Canadians living in Spain

Hello!

Just wanted to know if there were any Canadians living and working in Spain at the moment!

My boyfriend and I have decided to make our way there within the year and drag the 2 beagle boys I have along.

I have read quite a bit about living in Spain and working in Spain and how getting work visa is a bitch unless you have an employer to sponsor you. I just wanted to hear someone's personal account on what they went thru moving to Spain - like the whole process of it and how they like it now, etc.

Thanks!

Good job, keep on posting.

My family is also considering moving to Spain in January 2008. I too am interested in anyone out there that can give me some more details on things like the temporary resident card for candians, etc.

We also have 2 school aged children. We are looking to move to the Valencia or Alicante area. Any feedback would be awesome.

Gracias!

hi there!

i have lived 6 months in andalucia and it is a wonderful part of the world!

as a canadian finding work is difficult. there is a lot of under the table work, but beware.because you have no papers the employers feel that they can put you in any work condition they want.so many times you end up working 7 days a week.with many many hours.and little pay. or respect for that matter.

i came back home to montreal in september because i couldn't find decent work. i have since then been working on getting the right papers to go back.

what you need to do is find an employer that will give you a work contract. from there you apply for a visa and if it is accepted they send you everything you need. but remember that you can have to be in canada to receive these papers, and they won't pass on the papers to someone other than you in person! and this will take a few months.
many people have recomended me to go to spain.find a job and get a contract.then come back home to get all the papers and then go back. of course this option is too costly for me.
if you have a university degree that might help you get a job faster. also in the malaga region they are usually looking for IT people, or second language english teachers.
it is difficult to get a work visa in spain because of the high umemployment rate, and the fact that to give you a visa they need to prove that no european can or wants to do that job. which is why being specialized usually helps.
many people will tell you not to bother, and to be honest it is probably going to take some time to find that employer who will bother with visas and all that. but don't give up! spain is a beautiful country and the spanish are great people.it will be worth the struggle in the end!

of course is you can get a passport for any E.U country then you need a visa, because you are considered european and under the european union, any one from any country in europe can work and live anywhere else in europe.

hope this helps

Thanks for the post. I think we are going to go the student visa route. My husband planned on taking a Spanish class anyways although to get the resident card it is much more strict to school hours per week, etc. If anyone else out there has had a student visa for spain for an extended period (one year) and has any tips for me on that let me know. We hope to get our kids into the public school system as it sounds like once we get there we must obtain a temporary resident card from the local Police station. Hope this all works out as it is a dream of ours to make it happen!

I lived in Spain, in San Sebastian, for a little over 4 years. I did my PhD at a university there. I went through the Spanish bureaucracy as a student and it wasnt too bad. I learned a lot.
I have finished in San Sebastian and found work with a company in Andalucia and am currently back in Canada waiting for the work permit to arrive. So Im now going through the Spanish bureaucracy as a worker.its somewhat more lengthy.
So Ive had quite a lot of experience in and around Spain with various immigration/adminstrative matters. One major thing Ive found, is that the speed at which things move and the ease with which they happen varies dramatically from region to region in Spain.

Greetings folks,
I am a Chilean born Canadian citizen living in canada since 1975. My family acquired Canadian citizenship in 78 and since have been a very proud Canadian. Here's my situation: My fiance is Welsh and has lived in La Manga, Spain for over 5 years now. After long discussions, we have decided to make Spain, instead of Canada, our home and am wondering if anyone can help regarding options for my living there. I have visited there but currently am in Canada and trying to get the ball rolling with regards to getting a visa and gaining a residency card. Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hello,
I am currently living in Spain (Murcia). My boyfriend is Spanish, and I am Canadian. We plan on living here for a year, so then we can move back to Canada and he will be eligable for a spouse/common law visa.

Currently life here in Murcia is pretty hard. I have absolutely no chance of finding a job, even cash in hand. This whole province is full of immigrants already (most South American or Eastern European) and they will be first to get the cash in hand jobs. As for legal work, well that is also very hard to come by. My boyfriend has been searching for work for almost 2 months with no luck. Last month there were more than 15000 people who registered as newly unemployed at the job centre in Murcia. There are some specialist jobs about, but as someone earlier said, the company has to prove that first they can not get a European to fill the job before they start with any paper work to sponser.

Speaking of paper work, it is a very slow process in Spain. It really depends on who is helping you, and their mood that day. The system seems a lot more complicated than it has to be (in all aspects - school registry - which i did, dealing with property - which my boyfriend does).

My biggest suggestion would be, if you have your heart set on Spain, would be to go where the tourists are. This will give you a better chance at cash in hand jobs to start you off, and also there will be communities of expats already there (mostly British/German) that will be able to connect you with some people who can hopefully help speed up the process of getting your kids into a school, and finding a job for yourselves. Another idea would be to start a business of your own.

Best of luck!
Michelle

I also forgot to mention that they are always looking for people to teach English. You can apply from Canada to do this, most Universities offer some sort of help (at least the University of Saskatchewan does), or as my friend did, just send a c.v. out to each English school in the area when you get here. Many are desperate for more teachers and will pay cash in hand. Having a Tesol (or similar) helps, but isn´t always necessary. Just another option!

Canadian who lives in Pamplona, Spain here, as Michellle mentioned, there is quite a demand for English teachers in Spain, which is what both my wife & I did when we moved here from the UK. If you have a toefl(teaching of english to foreign language) certificate you can probably get a job shortly after arriving.

My wife is Spanish so that helped me with all the paperwork (plus her being able to understand a lot more than me at the beginning) I have resident status, and as some others mentioned things work a little slower here. it took over 6 months to get my residence card. It's very useful though once you have it as your main source of ID think SIN card but with a photo.

I have now reverted back into Information Technology and freelance (self employed/autonomo).