Moving USA to Spain in 40s - how to find work and community?
Posted by AlbatrossHollow@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 10 comments
Hi all. I'm looking for advice or similar experiences. Basically wondering how to find work and community when you move in your 40s or 50s with an already established career and social life...
We are a family of three, two adults in our 40s and one 10yo child. We are USA citizens living in a state capital, and we have the good fortune of myself and our son being Spanish passport holders due to Sephardic heritage. We also have uncles in Valencia, Spain. I speak competent but imperfect Spanish, my husband and son do not (yet).
We are terrified over the USA's descent into an authoritarian state and watching our rights and institutions erode, so we are trying to formulate a plan to move to Europe. Our passports entitle us to live and work in 27 countries, and I know how fortunate that makes us. But, moving still feels insurmountable.
Our main strategy is trying to get our son to go to college in Europe in eight years. It will be his decision-- if he wants to stay here, study locally and marry locally and settle down, that's his choice and we will respect it. But we take frequent trips to Europe and talk to him about how quality of life is better there and he has this rare privilege that would allow him to move there, and for now, that's what he's saying he wants. We plan to spend the next 8 years focusing our vacations visiting English-instruction universities (I know of five in the Netherlands and three in Spain, does anyone know of others in the Schengen zone?)
My main concern is our overall happiness: finding work, and finding community. We have a nice life in our state capital- we have a beautiful home, we have good careers in government and advocacy. My husband volunteers with youth sports, he's worried he wouldn't be able to do that easily in Spain.
Work: At this point we have deep expertise in our state's politics and social issues, so I'm concerned that we won't be able to translate that into work abroad. My hope is for us to get to "coast FI" by that point so we can take a significant paycut, maybe find some digital nomad work. Does anyone know how we could find work? Given our government backgrounds, wondering if international diplomacy work through a consulate or the UN or EU might be an option for us?
Community: Do Americans who move to Europe have a hard time making friends, finding a social life? Would my husband have a hard time finding a group of kids to coach? (He's Black and has volunteered with African immigrants here in the USA so that's a potential avenue). At this point in our lives we are active in local politics and are on several nonprofit boards, etc, and it's really hard to fathom giving that up.
Any personal stories or advice about how people have found these things abroad, particularly in Europe, would be meaningful for me to hear. Also if you see any major holes in this plan I'd also be open to hearing. We are pretty sure this is something we want to work towards in the next 8-15 years (we would follow our son there, ideally), we may even make the plan happen sooner if I felt we could find work over there.
Thanks for any advice.
valentinewrites@reddit
If you were truly terrified, you wouldn't be planning European vacations for 8 years. Get your family to Spain/EU, learn the language by being properly immersed, and find work.
AlbatrossHollow@reddit (OP)
I hear you, your point is well taken. I am terrified, but I also think realistically it's likely to take many years for things to get truly unlivable in the USA (I've heard it said "the USA is like a 3rd world country with iPhones" which kind of sums up what I mean- people here still have a lot of privilege!). That said, my anxiety and terror is causing me to make a variety of plans. My ideal situation is the 8-10 year plan, which is designed to give us the strongest foundation to move there permanently. But with things being scary and unpredictable, I am also working on an 18 month plan, a 3 year plan, 5 year plan...
carltanzler@reddit
Usually, European universities aren't "English instruction universities" as a whole, but some programmes are English taught. I can guarantee that the universities you've visited in NL aren't "English instruction only". If you want to find English taught programmes, you can search through bachelorsportal.com. But imo you're awfully premature in doing this while having a 10 year old, as the current situation is in no way a guarantee for what's available in English by the time your son is ready for university. For instance, current policy in the Netherlands is to actually reduce English taught programmes in the near future.
AlbatrossHollow@reddit (OP)
Thank you for clarifying- I appreciate that. I have a couple of friends who are professors at English-instruction programs in the Netherlands and they've shared there is discussion internally about shifting the University that direction- it feels unlikely given the impact it would have to the University overall, but you make a good point that eight years is a very long time.
Do you think it's likely that in eight years there won't be any English-instruction bachelors programs in the EU? That seems far-fetched to me, but I suppose these days anything is possible.
Thank you also for the link to bachlorsportal, that's not a website I'd heard of. Really appreciated.
carltanzler@reddit
It's not just discussion though, it's policy already and a law proposal that's more than halfway there. Put this article through google translate: https://advalvas.vu.nl/wetenschap-onderwijs/engelstalige-bachelors-krijgen-nederlandstalig-traject/ We're not talking about getting rid of all English taught programmes, but about weeding some out.
No, that seems highly unlikely. There's just a huge difference between countries- some EU countries have very few English taught programmes at bachelor's level, some (like NL) quite a bit, but maybe in 8 years those roles are reversed. I could see maybe poorer EU countries upping their English language options out of economic motivation, while western European countries that struggle with housing shortage (like NL) try to attract less internationals.
AverageFamilyAbroad@reddit
We're in South America, not Europe, but enrolling our kids in the neighborhood public school has been a huge help toward us building community. Are they getting the best education in the world? Probably not, but it's more than adequate, and they're now bilingual, bicultural, and very happy. Plus, we've become friends with their friends' parents. The school's the heart of our little town, so being part of that has been great.
DontSupportAmazon@reddit
As for jobs, there are none in Spain. Unemployment is crazy high. Your best bet is to find remote work from the US. As for community, you’ll be fine. There are many other immigrants here looking for community as well. It’s very easy to join an expat community. As for being friends with the locals, that takes a little more time usually, but it’s easy with Spaniards that have lived or traveled abroad and are looking to connect with a more international community.
AlbatrossHollow@reddit (OP)
Thank you, this is really helpful to hear! We are more worried about being lonely and feeling alienated than we are about work, especially since we're trying to do this in 10 years when hopefully we will have more retirement savings. Glad to know that people are able to find community.
mandance17@reddit
I’ve been in Europe 10 years now but most expats I’ve met don’t really make it past 3 years. It’s as you suggest, many big challenges to overcome and ultimately I think people usually want to return to be close to where they come from.
AlbatrossHollow@reddit (OP)
Thank you for this very real perspective. I'm wondering if it would be different for us to move to Europe if our son moves there at 18, being a young person and more culturally flexible? And he is our only child, as we age, assuming he still likes us, we would move near him. I still have all the concerns about work and community, but I am really hoping that my son puts down roots in Europe, which would give much more purpose to us being there. Thoughts?