My husband and I are interested in moving to Spain in about ten years. We are currently 33 and 30 and have two children who will both be 18 in ten years. We can’t move now or anytime sooner as we each have another coparent.
We live in the US, in one of the higher COL cities in the nation.
It’s little more than a dream at the moment, but we have been discussing it more and more and both want to move to Europe. Hopefully at that time, our sons would be interested in moving as well and possibly studying in Spain, but obviously that would have to be seen in time.
Our main question is, what should we do now to begin our long journey to moving? We are about to start learning Spanish (I have some basic Spanish but definitely want to become more fluent.)
We are planning on an extended visit in the next two to three years to explore, and hopefully more to come in the next ten years.
We have been looking specifically at Seville, but are open to other areas of Spain as well. We are mainly looking for near the ocean, decent weather (more interested in warm weather than cold) a low to average COL, and somewhere we can find other ex pats as well as immersion in local culture. We also would like somewhere walkable and to not have to own a car.
We are starting our own business next year, which would take place primarily online. If this is successful, is that something we would be able to continue to use as income on a visa if the business is based in the US?
I find the whole thing complicated and just am curious what the options for visas really are. We aren’t highly sought after for tech skills and such, so unless something drastic changes in the next 5 or so years, we wouldn’t be with a company that allows us to work in Spain. We are more interested in working for ourselves, and are wondering if and how that would work.
These could be kind of dumb questions, so I’m not offended by a reality check. I’m just wondering if moving to Spain is something doable for the average American who struggles with HCOL where we are currently. We are not very interested in lower COL states here in the US and US politics is one of the stronger reasons we would like to leave anyway.
Feel free to hit me with the real life parts of this!
Meh, after six of them (three after grad school) I don’t think it’s that important to have the actual move paid.
I get an extra $30K per move. I wouldn’t pay to move otherwise.
Because there are non-financial considerations? I mean, obviously it’s best to have someone else pay. In my last case, I requested an internal transfer to another country country. I wasn’t really in the position to demand relocation expenses.