criminal record certificates with apostille<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\nWe never understood the nonsense about the 3-month requirement, but that\u2019s what the Spanish authorities demand. And if the criminal record certificate makes sense, I can't understand the marriage certificate requirement.<\/i><\/p>\n
Applying for a work visa in Spain starts with obtaining work authorization from the host company. This is the longest phase. If the application falls during summer (holiday season), you\u2019ll have to wait at least 2 months. And for those two months, you sit on pins and needles wondering, 'What if they don\u2019t give it to me???'. After that, it\u2019s appointment at the embassy and a visit on the scheduled date with all the documentation. Another 10 days of waiting, and your passports with visas are ready!<\/p>\n
Then it was like for everyone else: resignation, packing, the agonizing wait for the departure date. A couple of days before the big moment, we packed our suitcases, still not believing that life was about to change.<\/p>\n
Stage 4. The First Month<\/h4>\n \nOctober. Midnight. Spain greeted us with a temperature of +25. And the first thing we realized was that English wouldn't help here. Somehow, we managed to show the taxi driver where we needed to go using a translator and a map. Upon arrival at the corporate apartment, we dropped off our luggage and headed to the sea. Spoiler: we didn't make it more than a few dozen meters because it was dark and the port fence seemed endless. Tired yet satisfied, we went back to sleep.<\/p>\n
The next four days felt like a vacation: sun, heat, beach, sea. For the entire first month, it felt like we came to relax, even though I was going to work. Well, how I was going. There are three types of transportation to get to the office: bus, metro, and electric scooter. Public transport costs about 40 euros a month. In terms of time, a maximum of 30 minutes, and that's if you're not in a hurry. However, the bus doesn't go directly, so there can be delays, while the metro rushes from the start of the line to the end in just 10 minutes.
In the first month, you need to solve a number of everyday and administrative issues, the most important of which is finding housing. There's also the 'opening a bank account,' but that didn't take much time for us since the company has an agreement with one bank, and accounts are opened quite quickly. The only bank that opens an account without a resident card is Unicaja. It's a sort of local 'savings bank,' with the corresponding service, interest rates, a poor website, and a mobile app. If possible, open an account with any commercial bank right away (all state banks can be easily recognized by the presence of 'caja' in their name). However, the question of finding an apartment is not the easiest. Most apartments are listed on websites like fotocasa and idealista. The problem is that almost all listings come from agencies, and most of them don't speak English.<\/p>\n
about English<\/b>The topic of the English language here is quite interesting. Despite Malaga being a tourist city, English is spoken very poorly. Schoolchildren and students speak it well, and waiters in tourist areas somewhat better. In any government institution, bank, provider office, hospital, or local restaurant, you will most likely not find a person who speaks English. Therefore, we always relied on Google Translator and sign language.<\/i><\/p>\n
cathedral \u2014 Catedral de la Encarnaci\u00f3n de M\u00e1laga<\/i><\/p>\n
Regarding prices: normal options are 700-900. Cheaper ones are either in the outskirts of civilization (where it takes 2-3 hours to get to work, and living by the sea, you don\u2019t really want that) or are such wrecks that it's scary to step over the threshold. There are also options in the same price range, but completely trashed. Some landlords do not take care of their properties at all (mold in the washing machine, cockroaches, ruined furniture and appliances), yet still ask for 900 per month (oh, the kinds of horrors we've seen). A small secret: always check what cleaning supplies are under the sink\/in the bathroom. If there's a cockroach spray\u2026 \u201cRun, fools!\u201d <\/p>\n
Those with weak nerves are advised to refrain from viewing.<\/b>This is the kind of rigidity I saw behind the refrigerator in one of the apartments. And according to the agent, \"it's okay\"\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
Central heating is almost nonexistent in Malaga. Therefore, apartments with a northern orientation will be, without exaggeration, VERY cold. The cold is also exacerbated by windows with aluminum frames. The drafts are so strong that they howl. So if you\u2019re renting, only choose those with plastic windows. Electricity is expensive. Therefore, if there is a gas water heater in the rental apartment, it will significantly save the family budget.<\/p>\n
At first, it was unusual that when coming home, you don\u2019t undress but change into comfortable, warm clothes. But now, we have somewhat gotten used to it.<\/p>\n
Once you rent an apartment, you can proceed with the following stages of the 'Moving' quest: registering in the apartment at the local town hall (Padron), obtaining local health insurance (similar to OMC), and then getting attached to a local hospital. All documents and forms are filled out in Spanish. I can't provide details about these procedures since there is someone in the company who handles all of this, so I only needed to fill out the forms and show up at the designated address on the scheduled date\/time.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth mentioning the mandatory visit to the police and obtaining a residency card. At the visa center, when we were getting our visa, they scared us by saying that if we didn\u2019t visit the police for the previously described actions within a month of arrival, we would be burned in hellfire\u2014immediate deportation, fines, and whatnot. In reality, it turned out that you must MAKE AN APPOINTMENT (which is done online) within a month, but the waiting time for a visit can easily be a couple of months. And that is normal; there will be no sanctions in this case. The card obtained does not replace the ID (passport), so when traveling in Europe, both the passport and the card, which will act as a visa, must be taken.<\/p>\n
What is it like in Spain?<\/h4>\n \nAs it is everywhere. There are positives and negatives. Yes, I won't overly praise it.<\/p>\n
The infrastructure is very well equipped for people with disabilities. All metro stations have elevators, the bus floors are level with the sidewalks, all pedestrian crossings have ramps (tactile for the blind) to the crosswalk, and almost any store\/cafe\/etc. can be accessed by wheelchair. It was quite unusual to see so many people in wheelchairs on the streets, as everyone is used to the idea that 'there are no disabled people in the USSR.' And any ramp in Russia is a one-way descent.<\/p>\n
bike lane and pedestrian crossing<\/i><\/p>\n
The sidewalks are washed with soap. Well, not with soap, but with some kind of cleaning agent. Therefore, white shoes remain white, and you can walk in your shoes around the apartment. There is practically no dust (as someone allergic to it, I notice this right away), as the sidewalks are paved with tiles (which are slippery in the rain, unfortunately), and where there are trees and lawns \u2014 everything is neatly laid out to prevent soil erosion. Unfortunately, in some places, whether it was poorly installed or the ground has settled, the tiles are either raised or sunk in that area. They don't seem to be in a hurry to fix this. There are many bike lanes, but again, there are many places where it would be good to redo these paths.<\/p>\n
sunset in the port<\/i><\/p>\n
The products in the stores are of good quality and inexpensive.<\/p>\n
For example, items from the receipts<\/b>Unfortunately without translation and transcription. Each receipt includes groceries for a week, including wine, for 2 people. Approximately, because there are no receipts from fruit vendors, but on average it comes out to around 5 euros.<\/i><\/p>\n
Regarding the leisurely pace of the Spaniards, in my experience, it's more of a myth. The internet was set up the day after we submitted our application. Porting the number to a different operator was done exactly on the 7th day. Packages from Amazon in Madrid arrive in a couple of days (one colleague even received his the next day). A nuance is that grocery stores here operate until 9-10 PM and are closed on Sundays. On Sundays, not much is open aside from tourist spots (the city center). It's simply something to keep in mind when planning your grocery shopping. It's better to buy vegetables and fruits at local shops (Fruter\u00eda). They're cheaper and always ripe (stores usually have slightly unripe ones to avoid spoilage), and if you build a good rapport with the seller, they'll sell you the best produce. It would be a significant oversight not to mention alcohol. It's abundant and inexpensive here! Wine ranges from 2 euros to infinity. The unspoken rule that 'cheap means counterfeit and generally bad' doesn't apply here. A 2-euro wine is quite real and fairly good, not just a diluted alcohol concentrate with colorants. <\/p>\n
I didn't find any difference between a bottle for 15 euros and one for 2. It seems I lack the makings of a sommelier. Most local wines are made from Tempranillo, so if you desire variety, you\u2019ll have to pay more for wines from Italy or France. A bottle of J\u00e4germeister is 11 euros. There are many types of gin ranging from 6 to 30 euros. For those missing 'native' products, there are Russian-Ukrainian stores where you can find herring, dumplings, sour cream, etc.<\/p>\n
View of the city from the Alcazaba fortress wall<\/i><\/p>\n
Public medical insurance (OMS) turned out to be good, or maybe we were just lucky with the clinic and the doctor. It is also possible to choose a doctor who speaks English under the state insurance. Therefore, I wouldn't recommend immediately getting private insurance upon arrival (~45 euros per month per person), as it's not so easy to cancel it \u2014 the contract is automatically for a year, and terminating it early can be quite problematic. Another point is that with private insurance, not all specialists you might be interested in are available in your region (for instance, there is no dermatologist in Malaga). These details should be clarified in advance. The only advantage of private insurance is the ability to see a doctor quickly (rather than waiting a couple of months like with public insurance, if the case is not serious). However, even in this case, there can be nuances, as you may still wait a month or two for popular specialists under private insurance.<\/p>\n
View of the city from the Alcazaba fortress wall from another angle<\/i><\/p>\n
As for mobile operators... there isn't much choice. Unlimited plans cost an arm and a leg. The data packages are either expensive or offer very little data. Considering the price\/quality\/data ratio, we found O2 suitable (contract: 65 euros for 2 lines with 25GB each, unlimited calls and texts within Spain, and home fiber optics at 300 Mbps). There\u2019s also a point about home internet. When searching for an apartment, be sure to ask which provider is connected and look for an optical fiber line. If fiber optics are available \u2014 great. If not, it will most likely be ADSL, which is not known for its speeds and stability. It's important to ask which specific provider has laid the cable: if you try to connect to another provider, they will offer a more expensive plan (because the new provider first requests to disconnect the client from the line of the previous provider, and then technicians come to connect you to the new provider), while cheaper plans will have \"no technical possibility to connect\" in this situation. So it's definitely worth visiting the line owner to learn about the rates, and gathering the connection costs from all operators won't be unnecessary either, as negotiations are possible here, and they can arrange a \"personal rate.\"<\/p>\n
the day after Gloria (port)<\/i><\/p>\n
Language. Not as many people speak English as one would hope. It's easier to list places where it can be spoken: waiters\/salespeople in tourist cafes\/stores in the center. All other questions will have to be resolved in Spanish. Google Translate helps. I still can't understand how, in a tourist city where the main income comes from tourists, most people do not speak English. The language issue has been very disappointing, probably because expectations were not met. When you envision a tourist destination, you immediately assume that the international language will definitely be spoken there.<\/p>\n
sunrise (view from San Andres beach). In the distance, a Docker can be seen sailing.<\/i><\/p>\n
My enthusiasm for learning Spanish faded quickly. There's no motivation. At work and home \u2014 it\u2019s Russian, and at cafes\/stores, a basic A1 level is enough. Without motivation, there's no sense in doing it. However, I learned about many people who have lived here for 15-20 years and know only a few phrases in Spanish.
The electronics stores here are surprisingly impressive. Prices at Mediamarkt are quite high. And this is considering you can order from Amazon for much cheaper. Or, as many Spaniards do \u2014 buy electronics in Chinese stores (for example: an electric kettle at Mediamarkt costs 50 euros (a model so basic, even Chinese wouldn\u2019t dream of it), while in a Chinese store it\u2019s 20 euros, and the quality is much better).<\/p>\n
sea <\/i><\/p>\n
cats, birds, plants<\/b>the cat is waiting for its order<\/i><\/p>\n
turtle-doves<\/i><\/p>\n
In general, there are no street dogs and cats here, but this gang lives by the shore and hides in the rocks. Judging by the bowls, someone feeds them regularly.<\/i><\/p>\n
fish in the port<\/i><\/p>\n
citrus trees grow on the streets here just like that<\/i><\/p>\n
street parrots<\/i><\/p>\n
Salary. I already mentioned part of the expenses in the text, including rent. In many salary rankings, it's common to compare the salaries of IT professionals with the average salary in the country\/city. However, these comparisons are not entirely accurate. If you deduct the rent from the salary (and locals usually have their own), the salary doesn't differ that much from the local average. In Spain, IT workers are not considered an elite group as they are in Russia, and this should be considered when contemplating a move here.<\/p>\n
Here, lower incomes are compensated by a sense of personal security, quality products, freedom of movement within the EU, proximity to the sea, and nearly year-round sunshine (~300 sunny days a year).<\/p>\n
For relocating here (to Malaga), I would recommend having at least 6,000 euros. This is because renting accommodation, and during the initial period, you'll need to set up your household (you can't take everything with you).<\/p>\n
view of the sunset from the viewpoint Mirador de Gibralfaro<\/i><\/p>\n
Well, that's about everything I wanted to share. It might seem a bit chaotic and like a 'stream of consciousness', but I will be glad if this information is helpful to someone or if it was just interesting to read.habr.com<\/a><\/p>","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u041f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0435\u0437\u0434 \u0432 \u0434\u0440\u0443\u0433\u0443\u044e \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0443, \u0431\u044b\u043b \u043c\u043e\u0435\u0439 \u043c\u0435\u0447\u0442\u043e\u0439 \u0441 \u0434\u0435\u0442\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0430. \u0418 \u0435\u0441\u043b\u0438 \u043a \u0447\u0435\u043c\u0443-\u0442\u043e \u0441\u0438\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0435\u043c\u0438\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f, \u0442\u043e \u044d\u0442\u043e \u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0442\u0441\u044f \u044f\u0432\u044c\u044e. \u042f \u0440\u0430\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0430\u0436\u0443 \u043e \u0442\u043e\u043c, \u043a\u0430\u043a \u0438\u0441\u043a\u0430\u043b \u0440\u0430\u0431\u043e\u0442\u0443, \u043a\u0430\u043a \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0445\u043e\u0434\u0438\u043b \u0432\u0435\u0441\u044c \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0446\u0435\u0441\u0441 \u0440\u0435\u043b\u043e\u043a\u0430\u0446\u0438\u0438, \u043a\u0430\u043a\u0438\u0435 \u0434\u043e\u043a\u0443\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u044b \u043d\u0443\u0436\u043d\u044b \u0438 \u043a\u0430\u043a\u0438\u0435 \u0432\u043e\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0441\u044b \u0440\u0435\u0448\u0430\u043b\u0438 \u043f\u043e\u0441\u043b\u0435 \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0435\u0437\u0434\u0430. (\u041c\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0444\u043e\u0442\u043e) \u042d\u0442\u0430\u043f 0. \u041f\u043e\u0434\u0433\u043e\u0442\u043e\u0432\u043a\u0430 \u0410\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u043e \u0437\u0430\u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043b\u044f\u0442\u044c \u0442\u0440\u0430\u043a\u0442\u043e\u0440 \u043c\u044b \u0441 \u0436\u0435\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u043d\u0430\u0447\u0430\u043b\u0438 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043c\u0435\u0440\u043d\u043e 3 \u0433\u043e\u0434\u0430 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[702],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t
![\"My](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2ad48032214a4e63aee98f85331966f4.jpg\")