Other bits

As you can gather the list goes on, but with the other bits together you are pretty much ready to get started. Now we're just collecting the set of documents. If you here a loud shout of Bingo from the Vila Olimpica area you'll know we've finally got the set.

Insurance was arranged through EasyInsurance an ex-pat specialist. We looked at spanish companies, but the forms and spanish technical details they needed went over our heads. In addition, it's much more difficult to get insurance over the Internet here. In general you have to do it over the phone or in person via a broker.

We did investigate transferring our driving licences to Spanish but were told at the offices that we didn't need to. Mind you the queuing process was a nightmare at the licensing centre too. Queues are a way of life here for many bureaucratic things and people put up with queues in supermarkets very readily. Now having had a the driving license stolen, this is now a little bit of an issue as I need to reapply in the UK.

We also registered as a large family at the family office located besides the Museum of Catalonia (actually the museum is worth visiting as general knowledge of catalonian history is not well known)- if you've got more than 2 children you are a large family and you can get extra child support. Also large families get extra points when they are allocating school places.

The bits we now have to do are about bringing the business over, incorporating, taking offices, hiring employees etc etc. It's fair to say based on current experience that I'm delaying as long as I can just because of the sheer hassle that is going to be involved.