hi im back again still trying to find something to do in spain for an income the problem is I have no financial ties here in England own my own home not a expensive place about ?60,000 with no mortgage and I work in a job which I hate but it pays me ?450.00 per week take home so no real reason to move other than I hate where I am and thought if im going to move to a new area where ill have no job I might as well bite the bullet and move to spain?

im looking to move to vigo and start my own business I was thinking of starting a road side burger van a candy floss stall or doing pop corn sales from passing trade

my question is would anybody be able to tell me if this area of spain would be suitable for any of these trades or would it be hard to set one of them up if theres any market for them im not sure if spain even has this kind of road side business has anybody noticed anything like this at the side of the road

any kind of advice would be apprieciated

thanks

My first reaction whenever I see this sort of post is “Oh No… here we go again…”

The chances of anyone without skills in a particular trade or profession that is in short supply finding gainful employment in Spain are virtually zero and for non-Spanish speaking people even less than that… It cannot have escaped your attention that Spain’s unemployment figures are among the highest in Europe and getting higher by the day, currently approximately 26% of the working age populace are unemployed and for the age group 17-30 the figure is in excess of 56%.

Specifically answering your questions however…

1) You would need to purchase a Spanish reg vehicle specifically designed or modified to carry out the intended purpose. You could not use or import a UK reg vehicle for this purpose since it is not possible to re-register UK vans onto the Spanish Matriculation system.

2) Street trading Licences are almost impossible to obtain and like taxi licences, when and where they do become available will almost certainly go to Spanish applicants in preference to non Spaniards.

3) You would need to complete the Spanish equivalent of a Food Handling Course and obtain the required Certificates.

4) Income from passing trade even on the busiest of routes would be quite insufficient to make a living, given that you would have to have rental accommodation charges of say 400 to 500 euros per month to pay, plus about 250 Euros a month to cover the Self Employed Social security payments, plus the maintenance costs of the vehicle, road tax, vehicle and public liability insurances to cover, not to mention your own personal living costs.

5) You would need to register for Spanish taxation and obtain Residencia status for which you have to be able to prove that you have a) adequate Health Insurance cover (an EHIC card is not accepatable), and b) a guaranteed income above a particular figure in order not to become a burden on the state. I’m not sure of the figure in question but I do know it varies from Province to Province. 

You would have to sell an an awful lot of Candy Floss, Burgers and / or Popcorn to even break even.

Basically, if you have a job in the UK and your own home is Mortgage free, no matter how much you hate it, stay there! Thousands of unskilled Brits and other European expats have returned to their home countries, mostly broke…

Not a pretty picture, but almost everyone here, Spaniards and expats alike are suffering. Sorry but just telling it like it is…

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