I’ll start with the big news.
Ahem.
WE GOT OUR BLS APPOINTMENTS!!!
In late November we’ll be traveling to San Francisco, possibly twice, to hand in documents as part of our Non-Lucrative Visa application. We have until then to make sure we have everything they may ask for, which is often different from what’s officially published. Spanish bureaucracy is fun!
For those wondering why I’m so jubilant, BLS International, the organization that handles document collection, releases only a limited number of appointments for our visa each month (we’ve heard 24 per consulate). They appear at some point near the end of one month or the beginning of the next, usually in the wee hours of the morning. My husband had been getting up at 4am for the past few days to check for availability, including this morning, and found nothing. Then, while browsing Facebook, I saw a post in a group for people applying for the same visa saying someone had secured an appointment at 7am, after my husband had gone back to bed. I ran downstairs to tell him, he logged on, and appointments were available! I logged on too, and we each got one near the end of November. I’m pretty sure they were among the last ones left. Woot! One step closer!
Assuming we’ve given them all the documents they want, and that all of them are deemed acceptable, our application will be passed on to the consulate, where a decision will be made. That can take anywhere from two to twelve weeks. We’re planning conservatively and assuming we’ll hear about the visa sometime in January or February. The timeline is still vaguer than I’d like, but it gives us a window for when we’ll move. I had been saying early February, but now I’m thinking March, possibly right in the middle of Fallas.
Preparing to Move
In the meantime, we’ve been making progress in other areas. First, we had our first (phone) meeting with our chosen health insurance broker and have since chosen an insurance provider. Our broker told us we could start coverage up to three months after the application is made. Since we’re looking at moving in February or March, we chose to hold off for a couple of weeks so we don’t wind up paying for December or January. We’ll try to make another appointment with the broker in early November so our policy documents are ready to turn in with the rest of our paperwork.
We’ve also hired a “Move Manager.” I hadn’t heard of this profession until I was noodling around with ChatGPT and it suggested that hiring one would be a good idea, since we were feeling overwhelmed by everything we had to do to get ready to move. A Move Manager typically assists families with a loved one (or ones) moving into an assisted care facility, and helps distill a house full of stuff down to what will fit in a single room. We’re planning to move or ship a similar volume of stuff, and we’re really, really bad at planning, especially with my ADHD challenges. We met with Joan McCreary of JMPO, talked about how much stuff we have (and toured the house), and discussed how much room we’d have to ship things. We also started talking about how we’ll dispose of what we won’t take on the plane, ship, or put into long-term storage here in California. The company also does estate auctions, so there’s a good chance anything we don’t get rid of ourselves will go to auction. I’m fine with that.
Why Spain?
One question that has come up a few times from friends and family is why we chose Spain specifically. There is no single answer. When you look at all of our criteria and how Spain intersects with them, Spain checks more boxes than anywhere else we considered.
Compatible Visa – This is the big one. Without a visa that would work for us, there was no point in considering the move. Several nations offered visas that could work: France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and a couple of others. Spain’s Non-Lucrative Visa is perfect for us: we’ll be self-sufficient, won’t need to work, and are fine with buying a year’s policy for health insurance.
LGBTQIA+ Rights – As a gay couple looking to move to a new country, it was incredibly important for us to find one with a strong system of laws protecting LGBTQIA+ rights. Spain, Malta, Belgium, Denmark, and Finland all rank near the top for queer protections.
Political Climate – Politics factored into our decision, too. Italy was high on our initial list, but the current government there is right-leaning, and its stance on LGBTQIA+ families made us move it lower. Italy still doesn’t allow same-sex marriage, offering only civil unions, and recent policies have made life harder for same-sex parents. Spain, by contrast, has recognized same-sex marriage since 2005, and that history shows in everyday life. We’re not naive about it, though. Spain has its own far-right party, Vox, and Valencia’s regional government is center-right, so we’re not expecting a progressive paradise. But the legal protections are strong and widely supported, and we’d rather live somewhere our rights feel settled than somewhere they’re still being debated. Governments change, of course. On October 5th of this year, the Spanish Prime Minister called new elections for the end of November, which could boost Vox, so we’ll keep watching the news before and after we arrive.
European Union – We limited our search to countries in the European Union. We like the EU’s stance on privacy, consumer rights, and people-first policies, and we like being able to travel all over the Schengen Area without worrying about border crossings (for the most part). The EU can be a bit backward on encryption sometimes, but we hope that will eventually work itself out.
Climate – This one really limited our choices. We prefer a climate broadly similar to San Jose’s: warm to hot, mostly dry summers and mild winters, with most rain falling in the cooler months. In other words, a Mediterranean climate. Southern and eastern Spain, southern France, Italy, and Greece all have Mediterranean climates to one degree or another. From what I can tell, Valencia’s climate is very similar to Silicon Valley’s, except with higher humidity and warmer nights.
Walkable Cities – This is an area where most of Europe shines. Many of its larger cities were laid out before the advent of motorized vehicles, so neighborhoods are a lot more oriented toward walking than almost anywhere in the United States. The downtown cores and adjacent districts of most older European cities feature small markets on nearly every block with fresh meat, fruit, vegetables, bread, pastries, and more, all supplemented by nearby supermarkets. Many also have central markets, where dozens, if not a hundred or more, small stalls sit under a common roof selling specialized products. Most of these cities also have decent public transportation. Of the cities we’ve visited, Barcelona felt like it had the best-connected network, with Valencia a close second. London’s Tube also seemed really good, but not one you’d want to ride on a hot day. (England, having foolishly decided to Brexit, was not a nation we considered.) So as long as a city had broad walkable districts and good public transportation, we added its country to the list of possible new homes.
Language – One of our goals is to integrate into the society and culture of wherever we relocate, and part of that is learning the local language. Of the languages in countries with compatible visas, I feel Spanish is the one I’ll be able to learn fastest. Italian was a close runner-up. French and Portuguese are too intimidating, especially their spelling and pronunciation, and Greece uses an entirely different alphabet. Of course, several regions of Spain offer additional challenges, with co-official languages like Catalan, Valencian, Basque, and Galician. While almost everyone in Spain speaks Castilian to some degree, areas with a co-official language often post signs primarily in that language, which makes getting around a tad more difficult.
Cost of Living – Cost of living varies a lot across the EU. Denmark, Finland, and Belgium are among the most expensive places we looked at, and even the strong LGBTQIA+ protections couldn’t offset what we’d be paying for rent and groceries. Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Italy are noticeably cheaper, and within Spain, Valencia is more affordable than Barcelona or Madrid. It isn’t the bargain it was a few years ago, as rents have climbed quickly, but our dollars should still stretch further there than in San Jose, where housing eats up so much of the budget. Spain isn’t the cheapest option on our list, but it’s the best balance of affordability and everything else we wanted.
Healthcare – Moving to another country means trusting its healthcare system with our well-being, so quality mattered to us. Spain’s system consistently ranks among the best in the world, and Spaniards enjoy one of the longest life expectancies in Europe. The country has a universal public system alongside a large network of private hospitals and clinics, and many doctors are trained to a very high standard. As Non-Lucrative Visa applicants, we are required to purchase a private policy, and the policy must have no copays or deductibles. From what we’ve learned so far, that kind of coverage costs far less than comparable insurance in the US (€300 per month in Spain for both of us, compared to over $3000 per month through Kaiser). We’ll also be eligible to pay into and use Spain’s public system down the road, once we’ve been residents for a full year. It’s a bit of a relief, honestly. After years of navigating American insurance, the idea of seeing a doctor without a surprise bill waiting at the end is very appealing.
Taxes (Spain’s Weak Spot) – Not every box got checked. Taxes are where Spain is weakest among the countries we considered, and I’d rather say so than pretend otherwise. Spain taxes its residents on worldwide income once they spend more than 183 days a year there, with progressive rates and investment income taxed at up to around 30%. As US citizens, we’ll keep filing a US return too, and while the tax treaty and foreign tax credits should keep us from being taxed twice, they don’t make the paperwork go away. Spain also has a regional wealth tax, which Valencia applies, and residents must report foreign accounts and assets above a threshold. The “Beckham Law” flat rate for newcomers isn’t available to us because it’s meant for people who move there to work. Italy, Greece, and Malta all offer low flat rates on foreign income for retirees or new residents, and Portugal’s NHR program, once the poster child for tax-friendly relocation, has closed to most new applicants. But we’re choosing a place to live, not a place to minimize our tax bill, and we’d rather pay somewhat more for a walkable Mediterranean city we can see ourselves in for years to come. We’ll be working with a cross-border tax professional before we go, and I’ll share what I learn.
Shallowness – Spain, Greece, and Italy won in this category. Have you seen the men in those countries? 🥵😜
Other Considerations – A few smaller factors rounded out the decision:
- Safety: Spain is generally considered very safe, with low violent crime and a street life that stays lively well into the evening, which fits the walkable lifestyle we’re after.
- Distance from home: Valencia is a long way from the US, and with few direct flights, trips back will likely connect through Madrid or Barcelona. That’s a real trade-off for staying close to friends and family, and we’ll be counting on visitors.
- Climate risk: Californians know something about wildfires and earthquakes, but the deadly floods that hit the Valencia region in October 2024 were a sobering reminder that the Mediterranean has its own hazards, and summers are getting hotter.
- Nerd culture: We went looking for board gaming, tabletop RPG, and other nerdy communities, and Valencia has them in abundance. Game stores, meetups, and conventions mean we won’t have to give up our hobbies, and it’s a built-in way to practice Spanish while rolling dice.
- LGBTQIA+ community: Valencia has a visible and welcoming community, including its own Pride celebration, and we’re looking forward to finding our people there.
- Pace of life: Long lunches, late dinners, and bureaucracy that moves at its own speed. If we want to integrate, we’ll have to learn to enjoy it (the bureaucracy, perhaps, a little less).
In conclusion…
All in all, Spain ticks more boxes than almost any other country we considered. (Italy came close, but the government there worries us.) It offers a visa that fits our situation, strong legal protections for LGBTQIA+ people, membership in the EU, a Mediterranean climate that will feel familiar to a couple of San Jose residents (just with a little more humidity), walkable cities with good public transportation, affordable living, excellent healthcare, a language I have a fighting chance of learning, and, well, the “scenery.” Taxes are the one real drawback, but Valencia checks all the city-level boxes on top of that.
Of course, nothing is settled yet. We still have documents to gather, appointments to keep, and a houseful of stuff to sort through. But if everything goes smoothly, we’ll be trading San Jose for Valencia in the spring, hopefully in time for Fallas. I’ll keep you posted!
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