Spain, but it wasn’t enough. The stress of the language barrier on his teenage brain affected him both educationally and socially.

Next time I move kids to a foreign speaking country, I’ll go out of my way to figure out some immersive language experience before arriving and starting school. Especially a teenager.

Takeaways from Our Biggest Mistakes Moving to Spain

It’s funny looking back on what was all so new a mere few years ago. Some of these errors seem so easily avoidable now. I won’t punish myself now for what we didn’t know then. Realistically, the things I learned by doing so much wrong are has given me such knowledge to help other expats.

Even with the most thorough of planning, you’re bound to make mistakes. But a helpful hand can go a long way to shorten your own “biggest mistakes moving to Spain” list.

For more information on planning your move to Spain, solo or as a family, contact me here.

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Our Epic Journey to Get a Spanish Non Lucrative Visa

February 22, 2019 by familymoveabroad

The Spanish Non Lucrative Residence Visa

The Spanish Non Lucrative Visa Freshly Sealed in our Passports

I knew it was possible for Americans to legally live in Spain for a year. I just didn’t know that the visa we needed was called the Spanish non lucrative residence visa. It took me over a month to figure that out. It would take several more to figure out all the hoops we’d have to jump through to get one.

Seven months, countless hours of research and several thousand dollars later, our family of four was taking our second trip from Wyoming to San Francisco to pick up our newly awarded Spanish non lucrative visas from the consulate. Everything had worked out pretty much as it was supposed to.

Still, as we set out for the five hour drive from Jackson Hole to Salt Lake City, where we would then catch a plane to California, I said to my husband, “If I’d known at the beginning what I was signing up for, I’m not sure I would have done it.”

Yes, our visa application process had the added logistics two long distance trips during the work week/school week to get to the consulate.

Yes, the Spanish Consulate of San Francisco has some of the more stringent application requirements for the non lucrative visa.

Still, even without these extra hurdles, you will execute a bureaucratic marathon before that visa is stamped in your passport and you cradle that TIE (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero) in your oh so grateful hands.

This Facebook post I shared the day we finally picked up those Spanish residence cards shows our commitment to the cause.

A Paperwork Pilgrimage

A year in the making to our Spanish non lucrative visa and TIE.

Today we celebrate the culmination of a year long process of immigration bureaucracy.

Notarized letters affirming our identity to order two birth certificates and one marriage certificate from three different counties in two different states.

Fingerprints for David and I at local police department. Send those to FBI to issue criminal background check. FBI fails to deliver said clearance on schedule. Send second copy of fingerprints to private FBI approved Channeler. Costs $65 instead of $18, but I get it in 24 hours.

Authenticate all of the above by their respective state and federal bodies with Apostille of the Hague. (Note to self — figure out what an Apostille is and how to obtain one.)

Medical checks for all four of us from our three respective physicians. Letters from said physicians certifying we’re unlikely to ignite an outbreak of the plague. Letters must be printed on the physician’s letterhead and sealed with their official physician’s stamp. (I never knew doctors had an official stamp.)

Proof of zero-deductible health insurance. (Second note to self — investigate how to purchase medical insurance valid only in a country in which we don’t yet have permission to live.)

Demonstrate sufficient income and savings to convince the Spanish government we can live in Spain without seeking work there.

Write and notarize a cover letter explaining the madness that compels us to put ourselves through the torture of this application process.

Now… Translate All That.

As in, all of it:

The letters.
The certificates.
The notarizations to obtain the letters and certificates.
The criminal records clearance reports.
And All five Apostilles from those three different government bodies

Into Spanish.

And not just any translator.

All translations must be completed by an “officially recognized translator certified by the government of Spain.” Duly sworn and stamped.

(Translators have stamps too? Huh. Guess that rules out the Spanish-speaking secretary at my son’s elementary school. Third note to self — figure out what “certified translator” means. Then determine how to find one.)

Just a Bit More Paperwork

Above mentioned translator now acquired and on the case.

I get to work filling out multiple visa application forms written in really fine print. Spanish fine print, in case that’s not obvious.

Crash course in immigration related Spanish terminology that pushes my vocabulary beyond “Where are the bathrooms?” and “Cerveza por favor.”

Make copies of all of the originals and all the translations.

Compile an original and a copy of each family member’s application forms, certificates and translations into a file folder in the exact order listed on the consulate’s application instructions.

Attach two passport sized photos plus a copy of each passport ID page.

Check, recheck, have husband check, then recheck again. One more time. Just to be sure nothing is missing.

Spanish Consulate in San Francisco, Here We Come

From Wyoming. Like, 900 plus miles away.

Apply for residence visas in person — all four of us.

Return to Wyoming.

Turns out you can indeed drive from Wyoming to San Francisco — and back — in under 48 hours and still have two living, breathing sons upon your return.

Then… Wait.

Still waiting.

Tick tock, tick tock. Tick. Tock.

Six weeks later, four emails unceremoniously arrive in my inbox.

You’ve Been Approved!!!

You have thirty days to come back to San Francisco with your passports to pick up your visas, or your visa approval will be rescinded.

Yes, all four of us.

Brief moment of glory before I assess just how and when we’re going to squeeze in a second trip to San Francisco at a reasonable cost and with minimal lost work and school time. Another 900 mile drive does not sound appealing. We opt to drive to Salt Lake City and fly from there.

We Interrupt This Celebration for a Brief Moment of Panic

We’re back at the consulate, proudly cooing over the visas now freshly sealed in each of our passports. (Ok, maybe only I was cooing.)

My eyes take in every precious detail.

There’s our photo — don’t we look happy? Foreigner’s identification number — never had one of those before! The official government stamp of Spain — governments, of course, I would expect to have a stamp. And… the expiration date.

Wait. WHAT?!?!

These visas are only valid for three months.

THREE MONTHS??!!!

Anyone can go to Spain for three months! You don’t even need a visa for that!!

OH. MY. GOD. I ticked the wrong box. There’s been a huge mistake!!!

Twenty minutes of terror as I plead with the receptionist to let me back inside to speak with the visa officer.

Listen with all due humility as he patronizingly reminds me that he explained this to me during our application appointment.

The visa from the consulate is good for three months and is based on the departure date we stated during our application appointment. We must enter Spain during that time. We have 30 days from the date of arrival to begin the final process that will result in getting our Spanish residence card. That’s our proof we may legally reside in Spain for one year.

He can patronize me all he wants. I am so relieved I hadn’t eff’d up the entire thing.

And to my credit… I was aware there was more to be done on arrival in Spain. I just hadn’t realized that the stamp issued by the consulate — the actual non lucrative visa itself for which I had labored so tediously to obtain — was only valid for 90 days.

And furthermore, I’ve since heard two similar tales of panic by other non lucrative visa applicants, so let’s just say the entire process lacks clarity.

Return to rejoicing previously in progress.

Act 2: The Spanish Residency Card

Arrive in Sevilla about three months later.

The rest of our bureaucratic odyssey now takes place completely in Spanish.

Did I mention none of us really speak Spanish? Especially the thickly accented Andalusian Spanish that even my fluent friends who learned Spanish in South or Central America have told me is really difficult to understand at first.

Total processing time from initial appearance at the local Oficina de Extranjería to TIE (residence card) in hand? About 12 weeks and three visits.

Yes, all four of us. Luckily the local immigration office is only a 20 minute walk away.

Paperwork Pilgrimage Part 2

Or is it paperwork pilgrimage part 3? I’ve lost count.

Will we ever just get to live in Spain without incessantly applying for permits to live in Spain?

Oficina de Extranjería Visit Number One: Stand in line for half hour or so, wondering if we’re in the correct line. Make appointment to come back and stand in line again.

More forms in more Spanish fine print.

One form is to pay the “tasas” (fees). But we don’t pay the tasas in the immigration office. We’re told to pay them at “cualquier banco.” (Any bank.)

The Spanish TIE Residence Card for Foreigners

Really? Like any bank? I just walk in to any bank? Not being a customer of the bank or even a resident of this country, and I just hand the person behind the counter this little of paper and give them money?

More copies. ID page of the passports (again), copy of the page with the visa issued by the consulate. Copy of the page where passport control stamped the entry visa on our arrival into Spain.

Oficina de Extranjería Visit Number Two: Return with all the above, including proof we paid the tasa at the bank, at the previously scheduled appointment we were given during visit number one.

Fingerprints — all four of us this time. Good fun for the kids.

We’re given a date and time to return once again about five weeks later.

Oficina de Extranjería Visit Number Three: Wait in line once again. A little more confident this time we’re in the right line. And…

Voila! Or perhaps I should say ¡Ya está!

One “Permiso de Residencia No Lucrativa” valid for one year from our date of arrival in Spain.

Who would guess, looking at those little pink plastic cards we hold in our hands, what a tour de force it took to get them?

And yes, the effort was more that worth it.

Curious about being an American Expat in Spain?

Learn more about the Spanish Non Lucrative Visa here. Click here to Find Your Consulate.