Received an email ...

Received an email today advising me of my NIE number., courtesy of the Ministerio Del Interior. However, it seems that it is only valid for three monte going by the statement at the bottom ...'Este certificado tiene una validez de tres meses.'

With my new ...

With my new UK chip encoded Passport I set out for the Spanish Consulate in Sydney this morning to apply for my NIE number. The office is on level 24 of the St Martins Tower in Market Street. I arrived at the little office expecting to wait, but there were no other people there. No sooner had I approached the counter several people came in behind me. Good timing I thought. They were very helpful and a delightful young girl completed the form for me and all I had to do was sign it. Her only question was why I wanted the NIE number and I replied that it was to buy a property, which seemed to be fine.

The application cost $13.95 and the girl said it would take about 5 days and they would email it to me.

I noticed on the little receipt they gave me that the spelling of Sydney was in fact Sidney! Is that Spanish for Sydney or a mistake I wonder?

About a week ...

About a week ago I started my TESOL course.  TESOL stands for 'Teaching English as a Second Language'. I have always wanted to do this course. When I was at school one of my career choices was to teach English, but I went in another direction. The idea is to have this as another string to my bow and teach English when we move to Spain.

I have already set up a TESOL information page on the website wwwenglishforspeaking.com. It isn't linked to my blogger site yet so if you want a look go to 'www.english4speaking.blogspot.com.au'

I can't believe how difficult English is to learn. Jeepers I must be clever being able to know the language so well! What takes the joy out of learning a language is all the technical stuff. Speaking a language is a bit like driving a luxury sports car, but learning all the past perfects and other stuff is like opening the hood and getting to know all the bits of the engine and how it works. Eek!

Courtesy of Her ...

Courtesy of Her Majesty's Passport Office ... via DHL ... my new biometric UK Passport arrived yesterday. This new passport contains an electronic chip which stores my information including my image! Can't wait to use it. Off to the Spanish Consulate in Sydney today to apply for my NIE number. Sarah is holding off visiting Spain until I start my new job. The contract at Westpac finished on 12 February so I am looking for a new role. She doesn't want to leave me on my own, but I am keen to secure a property while the prices are still low.

Received an SMS...

Received an SMS yesterday that DHL have dispatched something..... guessing it is my new UK Passport.

Started listening to ...

Started listening to the Spanish News on SBS. It features every day at 11:00 am so I have recorded it. Can't understand very much and they seem to speak very quickly, but hey, every little helps .... I think!

Great news ...Sarah's...

Great news ... Sarah's UK Passport arrived a few days ago. Yesterday Sarah also went to the Spanish Consulate in Sydney and applied for an NIE number. Still waiting for my passport to a arrive and then I can do the same. Telephoned a lawyer last night based in Alicante ... Elizabeth ... English girl who has been based in Spain for 11 years. Just had a chat to touch base. feeling a little more confident now. Elizabeth told me that we don't need the NIE number to make an offer on a property!

Property Tax International

Property Tax International (PTI) prepares domestic and international tax returns for lifestyle and buy-to-let investors in the overseas property market.  

They specialise in property tax. Their international tax return service is specifically focused on tax compliance and on ensuring property owners tax obligations are addressed both at home and abroad. They help you minimise your tax liability and maximise your profit potential.   

PTI understand tax is complicated at the best of times, which is why their tax return service is specifically designed to provide clients with a simple, easy-to-understand and cost efficient tax solution.

http://www.ptireturns.com

Another week of ...

Another week of surfing property alerts passes. Still Sarah and I have a favourite, but other possibilities are coming up every day. Sarah has been in an email dialogue with a spanish solicitor and I plan to give her a call on Wednesday morning. Seems her english may be quite good. The the question really is ... can we safely by a property in Spain from Australia without visiting the area let alone the house?!

Usual trawl of ...

Usual trawl of property alerts this weekend. In a way its a bit of a punishment because we truly aren't in a position to buy on a number of grounds. One in particular is the Spanish NIE huber that we require! The NIE Number is a tax identification number in Spain known as the Numero de Identidad de Extranjero. 

The NIE Number is issued by the National Police of Spain and in accordance to Spanish law is required for the purchase or sale of any real estate, vehicle, or boat within Spain. Although largely ignored by the vast majority of foreigners up until the year 2005, the National Tax Identification number of Spain has been a requirement for all individuals conducting any type of business within Spain that involves purchasing or selling any items. The Spanish government have linked the NIE Number to various other departments such as the Social Security and residence (e.g. including the NIE Number on the tarjeta de residencia - residence card).

Something else to put on the bill. Will cost around 160 Euros each.

Passport renewal in ...

Passport renewal in the post this week. Had to send it off to the UK. Still not happy about that photograph. They came in a nice set of 6. Like kitchen knives. I only needed 2 for the passport so I ditched the rest. Still looking for property, receiving daily alerts and getting more hungry to find our new home in Spain. Spent hours looking for a book ... anything related to Spain, but still haven't come up with anything recent. Have joined a few Spanish speaking groups in Sydney via "Meet Up". Haven't attended any meetings yet ... well I only joined 3 minutes ago via the web!

Looking for books...

Went to Kinokuniya bookstore after work. I had this idea it would be good to immerse myself in all things Spain by reading as much as I can from travel books and even novels that have stories located in Spain.

Actually, I went to Dymocks at lunchtime, but with little success, hence the trip after work. Anyway there were some books on the shelves although it took ages to find anything on Spain. I was really keen to find some literature on travels in Spain, but when the books are sorted by Author its means that all the countries are mixed up and titles aren't much help. Most of the publishing dates were quite old so I ditched the four books I collected and focused on the basic travel guides.

Well .. not much success there either. At first I was quite excited by two books although one did have the "R" word in it! "R" to Spain and "Buying a Home in Spain" seemed really good. Well .. no actually. It is now the year 2014 and both of these books were published in 2006. Just crazy really. Just crazy. The world moves so quickly and legislation changes so why even keep this stuff on the shelves ..very disappointing you guys at Kinokuniya! The real give away was the semi cream brown edges of the pages, like something out of a museum. Ah! will have to keep looking!

Passport Pictures!

Found a gap in my diary this morning so popped down to Australia Post and had some Passport photographs taken. Always in dread of these! As expected, $16 later the clerk handed over 6 small pictures of  a stranger. Is that really me, my face looks as though it has been crafted out of yellow clay and started to slowly drop. I had to take my glasses off for the pictures and thus even more was revealed. Eek ... where once mirrors were a source of entertainment they are now something to avoid. I don't want to get old!

Passport

Need to renew my British passport. Completed and downloaded the form today. Costs around 147 pounds. Have to get a couple of new photo's and then send off the documents to the UK. Can take about 4 weeks ... so they claim.

Thinking it through...

Spent yesterday and today setting up "Proceed to Spain". The site is currently pointed to the Blogger address, but I have purchased the domain name and will redirect that over the next few weeks.
I have also set up a Scoop.It! page which you can access from this site because I have embedded the code which creates a sort of slide show of my current curated articles for that site. I am learning a little bit more each time I go into the Scoop.It! site and curate. Things like the hidden tax issues when buying property. Not that these are really hidden costs, but as you read through the information you will find that they can be "variable" costs when property is revalued, effecting the amount of tax you have to pay!

Meanwhile, Sarah continues the property search. It can be frustrating, seeing properties that look great at reasonable prices. But how are they situated, what is the immediate area like, how does it feel, what is the community culture and so on. Being in Australia, so far away is an issue that we will have to overcome. The current plan is for us to accompany Dave and Fi when they start their house buying search in June this year. Not sure if I can go as it depends on work. Sarah will have to go I'm certain.

Welcome to "Proceed to Spain!"

Welcome to "Proceed to Spain!"

I have much to tell you. This is the story of a journey that started in my mind many, many years ago when I was a younger man. But first I would like to explain the title of this site.

Having decided to make the move to Spain, Sarah, my wife, suggested I write a book about the journey. So I had the idea of creating a website to record the steps along the way. I was looking for a title and came up with all sorts of headings, but the domain name was either not available or was too expensive ... names like "Living in Spain", "Return to Spain" were all taken.

I hit on the name "Always Spain" although I wasn't comfortable with it because I kept seeing "Always Pain"! Then at the bottom of the page I noticed the "Proceed to Checkout" button. This means that you are ready to commit to the purchase and it hit me that this would be a great title. Sarah and I are now very committed to moving to Spain and so there is no looking back, the journey has begun and we will "Proceed to Spain!"

Another little tip here about our thinking. Yes, we are taking this journey because we intend to live out our years in Spain, for reasons that I will explain later, but we have no concept of the word "Retirement" ... in fact that is the last time I shall use the "R" word in this story. For us it is a rite of passage, a chance to reinvent ourselves once again. It is a birth and renewal of the soul.

Welcome once again ... lets proceed to Spain.....