I'm also living in A Coruna province now (near Ribeira).
Make sure you get an NIE-number from your local Spanish consulate. Very useful to set up a bank account. Without a bank account you do not exist here. It will be valid for 3 months usually, so plan well. Also note that banks now definitely require proof of income. If you got any small pension or other benefit being paid out, tell them you are pensionista. That helps speed things up.
My best experience was with ABanca here, both service wise and for their excellent software.
BBVA is no good. That big bak is very sow and bureaucratic and demanding.|
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Once you get a bank account, request a debit card and internet access. Note that teh system here is that transactions, so payments you initiated incur a fee and it is not cheap. Oddly enough when you go deposit funds personally at the other person or company its bank there is no charge. You will see that many orgabizations will still require this to get a written proof of deposit. ATM withdrawals from other banks, outside or inside teh country, also incur substantial fees.and bad exchange rates but they differ by bank, so shop around.
Get your registered with teh town as soon as possible after you have your NIE number letter (you need to show it with your passport and rental agreement or property title). There is usually no fee for that. Ask for a copy of teh registration of 'empadronamento' right away. It will be of use for other bureaucratic procedures.
For buying a car or home or signing up for phone and utilities you will need the NIE number.
Budget that you will be obliged to first sign up with Telefonica/Movistar (state run phone company with monopoly of phone lines) to get a fixed phone line which you will need to later get phone/TV/Internet with other companies and calculate that you will pay a $150 fee to cancel it right away to get teh much beytter service and products from the other companies. Do not stay with Telefonica/Movistar. They are gangsters who will threaten and at te same offer a carrot of a lower price you when you try to move but do not get impressed. They exaggerate and lie about what can happen.
Take into account that Spain is very backwards, especially in the rural areas with Internet speed. Often it is not more than 8 MB and no fib+er optic in the foreseeable future and bad satellite service so no alternatives.
Food is often very inexpensive here in Galicia, but there is much less choice than in the cities and abroad. Life is just more simple here and people also still prepare and grow a lot of foods an dishes at home.
The pace of life is much slower that you will probably be used to and then people have more time often to chat a lot. The Galicians are very kind and open and direct. They speak Spanish, but count on some still trying Galician on you. The weather can vary a lot per Galician region. Were I am it is not so much rainy, but there is a lot of sun and a nice breeze. Highways are quite deserted even in rush hour. Count on people shutting their stores around 2 pm and reopening around 5 pm. On Sundays all stores, even supermarkets in rural areas are close but for a few incidental small food stores which may open in the morning,, even on holidays.
Count on a mainly hilly landscape so plenty of daily climbing.even just to get up your own street. Many of the beautiful beaches are often almost deserted r underused.
Make sure to buy a cheap car. Bus lines are limited and do not run that often. They are also relatively expensive.
Taxis are terfibly expensive here due to them being regulated by the Spanish governments Independent Internet taxi company Uber has recently been forbidden from operating anywhere in Spain on request of local taxi companies with help of one judge. Consider that a lot of monopolies get established here by the politicians, so the free market is limited although there exists an enormous black market economy (35% of all transactions!).
Ideal place to retire or run your global business from home with a beautiful peaceful environment and low cost of living if you work around the red tape and the 'manana culture'. Count on things not happening usually when you think they were scheduled for a certain time or date so take more time in planning and be vigilant too.
Also, this is a great opportunity to establish lots of new good long term personal relationships. And the Galicians also seem quite in for new business deals.
Property is ridiculously cheap here. One can get one of 1400 plus abandoned whole villages for under Euro 50,000 of course fixer uppers. And similarly old Galician stone houses for under Euro 10,000. Rents of apartments are as low as Euro 150-200 and a whole house with sea view can be just Euro 400 (unfurnished).
Let me know if you have anything to add to this, or if you have questions.
Peter
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