antonia,

just to point out, in case other spaniards ever want to try this, contract work in the USA is not illegal. it is not "under the table."

when performing contract labor you are on the honors system to REPORT your earnings to the government, wherby you are taxed accordingly. but trust me, there is no way for the government to KNOW that you were ever paid a dime, and therefore it is up to you to report it.

solo FYI (for your information).

pax.

Antonio-
That's a great idea that Eddie had! Although I can not offer you such details like that, I can offer you encouragement. I have also heard that there is an incredible economic boom( also , I witnessed it this summer) there. They are importing workers like crazy. It is an incredibly beautiful country and the people are extremely friendly, as a whole. Although I think it would be great for you to come and see the US, considering your skills and the need there, it seems like a great match. Also, it is a bit cheaper than England. Although similar, the food is better than England's, as far as I'm concerned.

[This message has been edited by Jen (edited 08-31-2000).]

If Antonio wants to work around/ with computers, he should consider Austin, Texas. Dell computers has it's headquarters there, and there is a hiring firm for Yahoo.com there as well, with most positions in Dallas. The computer, and data information in Austin is amazing. Cost of living isn't too bad, and the city is soooo, wonderful! It's no Madrid, but the people are friendly, and well educated, and the nightlife is sililar to that of Spain's. There is even a great tapas bar there. Jeez, I don't even live in Austin, perhaps I should work for their division of tourism!

[This message has been edited by Rubia66 (edited 09-01-2000).]

I think you will find the cost of living in Ireland generally less than the UK, although the economic 'boom' has been causing it to go up.

Shannon is not what you would call a 'City,' per se - Limerick, Ireland's second largest city, is the closest 'large city' to Shannon airport. But in the area between Limerick City (Limerick is also a County) & Shannon airport is where the 'Celtic Tiger' is seen in all the new Industrial Parks. Limerick also has an excellent University that draws students from all over. The three cities I would expect DP job opportunities to be the best are Dublin, Ireland's Capital, Limerick and Galway. Galway is on the west coast and at least one major multinational Computer Manufacturer/Software developer has its European headquarters there.

I have heard of some hooliganism and racial attacks in Ireland - Limerick, called 'stab city;' Dublin, some neighborhoods to avoid; and Galway, known as a pretty tough place; and like everywhere, there are drugs. I've not experienced any of those, likely because I am Irish and much of the violence (except drug-related) is directed against obviously non-Irish people. You shouldn't encounter any of that - just get yourself a Donegal tweed jacket & cap and look Irish.

If you want to see what kind of countryside you will find in Ireland, take a trip to Pontevedra - that's where the Celts came from who settled parts of Ireland more than 2,000 years ago.

Rubia66 is right about Austin. It is one of my favorite cities in the US! It is in the "hill country" in central Texas (forget any notions you may have of Texas being all flat with sand and cactus). It has a fantastic music scene (all types, and including stuff in Spanish, like by Tish Hinojosa) and one of the best selections of restaurants outside of the major cities known for good food (NY, SF, New Orleans). I have family there who tell me that it has grown alot in the last 10 years, which brings on more traffic problems and jacks up real estate values, but it is still a lower cost of living than places like NY and it has a thriving computer industry (sometimes called Silicon Gulch, a play on Silicon Valley).

Hola,

Britain of course offers the easiest option being part of the EEC and thus not presenting much in the way of burocracy problems. I am not convinced that as many people say Britain has a greater cost of living. Leaving aside petrol and cigarettes I would say that pretty much everything else is reasonably priced and comparable with Spain. Of course most people refer to London as being expensive and that’s generally true. I live in the north west of England and it’s a very reasonable place to live in terms of cost.

It has, as has been pointed out, a very attractive feature for those wishing to travel to Spain and that is the cheap airline easyjet from Liverpool. You can be back in Madrid within 2 hours for about £30.

There is always a high demand for computer literate people; however, I would say that life in the work place would be very difficult in the absence of high ability at written and spoken English. I can speak Spanish reasonably well but I don’t think I would be brave enough to attempt to do technical work in Spain.

Anyway good luck.

Steveaqui,

After living in England for 6 months I can tell you that cost of living there is much higher than in Spain.

Of course, this depends on the cities. As I said, I went to Norwich, Brighton and Bath and all of them were expensive compared to Spain.

As for traveling, I know there are extremely cheap fares, especially to London (Easyjet, Go...).

As for the technical English is easier than the "normal" language. In fact, most of the books we use as bibliography during our courses at the university are in English. I guess the problem will be the pronunciation. I know the technical terms in English but I don't know how to pronounce some of them.

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Eddie, I would like to giver special thanks to you. I didn't know about the "booming" computing business in Ireland. Two days ago I had two Irish girls at my hostal and they confirmed it.

So, I think I would probably go for Ireland. The only problem is that there aren't such cheap flight from Madrid to Dublin. Maybe I should fly to London and then go to Dublin if I want to get really cheap fares.

Anyway, I appreciate all the answers people have posted here. However, I won't go abroad at least until the next year so I still have plenty of time to decide what to do.

Thank you very much,

Antonio

[This message has been edited by Antonio (edited 09-03-2000).]

"Two days ago I had two Irish girls at my hostal..." How lucky for you, Antonio!

The timing of the flights isn't very good but you can get to Shannon on Virgin Express (via BRU & LGW). I think it would require an overnight stay at either Brussels or London. ( http://www.virginexpress.com )
Of the two, I would choose Brussels because the airport is closer to town. I don't know about Dublin - there may be a better connection. But I always fly into and out of Shannon.

Antonio, York is another city in the UK where there has been a big rise in IT-related jobs but, like Reading and Cambridge, the cost of living there reflects the boom in well-paid jobs. But it's a beautiful place.

It's cheap to live in Liverpool and you would have a good time but I have asked around and I don't think there are many jobs in your field here.

If you do decide to go to Ireland, a cheap way to get there might be to fly to Liverpool and then from Liverpool to Belfast in the north east of Ireland, also with easyJet. The buses and trains in Ireland aren't expensive (although drink, rent and food is).

Another jobs site is www.jobsunlimited.co.uk
It's the Guardian newspaper's site.

Eddie,

Those girls told me they will send me some information by e-mail about Ireland.

I knew about Virgin Express flying to Shannon from Brussels or London Gatwick. However, the cheapest Virgin fare to Brussels is 8900 pesetas whereas Easyjet cheapest fare to London is only 4250 pesetas. Therefore, it should be cheaper to fly to London and then Dublin / Shannon.

I think the problem is that there is no cheap airline going directly from Madrid to Ireland. This makes the trip less convenient but, as a student, I'm on a budget so I wouldn't mind to stopover in Brussels or London. However, if I have to spend a night there, then I will waste all the money I was trying to save by flying with Virgin.

Since I won't go abroad until the next year I hope Easyjet or Go establish new routes from Madrid to Ireland.

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Crann,

Thanks for suggestion York. I will bear in mind this city.

I knew The Guardian jobs site. People told me about it last year when I was in England.