I hope this will help you before you make any decisions about moving abroad.



You have decided you are moving to Spain. Why not? You want a better way of life in warm temperatures for most of the year. Why not sell up and open your own business? What could be better than sitting and relaxing in the sun and you can pay someone to work for you while you enjoy yourself.

Well maybe you need some facts first. Learn from our experience before you go ahead and make the move. We moved to the Canary Islands as we were fed up of the cold weather and rain and after my husband had spinal surgery he needed to live in a warmer climate to help combat the permanent damage to his spinal cord. Wearing a pair of shoes was very difficult and gave him extreme pain constantly, but here on the island he has the luxury of not having to wear them anymore, which is a big relief.

Some things you need to know to get started.

As you have made the move your first priority is to get an NIE number which you can apply for yourself or get a solicitor to do it for you. If you do it yourself it is free but will take time and a lot of patience on your side and without the Spanish language it will take you longer. If you get a solicitor to do it, it may cost around 300eur approx, but it will save you time and frustration and it will be quicker. You will need this number for everything and it is compulsory to carry it at all times.

In order to open a business here on the Islands you have to start at the beginning. The first priority is deciding what to do. Once you have decided on your venture the next step is to find a local. Local is what the Spanish call a shop premises and usually there are plenty to choose from as most properties here on the Islands are built with locals underneath them.

So depending on where you find your premises your next step is to negotiate the rent. It is very rare to be able to purchase a local as the price for them is usually out of most peoples reach unless you are a millionaire but then you probably would’t want a business.

If by some chance there is a shop available on the main tourist area and this is where you want to be then your rent will more than likely be anything from 3000euros upwards per month. Of course that will be for the smallest premises but it gives you an idea of the pricing involved. Because it is located on the high street the landlord/landlady likes security, so as a general rule they like to take 6months deposit up front. That’s good isn’t it? They are making sure that they are secure and they have all that money before you start.


In one of the back streets you may be lucky to find one for around 700euros a month. Generally speaking in the back streets the deposit up front is only two or three months, but it depends on where you want to trade from.It is also worth asking for a couple of months rent free while you get the shop ready.

On top of the rent you will have to pay 18% of the final rent every month to the government, this is automatically taken from your bank account every three months. If the money is not available in your business account they will take it from any account that is in your name without warning. You owe the money to the government and if you haven’t got any they will put an embargo on any goods or property that is in your name, eg; your car, house.


So you have gone ahead and taken the shop. Can you open it straight away? Of course not! Your next step is to get your licence, they call it licence de Apertura, in other words an opening licence. Without this you cannot have a business and if you go ahead without it you will be shut down. Where do you get this from? Of course the local council, it is known in Spanish as the Ayuntamiento.

Can you just go there and pick one up? Wouldn’t that be easy? When you apply they will tell you that you need to have plans drawn up outlying a detailed drawing of the shop and what you are going to use it for. Where do you get that from? Well you have to commission an architect that the council approves. This will cost you anything from 700eur to a 1000eur or maybe even more depending on the premises.
It will also take them about a month to do it, remember you are in Spain and manana is the name of the game.

In the mean time you have to name your shop and get things together. You will need a solicitor for this which I assume you have by now as you would have had to have your lease of the premises drawn up legally and your deposit documented. Do not just hand over a deposit without a legal document.

The solicitor will go ahead and register the necessary paperwork which you will need for the local council as well. This again costs and the prices vary from around 300eur upwards, I would allow anything up to a 1000eur as you will have your solicitor’s hourly rate as well!

Your architect will visit the shop and draw up the plans but he/she will need an electrician to approve the wiring and issue a certificate stating everything is in order. It has to be an approved electrician by the council. Allow around 700eur to a 1000eur for this. This will take time as well,manana remember.

In the meantime you are getting your store fitted out, of course how much you are going to spend on that will be up to you. More than likely it will be several thousand as fittings are not cheap. If it is a new premises you will also have to tile the floor, that’s great for the landlord/landlady.

While you are working on the premises more than likely the electricity will keep tripping. Why? Well when electricity is initially connected you are only supplied with the basic fuses so if you are using a lot it will not be sufficient. Sure it’s just a matter of changing the fuse, anyone can do that.I”m afraid not! Back to the electrician again? First you have to go to the electric board and apply for an upgrade, allow at least a day for that as queues will be long and on a lucky day there might be two staff working. Once you have got the permission back you go to the electrician and he will come and change the fuse for you and then issue you with another certificate which you then have to produce at the electric board! Another long day!

At last you have got your plans, your electricity, your shop fitted and you are ready to go. Back to the council with all the necessary paperwork, will you get your licence that day? No, it will have to be approved, but the only good thing is that at last you can open while it is waiting to be approved. You will also need to have insurance on the premises and depending on the size the price will vary accordingly.

So what else do you have to do? Well you will have to be registered as self employed as by law you have to pay your social security and you will be fined if you do not register. The social security will cover you for free medical and also will entitle you to a pension when you retire. It usually costs anything from 200euros upwards depending on how old you are, in other words the older you are the more it costs.

Now that you are registered as self employed you will need your solicitor to organise payments to the government and also to submit your accounts every three months. If you do not submit your accounts every three months you will be fined and because they have to be submitted in Spanish you will find that having a solicitor is important. Of course their pricing varies and we have been charged anything up to a 100eur per person per month for giving them the privilege of submitting the accounts. So if in your business there is more than one person self employed you have to allow the same costs for each one. You will already have done a final summary of the accounts, but if you haven’t then expect to pay more.

If you decided you didn’t move to Spain to do all the work yourself and you employ someone you have rules to follow. It is not as simple as just taking someone on straight away. You have to register them and get all the necessary paperwork in place before they start. They cannot work in the premises until you have their contract physically on the premises. If you get an inspection and you do not have the paperwork available you will be fined and it can be a very big fine so do not risk it.

As well as paying their wages it is up to you to pay their tax and social security, so allow about another 500eur a month for that. If you give them a permanent contract with you and you want them to leave you will have to pay them off and that will depend on how long they have worked for you. That is the Spanish rules and you have to abide by them.

Just getting back to the licence de Apertura, you will at some point get an inspection and if there are any alterations that the inspector specifies, these will have to be carried out before it is approved. The actual cost of your licence will depend on your business. Each different theme will cost you an average of 500eur. So if you sell phones and computers then it will more than likely be around a 1000euros.

Getting suppliers is another hurdle.Because you are new do not expect to get credit. You will have to pay cash up front and expect to continue to do this for at least a year unless you are using suppliers from abroad and you have had previous business with them.

Well this is a very brief summary of what’s involved in opening a business here, you need to allow at least three months to get it up and running and be prepared for a lot of frustrations along the way.Are you going to make money? That’s the big question!

I know some of you may go for the alternative and pay a traspaso for a business which is the Spanish term for goodwill but if you are going to do that investigate the business first before you hand over any money.


Just keep one thing in mind before you do anything, the landlords/landladies are the big winners and the more tenants they turn around the more money they make as you will struggle to get your deposit back. Also consider how much goods you have to sell to pay all your outgoings before you can take a penny for yourself. Be prepared to work hard and long hours!

I hope this will help you before you make any decisions about moving abroad.



This is the reason I turned to Internet Marketing.You can do this from anywhere in the world and you can control it all yourself.