r/ExpatLifeinSpain

Hello -- future expat here -- planning a move to Spain from the US with my family in October.

Background:

• We are both already bilingual (fully fluent in Spanish and English)
• I became a Spanish citizen through Ley de Nietos late last year
• Currently have a 20-month old (he will be 2 by the time we move)

Since our son was born we have been speaking to him in Spanish since we didn't have plans to leave the US until I got my citizenship. We are now trying to speak more English to him (but it's hard since our default with him is Spanish), and he goes to daycare twice a week so he gets English there, but most of the communication with family and friends is in Spanish. He's starting to talk a lot and he definitely leans more toward Spanish, with random English words here and there.

I want him to be fluent like us in English, of course I don't expect him to have an American accent, or use the same jargon we do. We don't do too much TV time yet, but we do read to him in English. If possible we will put him in an English bilingual school, and will do our best to speak English at home, watch films and TV in English, spend time back home in the US when possible.

For those of you who moved to Spain with babies or toddlers, how did your children’s English develop over time? Do they still speak fluently/naturally, or did Spanish eventually become dominant despite your efforts?

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my situation and get some honest advice from people living in Spain.

I’m originally from Brazil, and I left my home country back in 2015. Since then, I’ve lived in Sydney (4 years), Berlin (2 years), and for the past 5 years, Lisbon has been my home.

Portugal has been good to me in many ways. I even managed to buy an apartment here — not because the country made it easy, but because I’ve worked hard for over a decade and saved consistently. Professionally, I’m in tech, and I’m stable: good job, two cats, and a comfortable life.

But socially… Portugal has been the hardest place I’ve lived in.

I’ve experienced hostility and discrimination here in a way I never did in Sydney or Berlin. I’ve heard things like “volta para o seu país”, “brasileiro do caralho”, and “os brasileiros só vêm para cá fazer merda.” These generalizations hurt, and they make me feel unwelcome in a place I’ve tried to build a life in.

Sometimes it feels like people think they’re doing me a favor by letting me live here. But the reality is: expats contribute to the economy, and I’m qualified — Portugal is not my only option.

The thing is: every time I visit Spain, I feel genuinely well received. I don’t know if it’s cultural, historical, or just coincidence, but the vibe is completely different. I’ve been thinking more and more about moving to Spain, especially since finding a tech job there shouldn’t be too difficult.

My main hesitation is practical:
I own an apartment in Lisbon, so leaving would mean renting it out and reorganizing my whole life. But emotionally, I’m starting to feel like a change might be necessary.

So I’d love to hear from you all:

• How do Brazilians (or Latin Americans in general) feel living in Spain?
• How is the social environment compared to Portugal?
• Anything I should be aware of before making such a big move?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

My wife and I have been on Kindred for about a year now, with over 50 nights hosted and booked. We're expats living in Valencia, Spain, and home swapping has become a real part of how we travel. Here's the unfiltered version of how it's gone.

It’s different than booking an Airbnb

I came in treating it like a standard booking platform. Specific dates, specific cities, specific requirements. If you approach Kindred like Airbnb, you'll likely get frustrated. It takes some patience and a bit more work than popping in dates to book something immediately.

You will likely interact with the host through a few messages before you are approved to stay. I don’t mind it because I like to get a feel for who will be staying in my home as well.

What Actually Works

Flexibility is everything. Using Kindred without locking in rigid dates and locations opened things up for me and started finding a lot more stays. Kindred rewards members who can adapt. If you can say "sometime in May" instead of "May 14 to 18," you're going to have a much easier time.

The easiest approach we've found: if you're open to traveling anywhere, browse homes you love and book one. Then plan your trip around the Kindred you booked. It sounds backwards but it works really well and takes a lot of the frustration out of the process of the booking process.

If you already have a trip planned and need a specific city and dates, it gets harder. What we do in that case is check the app daily to see if something new has popped up, then request to book quickly before someone else does. It takes patience but it does work more often than not.

In these situations, we always also have a backup plan. We will book something for our stay elsewhere that has free cancellation. Then, if we find a Kindred, we will cancel the existing reservation. We just did this for a 4 night stay in Dublin. It saved us $1,200!

Cleaning (This Is Huge for Us)

This doesn't get talked about enough. My wife and I both work while we travel, so we genuinely do not have time to strip beds, deep clean, and prep a home before we leave, whether that's our own place or someone else's. The fact that professional cleaning is included on both ends has been a game changer for us. It's one of the main reasons we've stayed on the platform as long as we have.

That said, it hasn't been perfect. We had one experience where the cleaning at our home was subpar and didn't meet the standard we expected. It was disappointing, but Kindred's support team was responsive about it. Worth knowing going in that the quality can vary.

The Numbers After One Year

We've saved approximately $5,500 through Kindred over the past year. That's money that would have otherwise gone to hotels or Airbnbs. This is honestly what keeps us coming back despite it taking a bit more work than simply booking elsewhere.

Where I'm At Now

We've hosted a lot and built up a decent credit balance, but finding stays for trips we already have planned is still the hardest part of using this platform. It's a real supply and demand issue and something I'd like to see improve. The daily check-in habit helps, but it's not ideal for everyone.

Still, the value when it works is genuinely hard to argue with. Staying in real homes, in real neighborhoods, at a fraction of what hotels or Airbnbs would cost, adds up fast over a year.

For Anyone Curious About Trying It

If you've been on the fence, I have a referral code that gets you 5 free nights immediately after approval and helps move your application along faster. Just DM me and I'll send it over.

Happy to answer questions in the comments too.

TLDR: After a year and 50+ nights, we've saved around $5,500 through Kindred. Book a home you love first, then plan the trip around it. The included cleaning is a standout perk, especially if you work while you travel. It's not flawless, but for frequent travelers who can adapt, the value is real. DM me for a referral code and 5 free nights to get started.

I (30M) am a Mexican national living in France. I came to study a master's degree and am looking for a job atm but I'm not so sure of wanting to stay here. I was wondering if anyone in my situation (non-EU national in EU wanting to move to Spain) has any advice on what the way to go about this would be.

I have 9 months left on my French residency permit but I am exploring ways of moving to Spain from France but I don't know how to 1. ask for a residency permit and 2. justify my stay. I would like to stay long enough to maybe lay some roots there and eventually gain a long term residency.

Before anyone tells me to google it, I wanted to know if anyone here has been in the same situation and what you did.

How does one go about moving to Spain from inside the EU as a non-EU national and being able to stay there and find a job? I'm not looking to go there illegally, I want to do it the right way. I just want some guidance and advice.