I'm planning to move to Caleta (from UK) in July with my husband. We will be renting a property and I will be looking for work on the island. My questions are:
1. Should I apply for my NIE number immediately? Will this help me get a job? Do I need this to open a bank account? Where do I get it from?
2. If I can't find work within 3 months, should I still apply for the residency paperwork? (We have enough savings to live on for at least a year and my husband has a small pension)
3. Is it a good idea to transfer my entitlement to healthcare from the UK NHS system while I look for a job with a contract which will entitle me to Spanish state healthcare? Or would it be better to pay for a Sanitas private healthcare scheme?
Thanks.
Quote from: MaureenG on May 16, 2014, 15:09:56 PM
1. Should I apply for my NIE number immediately? Will this help me get a job? Do I need this to open a bank account? Where do I get it from?
You need a NIE to breathe in Spain - honestly! You certainly can't get a job or open a bank account without one. Nor can you have any dealings with phone, electricity or water companies, etc, etc. But you have to present yourself in person at the police station in Puerto, or contract a lawyer to appear on your behalf. This first NIE paper is only valid for three months; after this period, you have to decide whether to turn it into a non-resident's NIE that's renewable every two years (easy - you just pay), or apply for residency (the little green piece of paper called 'registro'). That's when the fun starts as you have to prove to the police that you've either got the means to stay forever on the island without calling on the state in any way for help (i.e. savings + private medical cover + a declaration), or that you have a job or run a business and are therefore contributing to the state funds and so eligible for handouts such as health services.
Quote2. If I can't find work within 3 months, should I still apply for the residency paperwork? (We have enough savings to live on for at least a year and my husband has a small pension)
Up to you. You aren't legally permitted to stay here longer than 3 months without residency papers (I don't think) but as long as the EU is around I don't think they'd take any action against you.
Quote3. Is it a good idea to transfer my entitlement to healthcare from the UK NHS system while I look for a job with a contract which will entitle me to Spanish state healthcare? Or would it be better to pay for a Sanitas private healthcare scheme?
How can you do that? I don't think the UK will be happy to pay for you if you live here. They will cover you for 3 months, under the EU agreement with your EHIC card, no problem. But after that it will be invalidated and it will be Spanish state cover or private insurance. Unless one or both of you is very close to retirement age, when I believe there are special arrangements in place.
But you really do need to sort out these questions before you make any final decisions (as you're doing ;)). I wonder whether you aren't going to get a nasty surprise when it comes to job-hunting. I don't think you can guarantee to find an employer that will give you a legal contract - you're more likely to find temporary cleaning jobs with absolutely no paperwork paying 4-5€/hr. I'm sorry, but the reality here is that unemployment is 35-50% (depending on age) so you'll find an awful lot of competition.
I believe you mentioned doing online work in another thread. Would that be a possibility for you here? For instance, I work online as a translator/editor and I've set myself up as an autonomo (self-employed). I have to pay 260€/month social security contributions but at least hubby and I both get state medical cover, and I'll qualify for some sort of Spanish pension one day.
Thank you very much for your reply, Sheila. The information about the NIE number was very useful. I read somewhere that there are 2 types of bank account - a non-resident's one or a resident's one. I assume that the non-resident's account would be the most suitable initially?
I read somewhere that you can arrange to transfer UK NHS benefits to the Spanish system for up to 2 years - I'm not sure if this is only when you are coming up to retirement, or if it's at any age to cover you until you find work. My husband is almost 56 and I am 53 at the moment. We have each made enough UK NI contributions to get a UK state pension, but won't receive it until we are 66 years old. I'm therefore not worried about making contributions towards a Spanish state pension, but the healthcare issue will need to be considered. I have looked at Sanitas ex-pat policies and they seem cheaper than paying NI as autonomo.
I am a qualified teacher of English as a second language. I am aware of the employment situation and I know that it will not be easy to get work, however I'm used to that as the teaching work in language schools in England is seasonal - I've been teaching part-time since January of this year, but I don't expect to have any work between September - December if I stay in the UK, as foreign students don't like coming over here in the winter! The online work I mentioned would be teaching English, which would enable me to teach students in other countries such as South Korea or Russia - it's not very well paid, but is at least some sort of income. For this I would need a reliable internet connection though and I'm not sure how easy that is to arrange if one is renting a property.
If it really is impossible to get any income in Fuerteventura, I will apply for jobs in other areas of Spain / the Spanish islands and we will move to wherever I can get work, but initially we want to give living in Fuerteventura a go - you have to take chances sometimes!
SNAP! But I've pretty much stopped the teaching as rates here are so low and I hate Skype. Your problem you'll have is that you really HAVE to be autonomo if you want to do anything online - they are really cracking down on expats earning without declaring, and your clients will want invoices. I don't know if salaried jobs are available but I've never seeen a Spanish teacher charging more than 7€ per hour.
Thanks for that SheilaW...as we already have NIE numbers after purchasing our property, we were wondering (as our 3 months have finished) do we necessarily need to apply to convert to a NIF? We realise we will have to do this if we purchase a car in say another 6 months time, but is it necessary to apply for it ASAP. Does it then need renewing every 2 years or only if your need to produce it for any further purchases?
Quote from: bygcotillo on May 20, 2014, 18:56:55 PM
Thanks for that SheilaW...as we already have NIE numbers after purchasing our property, we were wondering (as our 3 months have finished) do we necessarily need to apply to convert to a NIF? We realise we will have to do this if we purchase a car in say another 6 months time, but is it necessary to apply for it ASAP. Does it then need renewing every 2 years or only if your need to produce it for any further purchases?
NIF is something else. Well, actually, it isn't very different at all as it's the same number, but the "F" stands for "Fiscal" i.e. for paying taxes. You just need to get your NIE registered at the Hacienda (my lawyer did it in my absence) and it becomes a NIF.
Now, do you need to renew your expired NIE?. Well, if you have a bank account then it's quite likely that they will do it for you if they haven't already done it. That's because they're legally obliged to keep a valid certificate on file. Either they'll charge you or the cost will be included in the charges for your non-residential account. So check with them. They will certainly be able to handle it for you. I really don't know if it's important to keep it up-to-date for any other reason as I never had one myself.
Just checked our bank account, and yes the non-res authorisation charge was taken out last November it shows 26.75 plus tax of 6.82. Thanks again for the info.
Re: NIE & residence
You need a NIE to breathe in Spain - honestly! You certainly can't get a job or open a bank account without one. Nor can you have any dealings with phone, electricity or water companies, etc, etc.
Strange that we have a place in fuerte (9yrs now )and im the only one with an NIE number yet our mortgage and bank account is in a joint name and the Endesa account is in the wifes name ??? ???
Quote from: Roar of the Rovers on June 20, 2014, 15:08:52 PM
Strange that we have a place in fuerte (9yrs now )and im the only one with an NIE number yet our mortgage and bank account is in a joint name and the Endesa account is in the wifes name ??? ???
That is indeed very strange and I can't see it happening to people arriving nowadays. Certainly not everyone needs to have a NIF - only the "head of the household". Is your bank account still classed as non-resident (there's no problem with that and it doesn't get changed automatically)? They might well have set it up on the basis of your NIE and your wife's passport number. There are certain advantages to having a resident's account though.
We are not residents so yes its still a non-residents account its just the Endesa one that really baffles me ,our Spanish solicitor set it up (but nothing else lots of problems different story) can only have set it up with her passport ,but saying that we even got car hire last year with no driving licence wife forgot it but because we are on the system they gave us a car !!!!!! So we just go with the flow these days will sort things out when we retire ;D