Moving to Spain

Hi Ollie!

Most major cities will have what you're looking for and lots will also have extracurriculars in English, keep in mind that Barcelona will have instruction in catalan not Spanish if you choose to go to a public school once they're more integrated. You might also consider a concertada (semi-private) school with instruction in English and Spanish. The younger one will have less issues settling in the language. I work with expat parents/ families around the world to help with preparation & settling into a new language and answer all the questions about raising bilingual kids. ***

Thank you for your response. i forgot to mention that our preference will be slightly smaller towns, commutable to major cities

You need to check and do a lot of research before making plans,  you need to meet the income laws for the rest of the world now we are out of the EU. It requires a lot of income. A lot has changed and it’s not so easy these days. We had a lot of plans and had started learning Spanish a few years prior, however brexit put an end to our plans, its hard to leave the uk unless you have a sponsor and that’s difficult unless your on the skills shortage list and can speak Spanish. The easiest way is with a golden visa, but you need to investing 250k minimum in a business last time I checked?  and also prove an income of around 26k a year for the main applicant, plus 6k for a spouse and each child per year to live on. Brexit has ruined a lot of peoples plans and most forums are now dead regards brits apart from a few who still think they can up and move without a sponsor, a job and very little money. I own my home outright and it still wouldnt be enough. its catch 22 unless your loaded,  Good luck with your plans though. let us know how you get on.

@Olliemt

As @Siarls says, post-Brexit is not so easy for Brits, so investigating the residence options might be the top priority, before figuring out where to live and which schools to go to. But Brits still have visa-free travel to Spain (for up to 90 in 180) so you can go property- and school-hunting if you want to.

To relocate indefinitely, you need at least one of your family to qualify as a resident (harder), and then the resident can do "family reunification" (very easy) for all the others (either as spouse or child).

If you are retired, independently wealthy, or work remotely, then the No Lucrativa Visa (NLV) may be the fastest and easiest way to become a legal resident. Approximately, you need 2.5k euros in provable passive income (pensions, dividends, rents, etc.), or a year's worth of this income in savings (just under 30k euros). Income from an existing job (even if remote) is not passive, and won't count. This visa is a non-working visa, but folks with remote work have used it (if they have sufficient savings). You can change to another status later. And it's a way to get everyone in Spain legally, so you can find a place to live, and start school.

If you are a remote worker with an ongoing contract (or provable income from multiple clients) there is a new Digital Nomad Visa (DNV). So this might be an option too.

It is possible to get residence based on employment (including highly-paid professionals who might qualify for a EU Blue Card) or self-employment. Both of these options are more challenging and time-consuming. If you don't have loads of savings, it might be more prudent to to get the appropriate residence status sorted out before moving. But if you have some savings, consider the NLV as an intermediate step.

You may also want to look into the language requirements for kids.  We are in Valencia, and they require instruction in both Valenciana and Spanish; even for our son in American School of Valencia, in a US curriculum not Spanish.

Our daughter was much younger, so we put her into a local school.  That proved to be a "Bridge too Far".  She had 4 classes in Valenciana, 3 in Spanish, 1 in English.  She is from Phillipines, and did not speak any of those 3 languages. 

A province which does not require two different languages would be something to look for

Good morning,

About bilingual school, it really depends on where you are going to live. In Madrid, there are several American schools that you can look

Thanks!