Moving to Spain in 2024 Pros and Cons

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Stu, I’ve had quite serious health issues in the last 12 months. I’ve been admitted to hospital on 3 occasions and am still receiving treatment therefore I can say from first-hand experience treatment is excellent.

Hey Stu, Some live update from Valencia. I've moved here in January 2023 and found a 2 bed, brand new apartment in the city for €800 rent per month. Now we need 3 beds and apartments at the same standards are €1,500 at least. Just viewed an apartment yesterday in Alzira (50km from Valencia) which was "only" €1,000 per month; however, 20 years old and 45 mins from Valencia. The agency guy confirmed there's a one month agency fee (cause they are giving 11months contract to trick the new regulations of no agency fee for long term rent) and he was asking for 6 months safety deposit for an empty apartment with kitchen appliances that are 20 years old. I could only laugh at him and walked away. Long story short, rent prices are over the roof and landlords and agencies are greedier than ever. I didn't want to commit to buy property so soon but I have no other options. I cannot justify paying more for rent than I would be paying for mortgage on the same apartment with 15 years term. This comment is long enough already, but just want to mention also that bureaucratic procedures are a nightmare. The level of incompetence, ignorance and arrogance is out of this world. Especially at any civil registry offices. Not to mention the guarda civil at these locations... My quality of life is still way better than it was in the UK, but living here has its disadvantages.

We will be relocating to Madrid from the U.S., on a non-lucrative visa. After visiting Spain every year for years, we are finally looking forward to enjoying our leisure time in a great country. We both speak fluent Spanish, and enjoy integrating with locals.

Stewart, your hard work is much appreciated. I still look forward to your posts, diverse content, and interesting topics after all these years. Thank you so much, from a Brit who spends most of the year in the beautiful provenance of Maliga.

Stuart, I got hit by a car from behind whilst letting children pass on a Pedestrian Crossing on my Motorbike. It put me in a wheelchair and after paying Taxes here, was forced to sell everything and move to the UK, due to the fact that Servicios Sociales gave me only 15%,While the Judicial Doctor gave me a min. of 35%.( One needs a Min.of 33% to receive free Medical treatment in Spain). Due to BREXIT and having to leave for Medical treatment abroad,for over 6 Years, They will now, NOT renew my Residency, nor will the Insurance Co. pay me any Medical costes, because I went outside Spain for treatment, that was NOT available here……….what a Paradox!

About the burocratic problems. Believe me, I have lived in other countries like Germany and I have had friends living in France and Italy. From my personal experience and references Spain doesnt have the worst burocracy of Europe by far. Germany and France are specially horrible. In the first case you have to do the same thing two or three times in different places, and in the second case France is so dammed centralized in Paris that papers take looooong time (i mean... very long). Regarding Spain... Well, papers are complicated specially if you come from outside EU and you need to justify a lot of things, but once they are done things run quite smoother. Consider also that there are papers today you can get quite easy with the chip instaled in your DNI. You only need a card reader.

We love living in El Puerto de Santa Maria. It has far exceeded our expectations.

Pensioners yes , young and workers no . Taxes are a joke and health care state is so expensive . Pensioners get good healthcare if expats because their goverment pays , if your a worker trust me you will now be months to have anything done . Spain really is an over 65 country now .

My local town (7,000 people) has three English speakers (two British) who act as liaison to the English speaking residents and are employed by the Council. They act as free translators and are the go to people for any questions or help , this is a very Spanish town

😢 I want to move to Spain now 😅😅😅😅

We have some better pros and worse cons. In my opinion, the best Spanish speaker country to live is Spain and the best English speaker, Canada. My sister in law is British. Once I asked her why she decided upon making her living in Spain. She told me she felt in love with the landscape when landing in Madrid. In the summer. I can't understand it yet. It's blue sky and mostly brown ground.

5:33 That map lacks the brown route, that that goes on 19th century rails. I'll take the train between Ciudad Real and Mérida tomorrow and it goes on those ancient rails, at 40 km/h. It's high speed to Puertollano, but then we have to change the train and it's worse because implies spending even more time. The journy is spectacular for nature lovers.

Mainly reside in fuerteventura. Best thing we ever did. Life's FANTASTIC.

Thanks for shedding some light on this. With all the current anti-tourism movements, which I think is mis-directed, my wife and I have our concerns. However, as you pointed out, us foreigners just need to adapt. I do see some correlations of the political situations in the US too. I suppose we need to redo our own pros-and-cons list. 🧐

Compact, informative, balanced presentation Stu. Muchas gracias. The cost of living pressures are everywhere. Wages and salaries in Australia are very good by comparison to most countries, but cost of living is also very high and standards of living are declining on a per capita basis. We have a serious housing crisis here. My daughter just moved to London for next two years - her rental property in Melbourne was just over A$2000 per month, and just back on the market for A$3240 per month! Her rent in London for a one bedroom apartment @A$3900 per month. Although Spain’s economy is reported as growing and strong, relatively, and unemployment has deceased somewhat it is still very high - especially in the 18-25ish bracket- which is a serious problem. Australia’s unemployment rate is sitting around 4%. Curiously this is also causes problems. Anyone considering moving to Spain should do their homework thoroughly. Much easier for anyone with a passport from an EU country of course.

Living in Spain is pretty amazing. The only downsides would be the ability to earn competitive salaries and taxes. Now, for some jobs, Spain pays less, but your quality of life can still be better than other countries because the cost of living and services are so affordable and good. For for IT, Banking, etc you will make much more money in the US (as an example). For Spain, Taxes are high - BUT if you come from the US, the delta. over US taxes that you have to pay anyway is low and the quality of life increase is significant. And if you come from California or NYC, when you also include healthcare costs, Spain is a bargain tax wise. Clearly, if you come from other countries and can live in Andorra, the tax delta is huge (Since you would not need to pay your home country taxes). NOT,E, if you have significant world wide assets living in Spain is VERY expensive. The wealth tax is extremely high, much higher than anywhere else.

Hello Stu 😊 Thanks for all your wonderful videos. I hardly ever get to sit down and watch the livestream, but I try to get back to all your videos later… Going back to the topic of overtourism and anti-tourist feelings…I’ve been visiting Spain for the last 15 years, or so, every year, once or twice a year if I’m lucky. Be it as a tourist with my family (after the boys have turned teenagers, only with my husband), or as a teacher, with a group of students or alone on a course for teachers. I’ve seen tourists behave badly, in busy tourist centres, which eventually, we started to avoid. I’ve never seen locals treat tourists badly. I saw some kind of nervous apprehension in the eyes of inhabitants of Barcelona, going about their business on the Rambla, where my group of students was in their way, but other than that… no negative feelings on the part of the locals, always ready to help. I love going back whenever I can; somehow I feel at home there. I came back from Santander a week ago, and this Saturday, I’m going back again. First to Porto for a few days and then I’m spending almost a fortnight in the Picos and then Galicia with my husband. I can’t wait to feel at home again 😊 I will be a “tourist” and I’m sure I won’t be mistreated because of that.

Interesting, Stuart. There doesn't seem to be many cons as far as I can see. Hopefully, the anti tourist approach may get better. I guess if you're living in the country with respect, it may be a different scenario. Thank you 😊

Good to see you body surfing Stu. Back to those Ozzie roots.