Four days to go. Last weekend, we completed the final stage of our estate sale. Artwork that didn’t sell is going to an auction house and everything else that didn’t sell was picked up by a charity group Saturday afternoon. The sale was a huge success. The house is virtually empty and we are staying with friends until we leave for Spain next week. Six months of preparation is almost complete.

When we returned to Tampa from Alhaurin el Grande in October, we had already made the decision that we wanted to live there permanently. Next, we set about learning the process for actually achieving such a move. US citizens can travel to Spain and stay 90 days with just a valid passport. Retiring in Spain, however, requires a special visa and the process for getting it takes some time and effort. Furthermore, we would need to free ourselves from most of our property and possessions, since the cost of moving them would be prohibitive.

Our early research had indicated the visa process could take six to nine months, so we decided that we wouldn’t start selling things until we had secured the visa. In reality, the process was a lot less daunting than we expected, but, once approved, the visa holder has just 90 days to use it, or start the process over again. So, the window for liquidating everything would be tight.
The visa application must be made in person at any of the eight Spanish Consulates in the US, or at the Embassy in Washington. Since we live in Florida, we were directed to apply at the Consulate in Miami. Below is a list of the documentation required with the application. Note that these requirements may change from time-to-time, so check with Consulate to be sure.
 

1. Visa application completed and signed. You can download the application from the Consulate website.
2. Two passport pictures for each applicant.
3. Valid passport with at least 1 year remaining and two empty pages. Also, you must include a copy of each page of the passport.
4. Driver’s license or state ID showing current address.
5. Certificate of good conduct from the FBI or state law enforcement agency. This document must have an Apostile Certification attached (a certified translation). We used the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for the report and an Apostile Certification company in Tallahassee. This document can’t be more than 90 days old when the application is submitted.
6. A letter from a healthcare provider stating that the applicant doesn’t have any condition that would be a threat to the residents of Spain. The letter must be in both English and Spanish. This document can’t be more than 90 days old when the application is submitted.
7. Evidence of retirement income and any other additional income. Currently, the stated requirement is about 31,000 Euros annually for a couple, although, I believe Spanish immigration authorities have some discretion.
8. Information about where you will live in Spain. This could be a rental contract (although getting a rental contract before you have a resident visa would be difficult), a letter from a sponsor, or a property deed. Not to worry though, if you don’t have any of those, you can include a short discussion (keep it very short and simple) as to why you chose that particular location. Here is what we wrote:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          When we retire in Spain, we intend to live in the town of Alhaurin el Grande, Malaga. We have reviewed several options over the past four years and found Alhaurin el Grande the most desirable. It is a beautiful small town with friendly people and has all the activities and amenities we enjoy.                      
9. Proof of health insurance with full coverage in Spain. This is the hardest item to get done. Obviously, you can’t use Medicare outside the USA so you will have to contract with a Spanish insurance provider. You must have an accepted contract prior to the visa application, although the contract start date can be after the application. Also, there are some specific requirements for the policy, such as “no copay”. We selected the Mas Salud policy from Sanitas, which provides excellent benefits at a very reasonable price. The only drawback was the payment arrangement. In order to set up monthly payments, you must have a Spanish bank account, but you can’t get a Spanish bank account without a residence card, which you can’t get without a visa, which you can’t get without health insurance. You can pay by credit card, but you have to pay for the full contract year in advance. In the end, we did pay the full year in advance and we had to start the contract in March even though we won’t arrive in Spain until May.
10. An application for initial residence form and $13 fee. This form is in Spanish and the Google translate version doesn’t make sense, but the Consulate official who interviewed us graciously helped us fill it out.
11. An application fee of $140 for each applicant. This fee must be paid with a money order. Also, you probably should get a separate money order for the $13 fee mentioned above. The Consulate does not accept checks and does not provide change. None of these fees are refundable if your application is not approved.
12. Finally, you must provide a stamped, self-addressed envelope which they will use to return your passport to you once the visa is approved. The retirement visa will be affixed to one of the blank pages.

 
We got our approved visas in just over three weeks. 

​When I glanced at the calendar this morning, I realized that, in just twenty-three days, Celia and I along with our beloved Scottish Terriers Duffy and Sammie, will begin a new life in another sunny part of the world. Having lived in Tampa, Florida, for the last fifteen years, we’re accustomed to sunshine, warm temperatures, and high humidity. But, on May 2, we leave the USA for retirement in the sunny south of Spain where we will continue to enjoy abundant sunshine, warm temperatures, and maybe a little less humidity.

Why are you moving to Spain? We’ve been asked this question dozens of times by friends, relatives, and people we’ve only just met. Sometimes the question is mere curiosity, but other times, it’s some combination of surprise, shock, and fear for our safety. Whatever the reason for the question, the answer is complicated, so I have decided to use these posts to bring everyone up to date.

The notion of retiring somewhere other than in the USA germinated from a tiny seed planted by a friend several years ago during an annual Thanksgiving gathering. The friend mentioned an acquaintance who had retired to Uruguay and found it to be quite pleasant and much less expensive than the USA. The idea appealed to me immediately. I knew our retirement resources were limited, especially after the financial crisis, but I also knew that neither Celia or I wanted to give up the things we most enjoyed. For me, that was: food, wine, travel, occasional golf, and time to write. For Celia, it meant having a horse and enjoying equestrian activities.

So, began a four-year odyssey of research, connecting with people, traveling, and soul searching; first to determine if it was something we really wanted to do, and then to figure out where we wanted to wind up. The last place we visited was the town of Alhaurin el Grande, in the province of Malaga in Spain. After three days there, Celia and I looked at each other and nodded. This would be home.

​The list of places we considered is long: Uruguay, Mendoza Argentina, Cuenca Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, San Miguel de Allende Mexico, Ireland, Granada Spain, Murcia Spain. For one reason or another, each of these failed to check every box. But, Alhaurin el Grande came very close to checking all our boxes:

• Cost of living is a little higher in Alhaurin than some of the other places, but still much less than the USA.
• Alhaurin has an abundance of equestrian activities.
• San Miguel de Allende had the best weather of all the places we considered. Alhaurin el Grande is hot in the summer and mild in the winter, which is what we are accustomed to. The humidity is less than Tampa.
• Perhaps the main attraction of Alhuarin (and Spain in general) is the convenience of travel to so many great cities in Europe.
• The presence of so many English-speaking expats (mostly British, Dutch and Scandinavian) will make the language transition easier.
• Spain has excellent personal safety ratings.

 
Within a few days of returning to Tampa, we began the process of getting ourselves from a home in Florida to a home on the Costa del Sol. Initially, we figured it would take about six months, and that turned out to be the case. In my next post, I’ll explain the paperwork and the logistics involved in making such a move.