r/ExpatLifeinSpain

For context, I am a Spanish national (valid DNI and Passport) and I am planning to move from the UK to Alicante on a permanent basis.

I have been with my long distance girlfriend, who lives in the US, for 3 years.

We have a loving relationship and she is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. We want to live together indefinitely.

The plan is for her to come for 3 months via the Schengen Visa, where we will immediately begin the process of getting her residency.

The problem is that I've heard she would require registering at the same address, and I'm unsure if she would be able to register where I'm renting.

Would this be something that she can do through me? So as the main renter of the property, would I be able to have her be registered to the same property so that we can begin applying for pareja de hecho and hopefully have everything done before the end of the 90-day visa period?

Is there some other way we can go about this that isn't as complicated?

I've read that the Valencian community is lax on the co-living requirements for pareja de hecho, just as Andalusia and Catalunya, but I just wanted to be 100% sure.

I know it isn't the most difficult situation, but I'm extremely paranoid of messing anything up and causing us to have to wait 6 months for the Schengen Visa to become available once more.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated 🙏

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Para ponerte en contexto: soy ciudadano español (con DNI y pasaporte en regla) y planeo mudarme del Reino Unido a Alicante de forma permanente.

Llevo tres años con mi novia, con quien mantengo una relación a distancia; ella vive en Estados Unidos.

Tenemos una relación maravillosa y ella es lo mejor que me ha pasado en la vida. Queremos vivir juntos indefinidamente.

El plan es que ella venga durante tres meses con el visado Schengen y que iniciemos inmediatamente el trámite para obtener su residencia.

El problema es que he oído que necesita estar empadronada, y no estoy seguro de si podrá registrarse en la vivienda que tengo alquilada.

¿Es algo que puede hacer a través de mí? Es decir, como titular del contrato de alquiler, ¿podría registrarla en la misma vivienda para que podamos solicitar el registro como pareja de hecho y, con suerte, completar todo el proceso antes de que finalice el periodo de 90 días del visado?

¿Existe alguna otra forma de hacerlo que no sea tan complicada?

He leído que la Comunidad Valenciana es flexible con los requisitos de convivencia para las parejas de hecho —al igual que Andalucía y Cataluña—, pero quería asegurarme al 100 %.

Sé que no es la situación más difícil, pero me preocupa muchísimo cometer algún error y que tengamos que esperar seis meses para poder volver a solicitar el visado Schengen.

Agradezco de antemano cualquier consejo o sugerencia 🙏

Hello! I am an American who recently moved back to Valencia, Spain to join my husband. I now have a residency permit here, and I speak both English and Spanish. I have been teaching in the United States and abroad since 2018, including teaching English in Spain for three years. With my recent move back to Spain, I'm trying to figure out what my next career move will be.

I have a bachelor's in Education and a master's in Instructional Design. Additionally, I've developed a strong interest in digital marketing, so I'm currently taking the Google Digital Marketing certification course. While I do love teaching, I'm ready to expand my professional experience outside the classroom and transition into other roles, such as higher education, or potentially marketing. When I first moved to Spain in 2020, I moved here on my own, and I loved every moment of that experience. Because of that, I've also been considering a career in study abroad advising.

My question is: Has anyone successfully worked in ID or student advising abroad, specifically in Spain or in a remote role? TYIA!

Hi everyone,

After spending weeks comparing job offers in Spain, I realised that most salary calculators were either outdated, missing regional taxes, or gave different results for the same salary.

As a bit of a finance nerd, I ended up building one for myself using the official 2026 IRPF brackets, Social Security contributions and regional tax rules.
I thought some of you might find it useful too, especially if you’re:

Comparing job offers
Planning a move to Spain
Trying to understand your real take-home pay
Wondering whether Madrid, Barcelona or another region makes more financial sense
I’ve also started adding practical guides about salaries and the cost of living, rather than just showing a number.
The calculator is completely free and doesn’t require registration.

👉 https://salaryinspain.com

I’d genuinely appreciate any feedback from people who are already living in Spain or planning to move here. If you spot anything that’s inaccurate or missing, I’d much rather improve it than leave it wrong.

Thanks!

I recently moved to Salamanca from the USA. I love to bake and I have had a hard time finding baking ingredients. I learned that I couldn't find vanilla extract because vanilla paste is more common here. I substituted it in recipes and that worked. But I need almond extract and I cannot find it or anything close to it. The bakeries have almond croissant so there must be a supply of almond extract somewhere! But I have been to every grocery store looking for it without luck. Does anyone know how to find baking supplies here??

Between the school, the community, and random service providers, my WhatsApp is 90% Spanish. Looking for something seamless.

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.