Tag Archives: relocating to Spain

NIE Changes Take Affect For Foreigners Relocating to Spain

Relocating to Spain has changed with new residency approval processes being introduced from 3 January 2012. The new procedures affect all newly arriving foreigners planning to stay in Spain for longer than 3 months, including UK and EU citizens.

From the start of the year, foreign arrivals seeking to stay in Spain must now personally present their paperwork to the police station as part of the NIE authorisation process.

The NIE is Spain’s paperwork registering the identity number of a foreigner (Número de identidad de extranjero) for tax purposes. A NIE grants foreigners residency rights to remain in Spain for longer than three months and is essential paperwork to many other administration and financial systems.

To receive a NIE, applicants must:

Complete two copies of the NIE application form, downloadable from
Present original passport and copy along with two passport photos
Details of your current address in Spain
A personal statement or letter explaining why you are seeking NIE registration (business work located here, renting long term, buying property or accompanying a spouse, for example).

The new approvals legislation now requires applicants to take the paperwork to a police station in person. In the past, foreigners could employ a gestor to literally do the legwork involved, whereas now a personal appearance is mandatory.

While not expected to involve any more rigorous scrutiny or delays for the bulk of applicants, it does create inconveniences for long-term renters, relocating parents and business transfers to sacrifice up to half a day for the new processes.

With a NIE, you can then apply for an empadonamiento registration with the local Town Hall, a necessity to receive the paperwork required to enrol children in international or local schools, use the public health system, or open a business or company office.

When leasing property or looking to buy property in Barcelona, please raise any questions you have about the NIE process with your Lucas Fox representative. We have network connections with experts in relocating to Spain who can support you through any administrative obstacles.

Top 5 Barcelona apps during a short stay rental

With the city celebrating its recently awarded status of ‘World Mobile City’ by the Mobile World Congress, we share the best Barcelona apps to use while staying in shortstay Barcelona real estate.

Barcelona is a great temporary base for people who find themselves in the city for a short stay. The city is easy to get around, clean, and safe. Every street has a charming architectural delight of some sort with dizzyingly intricate building frontages. You will be surprised at the random regularity of turning a corner and seeing yet another piece of Barcelona real estate with patterned embellishments around window edges, or mosaic additions to front facades. These five Barcelona apps will help you peel back another layer of the city while also being practical about what you need for short stay Barcelona living.

Barcelona apps: TimeOut magazine guide

1. Time Out BCN: This app has the comprehensive, easy navigation and organised structure that you would expect from the magazine relied on by travellers all over the world. It’s great for enough of an overview of restaurants, venues and activities that you can decide what to try, and has a function to rank venues by how close they are to your Barcelona real estate.

Barcelona apps: AroundMe

2. AroundMe: While Time Out has all the entertainment and free time locations, AroundMe puts the more practical directory in your hand. See where the nearest ATM is, farmacias, and supermarkets. This Barcelona app also includes maps to direct you to where you need to go, but double check the recommended route: mapping is often literal along main streets, while there may be a more direct route weaving through the street grid.

Surprisingly for a local reference directory, it doesn’t have a list of gyms, or swimming pools, that are near your shortstay Barcelona real estate. TimeOut does include some options for where to workout or do some laps, but only focuses on the bigger sports facilities, not your neighbourhood choices. It would also be useful if AroundMe could add to the hospitals section with a list of medical clinics and dentists, just in case.

Barcelona apps: Sincroguia TV

3. SincroGuia TV: Getting into the rhythm of knowing when the news is on which channel, or keeping in touch with a favorite Spanish gameshow (Mojate anyone?), is yet another confusing aspect to the world-of-its-own Spanish television networks. SincroGuia TV is one of those apps that you use rarely but seems a precious gift when you do need to choose a channel.

Barcelona apps: JourneyBox

4. Barcelona Journey Box: This unexpected find is worth getting hooked on. A series of street tours for the city are included with photos of the walking route. You can plug in your earphones and hear the descriptions of specific Barcelona real estate as you get acquainted with the city blocks. It has just the right level of detail to catch your attention, as the narrator shares trivia about building architecture, historical milestones and local characters.

Barcelona apps: Traducctor

5. Traducctor: For shortstay renters practicing Catalan or Castellano, this app lets you carry a reliable dictionary with you to help you keep up your side of the conversation. Translator Co-Design is a strong alternative, but tradductor has a better interface and feels that slight bit faster when translating.

Barcelona apps: What next?

What Barcelona apps developers need to offer next is a good calendar app with listings of what’s on and when around the city. Time Out and AroundMe help with where to go, but there is no obvious choice amongst the Barcelona apps that can share suggested daily events of when to go. People’s first shortstay in the city may be to look at Barcelona real estate, as part of a business mission, or simply for a weekend away. Whatever the initial reason to visit, it often becomes the start of an ongoing connection with the city. Store these 5 Barcelona apps in your phone for when you return, and share with us your favorite Barcelona apps in the comments below….

Barcelona luxury? Property market analysis? Local news and activities?

At Lucas Fox, we want to provide you with engaging and informative blog content that makes your life in Spain and Barcelona easier and more enjoyable. Our survey will help us produce the blog and other website and mobile content that you need.

Please take a few minutes to help us understand what information and online content you would most like to see us focus on in the future. We will share the results in a blog article at the end of the month.

Parents eye Costa Brava properties

UK newspaper The Telegraph recently highlighted the superb Caldes de Malavella country house, one of the Lucas Fox Costa Brava properties recently – but this was more of an aside for an article that focused on another business: mumabroad, run by Carrie Frais, the wife of Lucas Fox Costa Brava Director Tom Maidment.

Relocating to Spain into a newly purchased Costa Brava property, for example, requires a good deal of planning and organization. This is double the case if you are relocating as part of a young family. We recently looked at some of the worries parents have for their children when relocating, with language being the chief cause of anxiety.

It is a perfect time to begin planning your relocation while you are still finalizing your property purchase. Several tasks do require some lead time, so planning relocation alongside your property acquisition can save time and even identify additional questions you can discuss with your Lucas Fox representative.

Here are a few more tips to keep in mind when you are relocating with young children:

Start investigating schools as soon as you have decided on a property purchase, especially if you are planning to send your children to an international school. For starters, review the website of your Consulate in Spain for their education advice pages and make contact with the council or agency that overseas their education services. For example, for UK residents, the British Embassy website recommends contacting the British Council to identify schools that provide an English-equivalent education.
Collect any administrative and education paperwork together for possible use in future school applications. You may be required to submit school reports or other documentation when applying.
As part of your property purchase, you will want to use this paperwork to register as a local resident with your town hall office. This is a necessary step before being able to enroll your children in school as well.
While young children will become bilingual easily, older children may need help with language learning at first. Consider whether you should hire a private tutor for your older children to assist them with their settling in.
Register for a Spanish-language class yourself! It will be a great support for your children if you are also able to communicate in Spanish.
Join internet discussion groups like www.mumabroad.com to get in touch with other parents who have relocated to Spain. You can build friendships, learn from others, and have a sense of instant community by participating in the online forums even before you leave your home country.

More young families are showing interest in Costa Brava properties lately thanks to the lifestyle the area can offer. Safety, great weather, beautiful surroundings and an accessibility to major civic centres all rate highly for families when looking at property in Costa Brava.

We also want to give a quick congratulations to Carrie Frais and her business partner Rebecca Laidlaw for creating the supportive and informative mumabroad website.

Barcelona property and business relocation

When considering buying Barcelona property that will also be your home here, the health of the local business market becomes a deciding factor. As part of your relocation to Spain, transferring or setting up a business base needs to be weighed up against the local context.

The good news for those interested in Barcelona property is that the local business culture is an excellent environment. This has been proved yet again this month, as Barcelona’s local government-sponsored business incubator, Barcelona Activa, has just won Grand Jury Prize at the European Enterprise Awards 2011.

The award recognises the strength of the local business market in supporting new enterprises, according to key indicators:

Promoting the entrepreneurial spirit,
Investing in skills,
Improving the business environment,
Supporting the internationalisation of business and
Responsible and inclusive entrepreneurship.

For businesses with an international focus, Barcelona makes good sense as a European city base. Direct international flights to key markets such as Miami and Dubai have increased in recent years, making travel to overseas business destinations less cumbersome and faster.

Of course, Barcelona remains a key destination itself and provides opportunities for businesses to connect with new global clients regularly. Barcelona has more participants in conferences, professional events, expos and congresses than any other city in the world, with over 80,000 participants visiting the city for a conference-related event in 2010.

While these factors already make Barcelona a sought after commercial destination, greater confidence in the local business environment is becoming apparent. News agency Reuters has reported that Europe has seen a resurgence in interest in commercial property with 28 billion Euro spent in the first quarter (mostly on retail properties) of 2011, representing a 32% increase on previous year commercial trading. As the trend continues, Spain is expected to see a greater share of the retail commercial property transactions. Barcelona property will no doubt be of great interest amongst commercial asset purchasers.

Barcelona’s business support services focus on emerging industry sectors. This ensures that the environment will strengthen even further in the years to come. Barcelona property investors are recognizing that there is strong local support for businesses setting up in sectors like commerce, IT and communications, creative industries, tourism, and biomedical technologies. This lets property investors build a plan around relocating to their Barcelona property and building a commercial base in a robust, business-focused city.

Moving to Spain real estate with young children

If you have a young family, there will be moments of occasional panic when you are first preparing a move from your home country to your new Spain real estate. It is perfectly normal to have a fit of the jitters after making plans to relocate with your partner and young children.

For young families with children, imagining the school environment can be a particular cause of angst. “The most common worry that parents moving to Spain have is regarding language,” confirms Alex Vaughan, Director at Lucas Fox. “Many international parents choose to send their children to international private schools where the children are taught in Spanish and English. Cities like Barcelona have some fantastic international schools, with specialized English, American, French, German, and Swiss schools amongst others.”

Parents locating to a Barcelona property do need to consider the language issue more than other parents, as there are three languages in the mix in the Catalan province. “In Cataluñya, the state schools teach in Catalan, with Castellano and English taught as electives,” explains Alex. International schools have a range of options available that depend on your expected length of stay in Barcelona, the age of entry of your children, and your education goals for them.

International schools are established in all regions, no matter the location of your new Spain real estate. Schools are easily accessible to parents wanting their children to have a global education, while ensuring that grade results align with your home country’s qualification system.

There are also international nurseries and day-care centres, with a healthy choice available in the major centres. While it is natural to worry about your children’s settlement into a new education system in a different country, seeing the benefits of raising children in Spain will soon lighten your load.

“For me, there are two main benefits of living in Spain with young children. The first is that Spanish culture really values children. This means that you can take your kids to decent restaurants without the other diners frowning at them, and that your neighbours will keep an eye on your children when they are playing outside. The other main benefit is the climate – it means that your children can play outside for most of the year and will be swimming like fishes by the time they are 4,” Alex adds. Moving to your Spain real estate and seeing the reactions of your children as they settle in – compared to any worries of their education transfer – will be one of the joy’s remembered and one of the fear’s forgotten.