How possible it would be to continue my nursing career in Spain ?

Hello and welcome Danielle,

Please note that I have created a new thread on the Seville forum from your post so that members can guide you.

All the best

Bhavna

Hi, I am intersted in the answers to this question as I am moving to sevilla in a very similar situation. Could you point me to the answers this received?

@Rebecca U

Good news! Spain also has hospitals... and sick people. :-) And Seville is one of Spain's largest cities. This is all positive. Spain also has care homes and old people, if you're casting a wider net. If elder care is an option for you, and you're also willing to be independent/self-employed, then you could also look at providing home care.

I reckon language is not a huge barrier, especially if you already speak a little Spanish, and are happy to work on it. If you can get a nice certificate somewhere (B2 is usually pretty easy to get to), that probably helps.

The bigger issue is that nursing is a skilled profession with registration/qualification requirements, with the added complication that you (likely) have non-EU qualifications. If you're a qualified UK nurse, I don't see this as a massive problem, but it will probably take you some weeks to navigate the bureaucracy for getting your foreign qualifications recognized (homologation, I think) and registering as a Spanish nurse.

https://www.jobsagencyfm.com/en/register-nurse-spain/

The biggest issue is it's often quite difficult to get work permits for non-EU citizens. If you don't have the right the work in Spain, and you need to find a potential employer who will give you an employment contract and sponsor you for immigration purposes... this will narrow your options considerably. Especially if you're trying to do this while living in the UK. But I'd imagine it's possible, if you absolutely don't want to move over without a formal job offer.

@DaniSte2017 was in an easier position, as it seemed her husband had already been offered a fancy job, and a work permit to go with it. And, thanks to Family Reunification, she would also become a Spanish resident with the right to work. This is obviously much easier from a job search perspective, especially if one is already living in Spain and can easily go to a bunch of interviews.

I haven't looked at salaries, but my guess is that Spanish nurses are paid substantially less than UK ones.