New Passport Rules for UK Nationals in Spain

It is in the centre of Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura. 1 bedroom, jacuzzi shower, in excellent condition. 70,000€.

If you would like further information – you can contact Shona via email on shonaghmcginn@yahoo.es

But here is a list of some things that we wished we’d known before we made the move to the Canaries.

1. We wished we had known about companies such as HiFX, and how much money we could have added to our pot, simply by transferring our savings to Spain through them.

2. Official documentation. Make sure that you have FULL copies of birth certificates for yourselves and your children. These full documents have both your parents’ name on too – unlike the shorter versions which omit this… and aren’t worth the paper they’re written on here for anything remotely legal… but which are the ones given out in the UK as standard. It is much easier to get those copies before you move over, than once you’re here… so do get them.

3. We wish we had learned more Spanish. Ok… so it hasn’t held us back in business (almost all of our clients speak English) but out of respect for the country we have moved to, and its people – we wish we’d made more of an effort. Moving to a foreign land is daunting enough… and knowing a bit more of the lingo is one less hurdle to overcome.

4. I wish I had brought all my kitchen stuff over. I left things behind such as our slowcooker, breadmaker, and silly little things like that. We planned to buy all new once we arrived… and were horrified by the prices of electrical items once we were here. Whilst trying to settle into new home, you really don’t need the extra expense.

That’s it really. But we’d like to hear from you – and what things you wished you’d known before you arrived. Either drop us an email to info@fuerteventurarelocation.co.uk or leave a comment

Things to raise alarm bells are:
Your own name or email address not being in the “To” section
Hovering your cursor over the link (don’t click it) bringing up dodgy code that doesn’t match the site it is supposed to

If you receive anything like this, just delete it. If you are concerned that perhaps you are missing something from your bank, then phone your own branch – they will tell you if someone has been trying to contact you.

And never EVER log in using your bank details, email or password to a website that you are unsure of.

Here is a screen grab to show you the email. Click it, to open it up full size.

Stay safe!

“OK now I know that a few people throughout the Canaries are getting a little bit frustrated waiting for their new sky cards to come and can only imagine how difficult it can be to keep getting rid of the warning if you have a bar or other business showing games.

TIP:
If you select any program you wish to watch from the SKY TV Guide and then select it to “Autoview” then leave the box to bounce in to the program without pressing any backup or selecting the channel you will find that the warning doesn’t appear again until after the program has finished!”

Thanks Phil! We don’t have Sky… but we know many who do… so hope that your tip helps them out.

Elle xx

If there is not an article subject here, that you would like to see, then drop us a line… and we’ll see what we can do!

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W Y

6 useful tips

A

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A resident’s perspective

Abortion in Fuerteventura

Alcoholics anonymous in Fuerteventura

Applying for residencia in Fuerteventura

Applying for residencia in Fuerteventura – do I have to?

B

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Beware of the sharks

Bus routes and timetables in Fuerteventura

C

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Christmas in Fuerteventura

Clothing sizes in Fuerteventura

Contact Us

Conversational Spanish

Corralejo

Counselling in Fuerteventura

Credit crunch in Fuerteventura

D

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Driving in Fuerteventura

Driving tips for Fuerteventura

Duty free allowances in Fuerteventura

E

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Easy paella recipe

Evicting tenants in Fuerteventura

F

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Family planning in Fuerteventura

Financial Commentary – July 2009

Financial Commentary – Aug 2009

Finding work in Fuerteventura

Flights to Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura weather

G

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Getting a cervical smear test in Fuerteventura

Getting a NIE number in Fuerteventura

Getting a phone line in Fuerteventura

Getting prescriptions in Fuerteventura

Goodbye England

Google Earth image of Fuerteventura

H

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Having a baby in Fuerteventura

Health Centres and hospitals in Fuerteventura

House repossessions in Fuerteventura

I

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Issuing a denuncia in fuerteventura

J

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Jobs in Fuerteventura

K

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Kids fly free – May 2009

L

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Late night chemists in Fuerteventura

Leaving loved ones behind

Links for Fuerteventura websites

Live Fuerteventura airport arrivals and departures

Lottery in Fuerteventura

M

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Mortgages in Fuerteventura

Mosquitoes in Fuerteventura

N

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NIE application form download

O

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Opening a bank account in Fuerteventura

P

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Putting a car through an ITV in Fuerteventura

Q

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R

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Recycling in Fuerteventura

Regional surf forecast for Fuerteventura

Residencia form for download

Retiring to Fuerteventura

S

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Shipping pets to Fuerteventura

Shipping your belongings to Fuerteventura

Social security in Fuerteventura

Social Security in Fuerteventura 02

Spain property owners can save money

Spam emails in Fuerteventura

Spanish building terms

Spanish words around the house

Spanish words for your Fuerteventura kitchen

Stop Sky card warning from showing

Supermarkets in Fuerteventura

T

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Telefonica in Fuerteventura

Television in Fuerteventura

Transferring money to Fuerteventura from the UK

U

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Useful numbers

V

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W

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Weddings in Fuerteventura

What does it take…?

When do the clocks change in Fuerteventura?

Wills in Fuerteventura

Wiring a Spanish plug in Fuerteventura

Working in Fuerteventura – EU Legislation

Jade Goody - R.I.P.

If you are paying into the Spanish Social Security system in Fuerteventura, then you can book this through your GP. However, in some areas of the island there can be a long wait for this. Spanish healthcare, although being of a high standard, has it’s focus on curative rather than preventative medicine.

Should you wish to go private, then your doctor should be able to recommend a private practise where the doctor speaks English – which can be a relief for ladies already concerned about going through an invasive examination.  The cost  for going private is usually around €50, and results are given by telephone within 10 days.

The word in Spanish for this procedure is “citalogica”.

Please take care of your health, ladies – and don’t leave these things to chance.

Elle xx

With Sterling, the FTSE and hopes, running high, even in the press, it was left to the Bank of England to burst the bubble by quite unexpectedly announcing a £50 billion extension of the quantitative easing programme. Commenting that the recession had proved deeper than expected and that the recovery still looked fragile, the Bank decided that additional buying of Government gilts, designed ultimately to stimulate fresh lending to the economy, was necessary. Sterling fell rapidly on this announcement, down to 1.1630, only to stage a recovery back up to 1.1750.

The UK’s BRC (British Retail Consortium) retail sales survey said like for like sales were up 1.8% in July after a 1.4% increase in June and only 8% of the surveyors in the RICS report were seeing prices declining in July, compared to 18% in June and close to 100% last year. EU industrial production reversed June’s positive number to report a 0.6% decline, leaving the annual decline at 17%.

Just ahead of the Bank’s report the UK unemployment was released showing a 13 year high rate of 7.8%, with 2.4 million without jobs, setting the scene for the big downgrades expected from Mervyn and his team. But the downgrade of this year’s GDP forecast from -3.9% to -4.4% was tempered by a solid upgrade for 2010, from +1.1% to +1.8%.

Further reading of King’s comments showed that the additional QE had been motivated by the need to address the danger of deflation over the next 2 years. Achieving a 2% inflation target is, after all, the Bank’s primary remit and their own model currently shows the danger of undershoot. Sterling remained stable at just above 1.16 in the wake of this report.

The real excitement came however when France and Germany reported they had escaped from the clutches of recession with similar 0.3% GDP gains in Q2. This bolstered the EU wide GDP (Gross Domestic Product) figure to -0.1%, just shy of the magic number. This was a major surprise to every economist and possibly even to the countries themselves.

With the additional quantitative easing shock wearing off, Sterling started to recover again, particularly after the UK’s CPI inflation rate failed to fall as expected, asking questions of Mervyn King’s worries over the deflation threat.

The markets then received another Bank of England tremor when they revealed that further to the additional easing shock, 3 members of the MPC, including the Governor, had voted for £75 billion! The accompanying comments reflected the view that ‘the risk of doing too little was far greater than doing too much’. Sterling fell back towards 1.16 on this news.

The Euro meanwhile basked in an improved industrial orders figure at +3.1% on the month and another healthy spurt in the various components of the German IFO survey.

GBP/EUR slid close to 1.13 by Thursday.

Current Central Bank Rates:
Europe: 1.00% – European Central Bank (next meeting 3rd September)
UK: 0.50% – Bank of England (next meeting 10th September)
GBP/EUR Highs & Lows of August:
High: 1.1826
Low: 1.1312
A movement of: 4.54%

Difference this would make on a £200k property
High: €236,520
Low: €226,240
A difference of: €10,280

The details expressed in this transmission and accompanying documents are for information purposes only and are not intended as a solicitation for funds or a recommendation to trade. HiFX plc accepts no liability whatsoever for any loss or damages suffered through any act or omission taken as a result of reading or interpreting any of the above information. HiFX is a limited company registered in Spain. Registered
number: B92699743. Registered office: C/Azaleas 51, Bajo Dcha, 29660 Nueva Andalucia, Marbella, Malaga, Spain

The Eurozone however hardly remains unscathed from the credit crisis with the unemployment rate surging to 9.5% and the credit rating of Ireland being downgraded from sovereign AAA to AA1 accompanied by a negative downgrade.

Further green shoots emerged in the housing market as the RICS housing survey unveiled a jump in its reading from -43.8 to -18.1 in June, which is the highest level since September 2007. However the unemployment data reminded the market of the effects of the recession with another 281k jobs lost in the last quarter, taking the unemployment arte up to 7.6%, its
highest reading since January 1997.

Equity markets remained rampant as risk appetite continued for the second week, with 75% of the US companies who have reported thus far unveiling results that have exceeded market expectations. The FTSE has now climbed for 10 consecutive days, a feat only twice accomplished within its 25 year history. This ‘Armageddon bounce’ that took us out of the deepest darkest days in February/March is reflecting positively on Sterling as it continues to
hold on to its gains for this year.

Green shoots from the housing market and the High Street quickly withered in the shade of the Q2 GDP data, that recorded a far steeper drop in growth (-0.8%) than was expected and took the year on year drop to 5.7%.
One of the many new mortgage approval releases had set the scene with a healthy 9% rise on the month but it was the Nationwide’s house price survey’s 4th rise in 5 months that really caught the eye, firmly consigning the ‘perhaps it’s a blip’ thought to the bin. The annual decline has now improved to just -6.2%, leaving most/all of the forecasts for 20-50% declines over the coming months in the same receptacle. Of course the stats can be misleading and the low levels of activity in the housing market have been cited as one
potential caveat, as has the chronic lack of supply, but like the FX markets, at the end of the day its all about sentiment. Such is the importance of the housing market to the psyche of the consumer that this turnaround in fortunes could be extrapolated to unrealistic expectations for the economy, just as the demise of the housing market fostered so many gloomy forecasts just a few months ago. To take the middle ground, let’s just say that a housing recovery should at least ease consumer’s fears. The release of the monthly lending figures were another opportunity to justify your economic viewpoint. Lending to companies and consumers fell again, prompting concerns about the supply of credit and calls for the Bank of England’s quantitative easing to be extended. What the stats don’t tell you is how
many companies/consumers are happy to be paying down debt and this may have a positive impact on the spending patterns eventually, albeit at a slower pace than the credit fuelled days of yesteryear.

In the EU, the IMF joined the currency debate by stating that economic fundamentals suggest the Euro is up to 15% over valued. The Euro fell initially on this report but towards the end of last week an EU economic sentiment index had touched an 8 month high and EU unemployment failed to soar to 9.7% as expected, settling for a smaller rise from 9.3% to 9.4%.

Current Central Bank Rates:
Europe (E.C.B): 1.00% (Next Meeting 11th August)
UK (Bank of England): 0.50% (Next Meeting 6th August)
Highs & Lows of July:
High: 1.1760
Low: 1.1495
Movement of 2.31%

Difference this would make on a £200k property
High: €235,200
Low: €229,900
A difference of €5,300

The details expressed in this transmission and accompanying documents are for information purposes only and are not intended as a solicitation for funds or a recommendation to trade. HiFX plc accepts no liability whatsoever for any loss or damages suffered through any act or omission taken as a result of reading or interpreting any of the above information. HiFX is a limited company registered in Spain. Registered
number: B92699743. Registered office: C/Azaleas 51, Bajo Dcha, 29660 Nueva Andalucia, Marbella, Malaga, Spain

Fuerteventura has many beaches offering a variety of wave sizes and wind strengths. These change from day to day, but the geography of the island means that it is usually possible to find somewhere that is right for your ability level. This makes it an ideal as a place to learn kitesurfing or surfing, develop your skills or revel in your sport.

The kitesurfing in the North of Fuerteventura is suitable for all levels and there are two main spots, Flag beach and Cotillo.

Flag beach is the main spot for those staying in Corralejo. This huge beach is on the road heading south from the resort, about 5 mins out of the town centre. The wind is predominantly cross-shore and there is a specific section of the beach set aside for kitesurfing. The best months for kitesurfing are March to November when the sea tends to be flatter and the wind consistent.

Cotillo (about 15 mins from Corralejo) is a charming village on the west coast and an ideal location for boat-based learning at any time of year. Our instructors will run you down to the harbor where you can jump into the boat and you’ll be on the water in just a few minutes. It is not as busy as Flag Beach, more scenic and you can enjoy the great little village of El Cotillo before and after your time on the water – highly recommended.

A big thank you to Tommy from the Magma Kiteschool for donating this article to us. For more information, you can contact the Magma Kiteschool via their website at www.magma-kiteschool.com