Hi all,

My boyfriend and I are Canadians who are planning to move to Valencia, Spain for one year at the start of 2014. He speaks Spanish fluently and will be working remotley, while I will be learning Spanish and not working. I have a Polish passport and he will be getting a resident Visa. Our goal is to immerse ourselves in the culture, use Spain as a base to travel around Europe and for me to learn Spanish. We have sufficient savings to live for one year.

I have a few questions regarding the move:

What is the best way to find an apartment? When we get to the city or look online?

Can we buy health insurance in Spain, or should that be pre-purchased at home prior to departure?

Also, when it comes to banks, even though we are staying for one year,  should we still set up a bank account in Spain? Is it possible to use travelers cheques instead, or is this not recommended? Basically what is the best way to access and maintain a bank account if we are only there for one year?

Any other tips or advice about moving to Spain or Valencia specifically would be greatly appreciated:)

Thank you

Hi

You won’t be able to arrange a rental until you are actually in Spain - but do online research.
You will need a Spanish bank account to pay utilities etc it is virtually compulsory.
Suggest you also arrange health cover here with a Spanish company.

So although I expect you are excited and anxious to get organised you need to be here to do most stuff. You will also need NIE numbers but with boyfriend speaking Spanish you will have a head start on most foreigners that arrive here.

Valencia is a great city - lots to see and do, although of course the economy is poor at the moment. It also has very good transport links with AVE (high speed train) to Madrid and good road networks so you can explore.

Good luck.

Thank you for all the advice. I figured alot of things would have to wait until I got there.

Just another question regarding the health insurance. Do you have an idea how much it would cost for a year?
The quote I got from a Canadian insurance company was around $750 for the year. Although we will be living in Spain we will also be traveling around Europe throughout the year so it will have to cover travel to other countries as well.

Thanks

Hi - not sure about insurance and of course depends on cover etc. Got a quote from my normal company

http://www.columbusdirect.com

based on starting from Spain around 120? but read small print!

Hi,

I will be moving to Barcelona shortly, and as much as I would love to get organized before I leave, I too have come to the conclusion that you can’t really do most of it while you’re still at home.

Besides, it’s a good idea to take a look at your apartment before you sign anything since you can’t really be sure that everything is as good as it looks in the pictures. I have a friend who signed the lease before seeing the apartment just to realize upon arriving that the apartment didn’t even exist!