Job Discussion Forums

[smbonar]

I am heading to Madrid in January, I already have a job(with guaranteed 20 hrs a week) that I wil be starting a few days after I arrive and I am an Eu citizen(dual citizen US/Ireland). I am curious if 5000 usd will be enough money to get me by. I keep seeing that you need 15000 euro to make it that seems so high to me. Is that only if you are a non eu resident and dont have a job yet?

[mdk]

It largely depends upon whether you are going to live like an American or a Spaniard.

Two years ago people were getting by on !,000 euros a month in Barcelona and I think Madrid may be a bit cheaper. If you have legal permission to work in Spain you ought to be able to earn what you need.

By the way I just heard that the Deutsche's post has agreed to pay a minimum wage of 8 euros an hour. If that will keep body and soul together in Munich it ought to do well enough in Madrid. Maybe you can figure from that.

[sheikh radlinrol]

[mdk]

Perhaps I am reasoning from too small a sample. The other Americans who took the TEFL course with me in Spain didn't live like the Spaniards I later came to know in Spain. There wasn't enough liquor or doodads at FNAC for those people in all of Spain.

But I did not seek out other Americans to hang out with so perhaps I am casting too wide a net. In any case it was meant to illustrate a point.

Say rather that if you want to live like the people you see drinking Sangria on Las Ramblas you will need a lot more money than the people you would see walking on the street in Zaragosa.

[smbonar]

I want to be able to pay my rent, have a gym membership, a phone, and occasionally travel on the weekends, go out every once and a while and thats about it. Drinking all the time and buying unnecessary items is not something I am worried about since I wont be doing it. I just didnt see how you would need to have $15000 saved to move to Spain, that seems ridiculous. I guess it depends on the individual and how well they can budget their money.

[Moore]

5000 U.S. dollars works out to around 3500 euros, which will easily be enough to set you up in Madrid, especially in the light of having EU papers. Don't forget to leave some aside for the summer lull, and try to get some summer camp work set up in May too.


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[mdk]

And get your teeth checked before you leave....just in case.

[bejarano]

[spiral78]

not 'liable,' but eligible.

[mdk]

If I may put my oar in about unexpected emergencies and estimating costs, I would like to point out that when I bought my hostel card I was able to buy a years worth of extra health insurance (above what came with the membership) for about $500 for the year.

This now covers $10,000 in medical expenses and $50,000 in medical evac back to the states. God forbid I get hit by a car or something, but I can live a lot easier knowing I left the policy number with my brother. You can take your hint from there.

[Moore]

Having just watched the film "Sicko", I'd be a bit concerned that an insurance company, if they ever had to pay out any sort of significant sum, would look into what a person was doing in Spain and try and wriggle out of any payment if they found that the person had been working here.

Of course, all non-EU people get emergency health treatment here, but if I were a non-EU worker I'd be quite wary of trusting my follow up health care to an insurance company.

I probably should avoid watching so many Michael Moore films really...


_________________________________________________________________________
...Jobs and language exchanges in Madrid, Barcelona and Berlin... www.lingobongo.com

...send your c.v. around ALL the schools in Madrid, Barcelona or Berlin in one hit with our c.v. sending service... www.lingobongo.com

[spiral78]

Yeah, it's been pointed out numerous times in the past that an insurance company confronted with claims made for someone overseas at the time of accident/illness is HIGHLY likely to investigate the legal status of that person before paying anything.

It's just the kind of loophole insurance companies LOOK FOR, to refuse payment.

[mdk]

Had it been the case that I had bought US coverage and expected it to apply in Spain (or overseas), I would have been careful to read the policy very closely.

The insurance available through the American Youth Hostel Association claims to be *for* travelers overseas. That having been said, any insurance company might conceivably welsh on a claim if they thought they could get away with it. They would have to decide they had a good enough reason to get through a US court. Since the carrier is a major player, one has to bet they wouldn't do that. If they showed obvious bad faith they would almost certainly get spanked with extensive (much more than the face value of the policy ) punitive damages from a California jury.

For $500 that's a decent bet. Especially considering the alternative of being medically indigent in a foreign country with major injuries or something.

In EFL one pays one's money and takes one's risks. If you can't afford $500 to cover yourself, maybe you ought to stay home and work a few months more until you can.

[mise_me_fein]

Don�t bring too much. I brought �2200 and blew most of it on booze and crap I didn�t need in 3 weeks.

[jonniboy]

2200 on booze in three weeks is a bit hardcore! On my first failed attempt at finding work in Spain I spent 3000 in 3 months.