Moving to Spain was an easy decision. How about navigating the Spanish residency process and actually relocating to Spain after living in Asia since 1997? Not as easy, but not overly difficult, either. Want to live in Spain? Here’s how we did it.
How to Live in Spain: Our Spanish Residency Story
So we moved to Spain, put our kids in locals schools, and found the boy a soccer/football team. Oh, and we knew about 20 words in Spanish when we arrived.
We’re not wealthy expats. No one was filing out Spanish residency applications for us, helping us look for schools or locating affordable apartments and FIFA-affiliated soccer teams. Yet somehow, we pulled it off and now live in Spain. Relocating to Spain took some work, but it was worth it.
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How We Got Spanish Residency
If you’re considering moving to Spain, you might find our Spanish residency story useful. These posts detail the steps we took to gain residency in Spain (and by extension the EU) as American & Japanese citizens. This includes the type of visa we chose, the Spanish residency paperwork and procedures, as well as how we found a place to live in Spain, Spanish schools and a soccer team for the boy.
Tips for Relocating to Spain
We live in Spain, but we are not Spanish residency experts, believe me. I’m just relaying our experience. We made a LOT of mistakes relocating to Spain. Hopefully, you can avoid them.
I’m sure that there are dozens of ways to gain Spanish residency and make Spain home. This is our story.
Our Spanish Residency Process
- Why moving to Spain, and the non-lucrative Spanish residency visa
- The steps we took to apply for the Spanish residency visa: our tips
- How to Apply for a Spanish Resident Card (TIE): Our Story & Tips
Finding Schools, Apartments, and Soccer after moving to Spain
- Moving to Spain and learning to live in Spain (apartment, schools, etc.)
- Our experience with education in Spain
- How our kids enjoy schools in Spain
- Our FIFA story: the process of finding and getting the boy on a 3rd-division squad in Spain
Culture Shock and Learning to Live in Spain
What about Family Travel in Spain?
Want to read more about Valencia? Hear what it’s like to visit Barcelona in the winter with teens and tweens? Go sea kayaking in the Mediterranean or go wild swimming in Northern Spain? You can find all of our Spain travel-related posts on a dedicated page, or simply click the “Destinations” tab in the top menu bar.
Where About Before & After Living in Spain?
Before relocating to Spain, we lived in Thailand, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Before that, we lived in Tokyo from 2001 to 2013. We’ve written a lot about Japan family travel as well.
We left Spain after two years to explore more of the world. You can read about our adventures in Mexico, as well.
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