Team-BHP - Emigrating to a Foreign Land!

Friends, I recently got an opportunity that requires me and my wife plus a small kid to relocate to Spain (Malaga). I have been thinking about it, have been going through forums to get a better understanding of what I am signing up for. I read a few posts where our members have been to spain for travel, I request assistance with the below -

I am offered 65k Euro, how is the cost of living, any things that I should be aware of, pros/cons?

Quote:

Originally Posted by indie_honda (Post 5684308)

I am assuming this is gross and taxes will be applicable which is hefty in EU. If you make anything more than 23-25 LPA gross in India, the pay offered to you in Spain will not buy you the same standard of living that you have in India. Negotiate for a higher package and add ons like a deposit for renting a place, a settlement allowance to furnish the house etc.

There is a high housing crunch in the West and i don't think Spain will be an exception

Quote:

Originally Posted by indie_honda (Post 5684308)

The media. Income in Spain is about 27K. In general Spain is considered to be a European country with relative cheap living. Food and drink are quite cheap compared to other European countries.

Malaga is an attractive town, with a climate not entirely different from Delhi. Blazing hot summers, some humid periods and very mild winters.

I would urge you to get in touch with some expat groups who should be able to give you a better view of what to expect housing wise and some idea about your salary. It is not just taxes you will need to pay. There are social security, pension, health insurance, local taxes, just to name a few. You need to check what the special tax rules are when it comes to expats. Most EU countries have them, but they are all different.

E.g. something like this https://www.internations.org/malaga-expats/indians

Although these days you can get by with English in all Spanish major towns, it really helps to speak a bit of Spanish.

I for one, would not mind living in Malaga/Spain for a couple of years. Nice country!

Good luck, let us know what you decide

Jeroen

Quote:

Originally Posted by hothatchaway (Post 5684478)

Thank you for the quick response, I appreciate it. Yes the amount is gross and taxes will be applicable. I pushed but maybe not whole heartedly because of an onsite opportunity. I will definitely discuss around the deposit or furnishing cost, thank you so much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by indie_honda (Post 5684308)

I am offered 65k Euro, how is the cost of living, any things that I should be aware of, pros/cons?

Below link summarises the taxation part

https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/spain/i...ersonal-income

Generally EU have high taxes. Be careful of cost of living part though as Rentals have increased a lot post covid. Would suggest to speak to other colleagues onsite in same location to get a better idea than relying on expat forums.

Quote:

Originally Posted by indie_honda (Post 5684308)

Friends, I recently got an opportunity that requires me and my wife plus a small kid to relocate to Spain (Malaga). I am offered 65k Euro, how is the cost of living, any things that I should be aware of, pros/cons?

Hi

Congrats on the opportunity.

Some things I considered when calculating my living cost for a planned move to UK: 1) Rent, 2) Education; 3) Insurance; 4) Annual trips; 5) Transportation; 6) Power/Elec cost

Suggest you also connect with some expat forum that may give additional information and also check out sites that give comparative livings costs (though they may not be always accurate and/or fully applicable to you).

Hope that helps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkv_2401 (Post 5676241)

I don't know about the others, but I will mention that it's pretty rough out here in Australia.

Hi

Permit me to share a few experiences from my time in Australia (2008); am a UniMelb grad and PG.

1) A blunt statement I heard from a recruitment consultant back then was that why would an Aussie firm hire you if they are able to get a local with similar skill sets?

2) Resultantly, we started to identify factors / qualifications that gave us an edge over a local - be it additional degree, qualifications or experience.

3) We looked for jobs outside the metro cities. This as you rightly and importantly pointed helped us get a local job on CV, thus making it easy to get back to the metros and the next job.

4) We also considered exploring jobs in NZ as moving between the countries was easy then.

5) We attended a few conferences from a pure networking point of view. But luckily that also landed me a job as I was presenting a paper (part of PhD) that caught the eye of an employer.

6) Public sector used to be easy then, but then am sure you might have already explored the same.

7) For part time, we were lucky to get a tutorial/lecturing role in the university. It paid far better than the minimum wages then.

Hope that helps. All the best!

Quote:

Originally Posted by indie_honda (Post 5684308)

One of my close friend recently moved to U.K after spending 9years in Spain (near Barcelona).

65K euro is damn good for Spain in general, more so in Malaga which is relatively cheaper.
You need to plan how long you want to stay there because after a point when it would come to your kids education you need to deal with Spanish schools, English schooling is quite expensive (main reason my friend moved out).