Would you do it

yourdeadwright

A friend of mine recently came into 200K inheritance , I'm sure he also as a few quid saved up

He rents with his wife and 2 kids , Both have ok office jobs but are struggle like most here in Dublin , He said he has made up his mind & is going to pack up and move to Spain or Portugal & buy a house outright & try find work ,

Would you do it & if so where would you go ,

It terrifies me to be honest,

victor8600

Sure I would, especially since I work in IT, my job can be done anywhere. Spain and Portugal would be my first choices too.

Fysh

Not only would I do it, I have recently done it (specifically moved from the UK to Spain). It's a bit of a cheat on my part in that I lived here as a kid so I already have the language, and I've got a job I can continue to do from here.

I will say that as a broader generalisation, you do want to put some thought and research into it before taking the plunge. You want to understand how easy or hard it might be in your chosen area if you don't speak the local language, what requirements there are for obtaining residency (freedom of movement doesn't preclude bureaucratic hurdles as part of living somewhere), what the job market is like for your field, etc.

Alexus25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058345156/would-you-do-it

Nope, Ireland is my home, if I had that money I'd buy my dream house here

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121979587#Comment_121979587

You wouldn't get much of a dream house for that much money here,

Strumms

I'd do it… have been occasionally considering it… wouldn't be a serious immediate consideration with my parents still alive but in the future…who knows...

The trajectory this country is on is seriously grim, seriously dangerous...

Alexus25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121979599#Comment_121979599

Ha nope, but it would go very nicely towards my mortgage

Tell me how

Am living in the 4th country I've called home.

It's a very subjective thing to do, to move abroad both in the reasons for doing so, and the experience in the destination. I would neither tell anyone to definitely do it, or not to do it because of that fact.

What I would say with respect to your friend, moving a family is a bigger task for obvious reasons and particularly when it comes to kids and formative years, I would think a lot about the move from their perspective before taking the plunge Again, not saying not to do it, but shrugging your shoulders when something doesn't work out when it's just you is one thing, a different thing entirely when there's children involved.

Travel does broaden the mind, but it tests it as well.

Wanderer78

sounds great, best of luck to them, nice to wake to the sun most days, even though im not much of a heat person myself

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121979587#Comment_121979587

more like dream motor home

IIRC Portugal has less onerous capital taxes( gains and inheritance) on property as opposed to Spain

Alexus25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121980031#Comment_121980031

I want to be closer to my family so moving permanently abroad would have no interest to me, also living in the country well away from Dublin and having an income which is typical of 1-3 peoples incomes will get me a fab house

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058345156/would-you-do-it

No and your friend won't be doing it either, because it does not work like that.

The problem with social media is that it fails to acknowledge that the directive on FMOP is designed to satisfy the single labour market while ensure that people don't become a burden on another state.

As an EU/EEA citizen you have the rights:

• To move to another EU state to seek employment for a period of three months
• You have a right to have that three months extended for a further three months at the description of the host state if they feel it is reasonable to expect you will find employment. Failing this the EU state has the right to require you to return home
• You have a right to obtain permanent resident status after five years, provided you have established an economic life style. If not an EU state has the right to require you to return home
• You have a right to family reunification provided you can satisfy the host state that you can support them [these rules are defined by each state]
• You have a right to move to another state to establish a business there provided you can supply the acceptable business plans etc…
• You have the right to retire to another state provided you can demonstrate sufficient long term financial resources to do so from non economic activities such as pensions patents and royalties.

There is not right to pack up, move family, buy a house and then start looking for a job…. there are a series of steps the if executed successfully with bring it about, but not the way your friend is think….

Now it is very easy to fly under the radar in most of the EU/EEA if you are young and single as you'll have very little interaction with officialdom. But once you have property, a family, kids going to school and so on under the radar is not an option.

The Germans are very quick to send EU citizens home and the Spaniards are playing catch up as they are under pressure from their citizens from all the crap that has come to light since BREXIT. All the articles about UK citizens not paying taxes, not registering vehicles, not getting driving licenses, free loading on the health services and so on has made it an issue for right wingers in many EU states.

Fysh

To be fair to the OPs friend, the Spanish govt did introduce a scheme nicknamed the Golden Visa around 10 years ago whereby you could get residency through investing in property, but it had to be at least half a million euro AFAIK. They've just announced that they're binning it, because (shockingly) it turns out that its net result has been to make it much harder to access housing, particularly affordable housing, for those who need to work for a living.

But yes, I can attest from recent personal experience that the process of moving country under freedom of movement rules is not the same as (i.e. much more involved than) moving between Ireland and the UK. It's doable, but absolutely not the sort of thing to do with a fly-by-seat-of-pants approach.

Idbatterim

IN a heartbeat... cost of living , weather , infrastructure and health here all attrocious.... sorry, forgot the most obvious one, housing...

CelticRambler

Would you do it & if so where would you go

Yep - did exactly that twenty years ago: sold the house, closed my business, packed wife and children into a motorhome and moved to France.

No house and no job, but as @Fysh recommends, that was after doing three years' worth of research and fact-finding trips, so we'd narrowed down our area of interest from "France-Germany-Austria-Italy" to one département in the very middle of France. And buying the motorhome was an essential part of the plan too - so that we'd be sure of having proper beds to sleep in and a proper kitchen to cook in for however long it took us to find our future home, and however long it took us to make that fit to live in.

Then as now, there were lots of comments online about how challenging it'd be to move as a family. That depends on the family, and where you go. Our children (all under 10) were already psychologically prepared because we'd included them in discussions and got them used to speaking the language of whatever place we were visiting and taken them on our property searches and genuinely listend to what they had to say about our adult choices.

Once we'd found our new home, following advice given by others, we went straight to the local mayor, introduced ourselves and explained that we'd want to enroll the children in the local school once the purchase was complete … That small detail made a huge difference: unknown to us at the time, the school was on the point of losing one of its (two!) teachers due to insufficient class sizes. Our children boosted the number by 10% and justified the mayor insisting that the school keep both teachers.

Many parts of rural continental Europe are struggling to attract and retain young families and the providers of professional services, so anyone who's prepared to take a chance and will make the necessary effort on their part (e.g. learn the language) can expect a lot of friendly assistance in getting settled, and those time limits and other requirements often become magically less rigid.

flipflophead22

Would love to move to Granada.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121994595#Comment_121994595

The golden visa was for third country citizens in any case…

It is not actually terribly difficult to move to Switzerland (where I have been for over three decades), you just have understand that most of Europe had the Napoleonic Code and that means a lot more administration in private life, so you need to do things in the correct order to achieve the objective.

Strumms

Andalucia / Costa del Sol is my aspiration.

When depends on many factors… I won’t do it as long as my parents are still alive being the important factor.

The financial maths of the situation is favourable…

I’d just be content with a spacious 1 or 2 bedroom apartment with access to a pool…

Enough room for a couple of pieces of fitness equipment….