Few questions about permanently relocating

kaboom

Active Member
Twenty years ago I came on an all inclusive week holiday with three friends. Long story short, but a major bust up on day 2 ended up with me effectively going it alone for the remainder of the holiday... Probably the best thing that ever happened, as I got out of the hotel, explored by myself, and ultimately... Fell head over heels in love with Ibiza.

Over the past twenty years I've been back 7 times including June this year, and have another week booked from Oct 3rd. Now at the age of 40, my wife and I have decided that moving permanently to Ibiza is something we seriously want to do.

We don't have any kids (nor are there going to be any), and other than one parent each, don't have any major ties or loyalties to the UK.

My wife is an optical assistant for a large chain opticians, and by the time we eventually make it out there (We're planning 5-7 years, to coincide with our mortgage being paid off) she'll be a fully qualified dispensing optician.

I'm self-employed as a mobile valeter/detailer, and other than a UK PSV (Bus) driving licence and 14 years sales experience, don't have anything to show for 40 years on the planet.

We don't have massive aspirations, a 1 bed apartment will suffice. We'd like to be in San An Bay/ Port Des Torrent area. We've both resolved to begin learning Spanish, with an aim of being conversationally fluent within 5 years.

So, questions...

I noticed a large opticians in San Antonio not far from Mambos, how likely (obviously just an opinion and hypothetically) would my wife be to get a job in an opticians on Ibiza?

The sale of our house will probably net £90k, so we'll need to borrow around 60-70k as a minimum... Can 'foreigners' easily get a mortgage on the island?

I plan to move my business with me, and set up mobile valeting/detailing (cars etc) on the island. I've been doing some reading about registering as self employed and taxes etc, but wonder if there may be any restrictions to my specific business?

I plan to suplement my income by getting additional work in the evenings during summer either bar work or similar. I have it in my head that a 40-something whose main aim isnt just partying would be preferable over a late teen looking to party 24/7 to potential employers... Do I have this right or should I take the rose tinted (prescription) sunglasses off?

Any other input, advice, or sources of reading would be massively appreciated.
 
Hey,

My husband are I are moving over as well, but in more of the near future (as in, next year!)
I can't answer your questions regarding jobs, but I can recommend getting the DuoLingo app (free)... I've been using it every day for the past 90 days and I think I'm getting on pretty well!

With regards to a mortgage, as far as I am aware it is relatively easy as long as you have the money. You'll need to get your NIE number when you arrive, which I would recommend doing outside of high season, and then a bank account etc. A lot of this requires either a work and/or apartment rental contract, but you can do it without a job as long as you have sufficient funds in your account (I've been told 7500e + private health insurance).

Finding a summer extra job would be relatively easy I think, get in there pre-season before the 'workers' start to arrive and I'm sure you'll find something that will see you through.

Keeping an eye on brexit as well, as this may change the moving process a little.
 
Thanks for those replies.

Appreciate the lingo is gonna be a huge point re getting employment in something like optics. That's why we've both started learning now (re-learning in my case, I have the basics as I took Spanish at GCSE, but failed miserably.)

The wife is dyslexic, and learns better through hear/do rather than see/read, so initially were using a Spotify playlist app that has about 100 lessons in a hear-repeat-hear-repeat format. Once she's got each lesson down, we can introduce what the words actually look like. She's panicking that she'll never get it cos she can't roll her Rs or do the 'chgke' (G) sound in her throat. ?

The biggest question from my point of view revolves around my business... I basically drive around with half a ton of water in the van, and clean people's cars at their home or work. Would I have any problems doing this in Ibiza? Any restrictions around water use? Or soapy water run-off?

Thanks for the tip about health insurance... I'd not got as far as thinking about health service provision yet. Any other tips regarding this?

Thanks again

Tony.
 
intensive learning and Cervantes proficiency for anyone after serious employment

one-on-one 'intercambios' with native speakers are best informally though if traditional learning is problematic

not sure if it covers her field but she might find this useful

https://icbmed.com/
 
Thanks for those replies.

Appreciate the lingo is gonna be a huge point re getting employment in something like optics. That's why we've both started learning now (re-learning in my case, I have the basics as I took Spanish at GCSE, but failed miserably.)

The wife is dyslexic, and learns better through hear/do rather than see/read, so initially were using a Spotify playlist app that has about 100 lessons in a hear-repeat-hear-repeat format. Once she's got each lesson down, we can introduce what the words actually look like. She's panicking that she'll never get it cos she can't roll her Rs or do the 'chgke' (G) sound in her throat. ?

The biggest question from my point of view revolves around my business... I basically drive around with half a ton of water in the van, and clean people's cars at their home or work. Would I have any problems doing this in Ibiza? Any restrictions around water use? Or soapy water run-off?

Thanks for the tip about health insurance... I'd not got as far as thinking about health service provision yet. Any other tips regarding this?

Thanks again

Tony.

I know that there's at least one company (or guy) offering the same thing business-wise.

if there's one advice I can give (because I've seen it with countless examples) then it's this one: come with an open mind. it's good that you have an idea and a plan about what you want to do. but lots and lots of people end up doing something different to get by than what they originally planned to be doing here.
 
Thanks for those replies.

Appreciate the lingo is gonna be a huge point re getting employment in something like optics. That's why we've both started learning now (re-learning in my case, I have the basics as I took Spanish at GCSE, but failed miserably.)

The wife is dyslexic, and learns better through hear/do rather than see/read, so initially were using a Spotify playlist app that has about 100 lessons in a hear-repeat-hear-repeat format. Once she's got each lesson down, we can introduce what the words actually look like. She's panicking that she'll never get it cos she can't roll her Rs or do the 'chgke' (G) sound in her throat. ?

The biggest question from my point of view revolves around my business... I basically drive around with half a ton of water in the van, and clean people's cars at their home or work. Would I have any problems doing this in Ibiza? Any restrictions around water use? Or soapy water run-off?

Thanks for the tip about health insurance... I'd not got as far as thinking about health service provision yet. Any other tips regarding this?

Thanks again

Tony.

If your wife learns better by listening I would suggest giving the Michel Thomas courses a look, which don't require any kind of reading or writing (it's actually discouraged). I've used his method to help me learn German and I found it a really good way to get up and running quickly, far more quickly than I did in Spanish via the usual methods of books and CDs, despite German being much harder! Don't get the app though, it's terrible, either get the CDs and rip them (or download them if you can find them on-line).

On the downsides, Michel Thomas is not a native speaker and so he has an accent and also, from the quick listen I've just had to the free sample on Audible, he's teaching the "usted" form of "you" which is rarely used (although perhaps working in a shop your wife might need to know this).

Another tip I've found useful when learning German is to look for audio books with short stories designed for beginners (Audible is a great source for these), these are a lot better than dry vocabulary drills and will greatly help with your comprehension. It's one thing to speak some of the language, it's quite another to understand it when someone replies at typical native break-neck speed. This is especially true of Spanish, which IMO is far harder to understand as a beginner than German for example.
 
There is a spanish tv show on youtube called Extra. Its about an american student coming to live in spain and share an apartment with the natives. The conversations are deliberately slow as its a learning series, its quite cheesy and I had my doubts at first but I actually found it to be a great source of education. Have to agree with @TimmiT with regards to listening. You can read all the literature you want but if you are not training your ears and brain to be able to recognise when one word ends and another begins your learning time will be greatly extended.
Its not the definitive source to become fluent in spanish but its a great entry point once you've familiarised yourself with basic converstaional lingo
 
I would recommend to do a longer term in winter. Look how it feels, when locals outnumber tourists.
Is your wife likely to keep her job with the optician also during wintertime?
Can you create steady income and is there any demand for the service you offer?

People often forget that there is something strange like off-season.
 
Stellar point Namaste...

It's part of the long term plan to try and spend at least a month on the island in the off-season in the year before we move.
 
Hey,
Just thought I'd let you know, I am a qualified Dispensing Optician also looking at moving to Ibiza with my family next year. In April whilst on holiday I took my CV's around to the local opticians in Santa Eulalia and also Ibiza town. I got great feedback from those and was even offered a placement in Ibiza town but only for the summer purely because I don't speak Spanish yet. it was still a job offer though so don't be disheartened by the language situation. I thought it would be harder than it actually was. There aren't really any large chain stores to transfer to unfortunately for us, they all seem to be independents or stores with maybe one sister store.
Also one more thing being qualified myself and now knowing this, Dispensing Optician qualifications aren't worth as much in Spain/Ibiza as they are here in the UK. She will be an Optical Dispenser/Optical Assistant and also a lab technician. so if she can maybe it would be worth getting some lab training in before you move!!
Hope this helps a little.
 
Hey,
Just thought I'd let you know, I am a qualified Dispensing Optician also looking at moving to Ibiza with my family next year. In April whilst on holiday I took my CV's around to the local opticians in Santa Eulalia and also Ibiza town. I got great feedback from those and was even offered a placement in Ibiza town but only for the summer purely because I don't speak Spanish yet. it was still a job offer though so don't be disheartened by the language situation. I thought it would be harder than it actually was. There aren't really any large chain stores to transfer to unfortunately for us, they all seem to be independents or stores with maybe one sister store.
Also one more thing being qualified myself and now knowing this, Dispensing Optician qualifications aren't worth as much in Spain/Ibiza as they are here in the UK. She will be an Optical Dispenser/Optical Assistant and also a lab technician. so if she can maybe it would be worth getting some lab training in before you move!!
Hope this helps a little.

good feedback this, thanks. proves the point though re summer and winter being two different things when it comes to jobs.

getting a job in summer is really easy - far easier than findiing a place to live. then in winter it's the other way around. very few jobs around to make money. it's not impossible to find jobs, but I just want to make sure people reading this thread are realisitic about their plans.

in my own example, after I'd done a few summer seasons I actually went back to switzerland for a while because I felt that I wasn't well-connected enough to be able to get a winter job and survive here. then after a few more years where I kept on coming on holiday various times a year and met more and more people, I then finally felt confident enough to make the definitive move.

I'd recommend everyone waits until they're confident enough that they can actually make it. in my opinion it's worth waiting another year or two in which people come for long holidays, keep building their networks, meet people, research for jobs, spend a decent amount of time in winter to actually get a grasp of how it feels out of season etc. I'm saying this because often you see people leaving again because they've simply not done those steps well enough and then suddenly reality hits them in the face.

I don't want to come across as negative - I've been living here all year around for nearly a decade now and am not looking back at all! just be realistic about it and prepare well :)
 
I always say you don't really know ibiza if you never came in winter.
Spending 2 weeks in February is a ggod start IMO... When 3/4 of the places are closed, while the weather is f***ing cold...

You still planning on year-round?
 
My 2ps worth

Get here ASAP it the tits every day spent in the Uk is a waste .

Jobs ,

Car valeting / wash , mate if you are good you will smash it , a friend came over a a few years ago we gave him the idea of car valeting , he set it up but didn’t have the graft on him ,
Plus you get customers book then drop out last min , you have to have a online booking system where they take a payment upfront.

Taxes are high !!
Accommodation hard to find

But get over here it’s great

Www.ibizatransport.co.uk

;)
 
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