need advice about spain!!

hey...well i can give u advise about the medical system coz am a dr....well spain has on of the best health systems in the world...but sadly this is breaking down those days because of the crisis....now all the public health system is being reevaluated and they r cutting a lot from it....so in the next few months it wouldn't be covering a lot and the system will be pushed towards private health system which for sure is expensive.....as for jobs it depends but what i can c here is the crisis is really strong and it is very hard to find a job...so its better to have a contract fixed before coming......

Hi Rachel,

Not sure if it would be somewhere you would consider but you may want to have a look at Gibraltar which is located just off the south of spain. A great deal of people, including myself, live in Spain but cross the border every morning to work in Gibraltar. It will be much easier to find work as the main language is english, and spain does appear to be struggling at the moment. [Moderated: No free ad on the forum]

I think if someone is considering moving to Alicante - Gibraltar is hardly on the doorstep.

Also, given the change of govt in Gibraltar, the employment situation has changed regarding cross-border workers and notification of vacancies needing to go through the job centre.

Back to the original request - work is thin on the ground in Spain, and becoming ever harder to find.

Medical care is on a par with elsewhere in Europe - AFAIK.

Rachel, oops, sorry, just seen you are from Cardiff - my partner is from South Wales too (Pontypool).  Would like to help but maybe regards work you could put up your areas of experience or quals?   Or PM me.

Dear Rachel,

Firstly about Spain, you really need to decide which region you're going to move to as they kind of work autonomously (local government) so rules may be different for each region.  I live in Catalunya.   
A 2 bed appartment is going to cost you double price if you're near the sea and for instance in Barcelona a nice 2 bed flat will be between 800-1300 euros depending on location.  Its cheaper in other regions.  South is much cheaper.
To check flat prices in all Spain, look at Loquo.com which is like Loot magazine in the UK.
You'll probably have to pay towards schooling if you want your child to learn a British curriculum.  The international schools are not cheap but there are lots around.
Good luck!

Tracy is correct, you can rent for 500€ a month in Andalucía, and less, if your Spanish is good enough to ask around for something around the 3-400€ mark. But for a very good reason -and that is the shortage of work.

We have friends whose children attend local Spanish schools.  They learn good Spanish, make local friends - and if you read the information about Andalucían education, it's not the best in the world.

I do have a friend in Alicante, so I'll ask her next time I'm in touch. Whatever you want to do, please make sure you have done your research and that you have sufficient savings in reserve if you do decide to move.

Thanks everyone for all the advice, much appreciated, trying to do as much research as possible!

                                Rachel.