Ronaldo Martinez, autor en Madrid Expat Services

Spanish nationality: on the road to a new law for the descendants

The agreements of the newly formed coalition government between PSOE and Unidas Podemos could allow a significant change in the acquisition of the Spanish nationality. Indeed, the new government’s program of agreement includes a measure to recognize Spanish nationality for people whose parents are Spanish but born abroad. The idea is to offer the possibility to any Spanish descendant, son/daughter or grandson/granddaughter, in the case that one of their relatives was born abroad. Even if the proposal still raises issues, the original text states: “the Spanish nationality will be [...]

Spain continues to have one of the worst levels of English in Europe

A new study places the country in 25th spot on a list of 33 European states with respect to its proficiency in the language Spaniards do not have a good level of English. In fact, surveys from the European Union’s statistical office, Eurostat, and a report from the foreign language company, Education First, place Spain close to the bottom of the ladder compared to the rest of Europe when it comes to English proficiency. According to experts, the poor result is explained in part by the size of Spain, its relatively low GDP per capita [...]

Beginning of the rice harvest

The rice harvesting campaign started this week in the spanish rice paddies , Europe's largest producing country with an annual output of around 800,000 tonnes. In terms of production, Spain is just behind Italy and ahead of Greece. It is a very small part of the worlds production but for the regions of Extremadura, Andalusia, Catalonia and Valencia, rice farming is part of both agricultural and gastronomic heritage. Most of the rice milling industries are located in the Valencia region, although this region produces only a quarter of the Spanish [...]

Attics Mythics … The history of these apartments that have become an object of desire …

In modern architecture, the attic is the floor located nearest to the roof, at the top of the face of the building, set back on the street side, to make way for a balcony or terrace. At a time when the prices take off for this type of housing in Spain (and elsewhere), it is difficult to think that the penthouse was previously the apartment reserved for the porter or the service staff ... Because at the time when the elevator did not exist (or was not within the reach [...]

Why Spain is now one of the top five countries for expats

The destination has jumped to fourth position on the latest HSBC global survey, with 83% of foreign residents saying their overall wellbeing had improved since arriving Spain ranks fourth as the best place to work and live, according to people who participated in the latest HSBC Expat Explorer Survey, published on Thursday. This is the best position since the survey began 12 years ago. Last year, Spain ranked 13th. This year Switzerland, Singapore and Canada were ahead of Spain, which was followed by New Zealand in the Top 5 category. The study focuses [...]

Solar panel systems soar in Spain thanks to friendlier regulations

The sun has been shining on Spain’s self-produced energy sector ever since new regulations were approved in April by the Socialist (PSOE) government. Since then, demand for photovoltaic solar panels by homes and businesses has soared. Although it is still early, The Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) is already talking about “an enormous renewed interest” in solar energy self-generation. Last year, 235 megawatts (MW) of new photovoltaic power were added in Spain, and this year the industry expects to see an installed capacity of 400 MW, says José Donoso, director general of [...]

The Las Rozas Village shopping center outside Madrid.

Wealth map of Spain: These are the country’s richest and poorest areas

Madrid and Barcelona are home to the 10 neighborhoods with the highest annual per capita income The wealth map of Spain depicts a country whose prosperity is concentrated in a triangle formed by Madrid, Barcelona and the Basque Country, while the southern region of Andalusia harbors the country’s poorest areas, according to figures recently released by the Spain’s INE official statistics office. And when it comes to the country’s richest and poorest towns, Pozuelo de Alarcón, on the outskirts of Madrid, wins the wealth title while Nijar in Almería languishes at the [...]

Useful, though painful, reminder!

What if flat sharing boosted your real estate investment?

Increasing the profitability of a property sometimes involves flat sharing, a new trend popular in Spain for both tenants and homeowners.In some cases (especially in the center of the large cities in Spain and Europe, in general), renting a room in an apartment is a solution to the problem of excessively high rents: this is true for a good number of young people who are just starting in the working life and for an owner, this possibility has many advantages, such as profitability for example.This is made apparent in [...]

The first 13 things Americans learn upon moving to Spain

(Matadornetwork) 1. The Spanish you learned in high school is nothing like the language spoken here. The first time I heard two Spanish brothers call each other “tío“, I thought, “hmmm… that’s odd. Why would brothers call each other uncle?” The Latin Spanish taught in American schools and from highly-acclaimed language teachers like Professor Dora the Explorer, is just a tad bit different than the colloquial language in Spain. I like to think of it as the subtle differences between American English and British English. Lift, meet elevator. 2. You can throw [...]

Author - Ronaldo Martinez