Originally Posted by eshock44

Been looking into it today and as long as i am working in an employed status i shouldn't need to worry about certifying my work so in that respect it is pretty much the same as here in the UK when working for a company recognised by one of the national regulatory bodies.

We just started to learn spanish from internet, books, cd's and spanish radio stations (via the internet) and are looking at doing a spanish course in september since that is the biggest single hurdle right now.

So to boil it down for any other sparkys out there looking at spain as an option to live, your qualifications from the UK should qualify you to work in spain since EU qualifications among member states for professional tradesmen are supposed to be recognised, although if you plan to work self employed you may need to have yourself certified in spain which requires you to sit an exam (afaik in spanish) or find a spanish sparks to certify your work for you.

We aren't looking to move to spain for another 2 / 3 years (once our middle child finishes his exams) so we have a bit of time, however if the right job opportunity came up i would go out ahead of my family hence we are moving quickly on learning to speak and read spanish.

On that note does anyone have any idea of the sort of wage commanded by electricians in spain?

I can't find anything solid atm on that and i understand a lot of jobs do not specify a wage however it would be good to have a base idea so i can do income-expenditure calculations to see how affordable living in spain is, i am used to long hours and a tight budget so that does not worry me, also a rough idea of the kind of bills associated with living would be good from those who actually live there atm if it is not too much of an imposition.

Thanks

Nick