Hello everyone!

Hi Mary. What did you want to know about Roquetas? I assume you have Residency in Spain already as you are currently in Alicante. Permanent residency is automatic after a British immigrant has lived 5 years in Spain and registered as resident with the police. Are you planning to eventually find a place in Mainland Spain to settle?

I have been living in Roquetas since June 2018. As May is the start of the summer season it may be hard to find rental accommodation for a few months here at that time.

Hello Chrisso, Thank you for your post.  I actually don't have residency yet, but I do have more than 5 years residency in another EU country ( other than my native country) and as I understand it that also qualifies for residency here in Spain.  My husband and I are  considering where in Spain we would ultimately like to live and at present I am 'checking out' places where there may be opportunities to teach English as a second language ( I am qualified and may even consider doing part-time or voluntary work ).   I am a beach lover (must be sandy beach), and ideally am looking for a 2 bed/2bath beachfront apartment to let, initially for the period 1st May until 30th June '19.  From what I have seen and read about Roquetas it seems to be very suitable, so I hope I am able to find something soon.  I think it would be an ideal base from which to check out the surrounding area and also possibly get to know  other expats.  I am really looking forward to uncovering another part of Spain!  Kind regards, Mary

As you don’t have residency yet but have more than 5 years residency in another EU country (other than your country of origin) I’m assuming you are not a UK citizen. 

The reason being that U.K. nationals will lose our EU citizenship status by April 2019 if a ‘No Deal’ Brexit takes place, and by 31 Dec 2020 of the Transitional Agreement happens. This means any U.K. national coming to Spain to live (from any country) needs to get registered for residency here ASAP!

You said “as I understand it [your 5 years+ residency in another EU country] also qualifies for residency here in Spain”. I’m not a legal expert but I doubt it. Legally you have to establish residency here in Spain within 90 days once you stop in a specific place. Maybe you would like to message me privately and we can discuss further?

You added that you are both considering where in Spain to ultimately live and checking out where there may be opportunities to teach EAASL. That is one of the few work opps for U.K. nationals here for those with good Spanish. In the Roquetas urbanisation where we are, there is an EAASL centre: we attend it to learn Spanish, it teaches the Callan method.

Beaches? Good and long and wide sandy beaches here, with an excellent prom/paseo that stretches for miles. 

Accommodation? As I said previously, you will be renting a place in summer season so best get skates on! Our advice is enquire on Facebook sites/groups such as Mojacar forum - and on here of course - it worked for us. You will be very lucky to get beachfront. We are about 10 mins walk from beachfront, plenty of shops and eating places around. This is a Spanish seaside resort that the Spanish throng to in the summer, it gets very busy then and you hear very few English voices!

Hope that you find something soon. Like you, we thought it would be an ideal base from which to check out the surrounding area and we are still doing that, having recently obtained a Spanish car. 

We have met up with several correspondents on this forum at a local cafe, purely to exchange local information. If you’d like to do that - or ask about our experience of getting residency here, which we finally did in August - just message us privately!

Best wishes!

Hi Chirisso50, Please can you tell me where  EAASL centre is? I will be very grateful for more details my husband would like to learn Spanish. 

Happy New Year!!  

Thank you.

Roxana 

¡Feliz Año Nuevo Roxana!

The Ingles de Mar School of English is the EAASL centre in the Urbanisation that I have been going to, in Pasaje Andaluz, off the Avenida Mediterraneo (behind Gambas d'Or). It uses the Callan teaching method 'Speak along with the teacher, not after them' and depending on your husband's existing level of Spanish he would start at Level 1 or Level 2. I'm at Level 1 Spanish, my wife is way ahead of me and at Level 2. These lessons are twice weekly in the daytime for an hour and you pay monthly - contact the school at Tel 696 555 084  for more info. You are supplied with a student booklet and a book of dictation and revision exercises.

Another option is the Las Marinas Spanish classes for immigrants, these are free and take place three evenings a week from 530. Miguel is the teacher, he's amazing and about 5 to 11 of us (English, French, Bulgarian, Ukrainian etc) attend these classes which are in the nature of Spanish conversation and pitched at A2 Intermediate level rather than A1 Beginner level.

Hope that helps. I'm back to both sets of classes next week!