Relocation in 2021

Relocation in 2021 If 2020 was all about staying at home, the theme of 2021 could be spreading your wings and getting away.

Things will certainly be a lot different when relocating to Europe, as the new ‘freedom of movement’ rules will apply from 1st January, meaning British people will need a visa to live full-time in an EU country. Meanwhile, long-haul destinations like New Zealand are effectively sealed off to non-citizens of those countries for the time being.

But that doesn’t mean you should forget the idea of moving abroad, which is one of the most exciting adventures one can have, at any time of life. You might just need to spend the half of 2021 planning (and the second half living the dream!). full time or part time. It’s certainly more straightforward to stay resident in the UK and just enjoy long – maybe very long – holidays in the sun. You could, for example, buy a second home in Spain, enjoying long, warm winters there, and then rent it out to high-paying tourists while you enjoy an English summer.

You’ll have no worries over Brexit, enjoy capital growth (hopefully) on two properties, take holidays whenever you want them, and you can even finance the overseas home with equity release on your UK property.

If moving full time, 2021 could be a big year for emigration lawyers and agents. They now have another 26 countries to work in, as Brits moving more than half of the year to the EU will need a visa. You have three types of visa to consider: working, retirement and ‘golden’. Anyone planning on working abroad will need the relevant visa. That includes ‘digital nomads’ who plan to work from home for the Birmingham office. It just happens that ‘home’ is now a café in San Francisco.

Retirement or ‘non-lucrative’ visas will be popular in Spain and France, where if you show an income over a certain amount (usually not that much, less than €1,000 per month) and have private healthcare, you can stay. Lastly, golden or investor visas are where you gain residency in return for splurging lots of money on a property or other investment. Money talks everywhere, but €500,000 will

get you not only a lovely home, but also a right to live in Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Greece and some Caribbean islands.

Where to move? Spain and Portugal both offer easy retirement visas. Indeed Portugal has a special low-tax incentive scheme for expat retirees. They’re both very simple to travel backwards and forwards to all year, unlike places like Greece and Turkey where flights are severely curtailed in winter. They’re not just warm in climate terms either, but also offer a warm welcome to British people looking for a community of fellow British people to share a healthy, active retirement with.

If a British pub on a Spanish costa isn’t your idea of fun, head inland for a more traditional lifestyle, or move to France instead. Our nearest neighbour also has relatively simple visa schemes, as well as 1,600 different cheeses. For Francophiles, being able to throw all your stuff in the car and pop over on a ferry to a country where the children are polite, the markets are buzzing and the property is extremely affordable, is heaven. New Zealand and Canada may be closed to new immigrants right now, but for 20- and 30-somethings who may not be looking forward to their chances in the post-Covid economy, they’re a good bet for later in 2021 or beyond. Both countries have young, charismatic leaders who have dealt successfully with the pandemic. Property Guides have seen a rush of enquiries to buy a home in New Zealand from older folk too, although the visa barriers are high for anyone aged over 55.

Anyone serious about moving to either of these two countries should set a date for around a year away – especially for New Zealand which will be enjoying springtime – and begin building up a financial war chest. Immigration procedures, flights and removals are not cheap. They should also avoid getting into any long-term relationships – nearly one in five of our readers say they’re having trouble persuading a spouse to move with them! n

Christopher Nye, Editor of Property Guides

You have three types of visa to consider: working, retirement and ‘golden’

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Tu-wit, Tu-who?

KEEP UP TO DATE Worcestershire Wildlife Trust @WorcsWT t worcestershirewildlifetrust G worcswildlifetrust.co.uk w

Lately I’ve been hearing my local tawny owls sing to each as dark descends on our landscape...

October and November are a great time of year to listen out for the ‘huhuhuhooooo’ call of a male defending his territory. Autumn is when youngsters start to explore a potential territory of their own and when adult males get defensive of a territory they may have held for ten or twenty years. The ‘tu-wit tu-woo’ call that you may hear is actually a female and male duet – the female makes a higher pitched ‘tu-wit’ to the male’s warbling ‘tu-woo’. Breeding can start as early as January so as well as defending a territory, owls are starting to serenade their mates. I’ve been close to a ‘singing’ male tawny owl and it was one the purest sounds I’ve heard.

Even as leaves fall from trees it’s hard work trying to find an owl that you may have heard the night before. Tawny owls basically look like the trees that they sit in; chestnut brown in colour with lighter and darker tones and markings, they camouflage beautifully with tree bark. It’s usually only movement or a noise that gives away their presence.

You wouldn’t believe from looking at an owl that their skull shape is very similar to that of other birds – their rather flat face makes them look remarkably different. This is down to their ears and the feathers associated with them. Owls have elaborate outer ear structures that allow them to accurately pinpoint their prey; the payoff is that the eyes must face more to the front than on other birds.

Imagine being a tawny owl in a dark wood on a moonless evening. You’ve got reasonable eyesight and incredible hearing so you can hear the mouse rustling through the leaves but how do you find it? Tawny owls have solved the problem. They’re incredibly sedentary so, once they’ve established a territory, they never leave it. This means that they learn and understand their patch very well – they know where obstacles are, how far it is from a perch to the ground and how to locate their nests in the pitch black.

Numbers of tawny owls are dropping and they’re now on the amber list of species of conservation concern. They’re under pressure from loss of their habitat, whether that be the destruction of big old trees with lots of holes for nesting in or changing land use. Most of an owl’s bulk is made of feathers so they’re well adapted to roosting in cold weather but very cold winters can impact their populations both from a low temperature and a finding food aspect. When you’re snuggled up inside as winter draws in, spare a thought for wildlife outside…but occasionally open a window to listen out for a crooning owl. n Discover more www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk

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