Job opportunities in Barcelona

[emma4]

I am thinking of moving to Barcelona next week and working remotely. My 2 children are 15 and 16 and will go to college.
I am worried they will not be able to get work when they leave. They will learn Spanish but Catalan also I think would be too much for them.
Does anyone have any experience of finding work in Barcelona, is it really as difficult as I have read?

First of all, do you already have citizenship of an EU country so that you can immigrate through EU freedom if movement?

If you only have British citizenship, have you got a visa with the right to work?

At 15 and 16 your children will struggle to study at college in two languages they don't speak, read or write.

I can get the digital nomad visa as I own a business in the UK and can work remotely. My children have been accepted into an English speaking college.

These are not the issues, I am looking ahead as to work propects afterwards

Well they won’t have either UK qualifications (even if the college does iGCSEs theyll have missed large parts of the curriculum) or enough time to develop fluency in Spanish to gain Spanish qualifications. So yes they’ll struggle. Why don’t you go in a couple
of years when you won’t be fucking up their future?

They will have their GCSE's and will be doing an IB diploma

As I said it will be next year, they will have their GCSE's by then, but thank you for your concern

@emma4 , have you double checked your dc can return to uni in the UK as home students and access student loans?

I think you are correct to worry about their prospects afterwards. If they wanted to do bar work or similar they would probably be able to pick that up but anything that requires a greater level of language would be really hard. At their ages it doesn’t give them long to learn enough Spanish or Catalan. I agree with a pp that waiting til they are more independent would be better.

Your OP said you were going next week!!!

Are they the same year then? I can’t see how one wouldn’t be halfway through sixth form if the other has finished a stage of education.

Are they not academic then? Seeing as you’re looking at their work prospects rather than uni? UK uni may charge international fees btw, and a Spanish one also might - plus they’d have to be there in their own visa rather than as dependents once they were 18 - again difficult unless they have EU passports.

Is anyone living in Spain that knows currently what the job market is like. No offence but I wanted info from anyone living out there.

Them getting a job isnt your biggest problem though. Not being able to access Uni, or stay in the country once they’re adults, are surely bigger problems.

And like anywhere the job market will depend on the job type. No point someone telling you there’s bucketloads of teaching or IT or plastering jobs when your kids won’t be qualified to do them.

The job market in Spain is highly competitive and poorly paid.
Unless candidates have fluency in the language employment will be extremely difficult.

I work in HR for a support center in Poblenou. The reality is that competition is high, but there are entry opportunities for young people in multilingual customer support, seasonal hospitality, and paid internships (dual vocational training). Catalan isn't required everywhere, but it does open doors in retail and public administration. The key is having all your paperwork in order (TIE, Social Security Number). If you're coming soon, I'd suggest getting your documents sorted with NIM Extranjeria(^https://www.nimextranjeria.com/)^ before applying, the onboarding process goes much faster.