HOWTO No 1 - Our Guide To Moving To Corfu
Having retired after 30 years as a police officer in London, England, my wife, Tricia and I have finally realised our dream and moved to Corfu, a beautiful Greek island in the Ionian Sea. At one time, this seemed an impossible dream, not only because of the magnitude of what we were planning, but the sheer logistical and legal problems involved in such a move.
We have tried to approach the problems we have encountered logically and being an ex-detective, I am used to asking questions! That is precisely what we did and this guide is an attempt to put our experiences, based on the experiences of others, into writing in the hope that it may be of help to others.
This guide touches upon such things as tax, banking and employment. We have no specialist knowledge in these fields. The information presented is based either upon personal experience or research. If any reader feels that there are specific inaccuracies, please contact us. We call it a guide and that is precisely what it should be taken as!
In addition, we have prepared this and other 'HOWTO' guides giving in-depth accounts of our experiences and information relating to renting a home in Corfu and importing a UK registered car into Corfu.
Acknowledgements!
Having received so much help from both Greek and English
residents within Corfu, it would be remiss of us not to acknowledge their valuable
assistance without which, our own move would have been a nightmare.
In the first instance, there were the readers of "The Corfiot", an expatriot's newspaper published in Corfu, who responded to a letter that I had published some years ago. I should point out that despite the title of our website, we are in no way connected with that fine publication.
The list of individuals who have helped is quite long. However, we would like to specifically thank:-
There are many other individuals whom we come into contact with who offer help advice and encouragement but to list them all would be an impossible task. If you are one of that number, please don't take offence at the ommision! Your contributions are always welcome.
INDEX
Why This Guide?
Basic Preparation
Decisions Before You Take The Plunge!
Is
The Move Intended to Be permanent?
To Work Or Not To Work?
The Greek Language
Buy Or
Rent?
What
Will You Take With You? - Shipping
Taxes, Taxes And More
Taxes
Why This Guide?
Back to index This guide sets out how we went about it, what we did and
sources of information that we found useful. It is by no means exhaustive
and may not cover areas pertinent to others wishing to embark upon such an adventure. We
use the word adventure deliberately as that is how we have viewed it from the
time we first seriously considered the move. Although it is early days for us,
we still do! We cannot
emphasise enough that this guide is based upon our personal circumstances
and experiences of moving to Corfu from the UK. If your native country is other
than the UK, we suggest that you may have different or additional considerations.
Basic
Preparation Back
to index You will collect
lots of information before you move - That is if you don't decide that it is
all too much hassle and give up! How you collect it is a matter for the individual.
Those that know us
will know that one half of us is heavily into information technology
- therefore we used box files! Don't laugh! It worked for us and was based
upon advice from those that went before us. Imagine having all those really
useful emails and contacts on computer only to have the hard disk crash. We
do dutifully back up our important information, don't we? NOT! You
will end up with lots of information. It is easy to dispose of it once
you are sure that it is not needed but it is sometimes difficult to remember
the source of that really useful information once it is gone. This is particulary
true if, like us, you carry out a lot of research on the internet. The extent to which you file the results of all your
labours will depend upon the individual. We did no more than retain everything
in the box files. Knowing that it was there was sufficient for us. I won't dwell
upon this further. Decisions
Before You Take The Plunge! Back
to index
These are just some of the considerations that you
will need to make. We are sure that others will come up with many more.
Is
the move intended to be permanent? Back
to index We have heard stories of people who regularly take
a ferry to Italy for the day from Corfu in an attempt to beat this regulation.
We have also been told of some of these people who have failed to satisfy Greek
Customs. As we have not met any such people we cannot vouch for any of these
stories! We can say though, that if you deliberately flout Greek law, you will
receive little sympathy. In short, if your stay is going to exceed 6 months
think long and hard about taking a UK registered car. We decided to take our car. The reasons why are explained
and our experiences appear in our HOWTO guide - How to Import Your Car
Into Corfu. To access it, hit the FAQ menu button and make
your selection. To
work or not to work! Back
to index The following are
useful sources of information for those intending to live and work in Greece:- The Greek
Embassy Be warned if you
telephone the Greek Embassy in London. They have one of those systems which
give you a 1001 options depending upon the nature of your enquiry. It may take
two or three goes to hit the right department! Have a pencil ready to note down
the relative (different) phone numbers. We must emphasise though, that once
through to the correct department, they were very helpful, particularly when
I attended the embassy to obtain an import licence for our car. Job Centres - It
is our understanding that UK/EU nationals have free access to the services of
the Greek employment service, the OAED (Organismos Apasholisseos-Ergatikou Dynamikou).
They have a web site at www.oaed.gr. Books - Check out the local
lending library. There is one book that we have heard of entitled "Living and
Working In Greece", by Peter Reynolds, ISBN: 1857036751. We can't vouch for
the content though. A Gentle Reminder! Do
you recall that somewhere near the beginning of this guide I mentioned
that we used a box file? Well, we have copy of an article from the Athens
News ( www.athensnews.gr) entitled "Working and Living in Greece as an EU citizen". Guess what?
It is no longer available on the web! We hasten to add that this is probably because
it contained information about the rules surrounding residence permits which
have recently changed. The Greek Language Back
to index We would suggest
that Greek classes can be fun, particularly if your fellow students are interested
in more than 'holiday Greek'. That is not to decry classes specialising in teaching
the casual visitor to Greece, but if you can also learn of the culture as well
as the language, you will certainly find it rewarding. Be warned though.
One night a week at evening classes will not get you proficient in the language!
It will help though. Information on Greek language courses can be
obtained from local colleges whose prospectuses are usually available from libraries.
Highly recommended! The following are some
sources of online information via the Internet about the Greek language.
Buy or rent? Back
to index Without going into specifics, we own a UK property but choose to rent in Greece
although we could purchase a modest property if we wished. Our reasoning is
relatively simple. Having served 30 years as a Copper tends to make you a little
cautious and that as much as we love Corfu and the people, we are reluctant
to 'burn our bridges' at this point in time.
Most will agree that to move
from one's native country to another which is more than a thousand miles away
from your roots and family is a decision not to be taken lightly. To do so is
to invite all sorts of problems. Add to this the fact that your intended new
country of residence has a different language, alphabet and culture and the
problem is magnified.
This IS basic! However, we make no apologies for saying it. Three
pieces of advice when starting out - 1) Be organised,
2) Be organised and 3)
Be organised!
There are some basic decisions
to be made before you move. These will differ according to personal circumstances.
They include:-
Your intended length of stay is important, particularly if you take your
UK registered vehicle with you. Perhaps a minor point, but do you feel happy
driving a right-hand drive car in Greece? You cannot, at this point in time,
legally keep a vehicle registered outside Greece in the country for more than
six months.
Do you intend working? A single person who intends retiring
and not working will have different considerations to a couple with children
of school age where they both intend seeking employment. At this point in time we
consider work and retirement a contradiction in terms, therefore research in
this area has been minimal. Similarly, education is outside our knowledge although
we understand that the education system varies considerably from that in the
UK.
1a, Holland Park, London. W11 3TP.
Tel. (020) 7221 6467
www.greekembassy.org.uk
On advice, we made contact with the embassy at a very early stage.
The press office were particulary helpful and sent a very thick paperback book
which gave all sorts of useful and interesting information about the country.
This is difficult for us to comment upon as we have limited knowledge
of the Greek language as our very frustrated landlord will testify! (Frustrated
on account of his limited English!) However, we have had four years of classes
prior to our move. When asked of our ability, we always answer that we don't
think we would get lost or starve!
http://www.hri.org/
Hellenic Resources Network. This probably the best souce
of information for information about the Greek Language on personal computers
(fonts, spell-checkers etc).
http://users.otenet.gr/~vamvakos/alphabet.htm
Greek-English Dictionary
http://www.langintro.com/greek/
An Introduction to Modern Greek
http://www.greece.org/gr-lessons/gr-english/
Greek Through the Internet
This is a tough one. The answer will depend very much upon
the individual and their circumstances. We know those who could buy property
but choose to rent, those that own their own property in the UK and in Corfu
and those that have sold up and now are permanently based on Corfu.
To be honest, I have seen colleagues who have gone no further than Norfolk, who have decided after two or three years that they wanted to be back where they came from and found that they couldn't afford to do so.
Some might look at the increasing property prices on Corfu and consider it a risk worth taking. Be warned! They are not increasing as fast as those in the UK. Property is cheap by comparison with UK prices but it can also take a long time to dispose of should the need arise.
Having said all this, we are not opposed to ownership of a property in Greece, it is merely that we do not think that the circumstances are right FOR US at the moment.
We have prepared a detailed 'HOWTO' guide to renting a property in Corfu based upon our experiences. To access it, hit the FAQ menu button and make your selection.
What
Will You Take With You? - Shipping
Back to index
This is not a silly question. We originally
started to make plans around taking much of the contents of our UK home to Greece.
Then we started to think whether our style of furniture would be appropriate
for a Greek house. As we intended renting we realised that to take our
furniture would restrict our choice to purely unfurnished property.
As it turned out, we rented a furnished property, bought some furniture in Corfu and took 58 boxes of personal effects plus the car which was full of computers, tools, breakables and some electrical equipment (Hi fi etc.). We are also fortunate in that our landlord has proved to be very accommodating in that he is amenable to removing items of furniture that we don't want. (All Greeks seem to have masses of storage space, but heaven knows where!)
Having decided what you want to take, how are you going to get it there? Essentially there are only two viable solutions. You either have your goods freighted overland by a forwarding company or you hire a vehicle sufficiently big enough, assuming that you are licenced to drive it, and transport the goods yourself.
This latter solution has added problems. Apart from hire charges, insurance charges in case of breakdown, road tolls, fuel charges, and ferry charges from Italy to Corfu, there will also be some overnight stops to cater for. These may be able to be avoided if you can enlist the aid of additional drivers, but there may still be additional ferry fares. Oh yes! Did we mention that you then have to return the hire vehicle! As an aside, we found that the hirers of commercial vehicles, in general, were quite reluctant to get involved in overseas hirings.
Our Solution - We decided to ship our personal effects AND our car with a forwarding company. The total cost was a little over £1,700 including limited insurance. (Total loss only). Our effects were collected from our door in the UK and delivered to our door in Corfu. On top of this we had to pay for single flights to Corfu. We had 3 items of minor, inconsequential damage and all goods were in Corfu within 5 days. At the time, we considered this the better option for us and have not changed our mind.
What was the hardest part? That's easy! Packing it all. Ask Tricia! You really need to get same same sized boxes for easy stacking. We used smaller boxes for heavy items like books - Don't try packing a box the size of a tea chest with books and expect to lift it! It sounds obvious but our forwarding agents assured us that people do try! The final hard thing is living when all your every day items are on their way to Greece! Marks & Spencer did very well out of us for that week!
Taxes,
Taxes And More Taxes
Back to index
Consider where you are going to pay income tax - if indeed you
have to! There are reciprocal arrangements between many countries, Greece and
the UK being two of them. If you are not earning an income in Greece but are
in receipt of money upon which income tax has been paid in the UK, we understand
that you are not liable to pay Greek income tax upon it. However you will have
to register for tax and you will have to satisfy the Greek tax authority that
the tax has been paid in the UK. Does that make sense? I hope so. Full details
for UK citizens can be obtained from the
Inland Revenue website - highly recommended.
We have heard many stories about Greek bureacracy. One thing that we can tell you is that if you wish to live in Greece and enjoy such things as the luxury of a telephone, running a car legally then you are going to have to register for tax. This is not difficult.
The fourth HOWTO guide gives information about registering for tax and obtaining a tax number in Corfu. It also outlines how we are trying to keep on the right side of the Greek tax authorities! To access it, hit the FAQ menu button and make your selection.
Well, that's about all on this subject. These are just our observations on the considerations that we feel to be important if one is to make the move from your home country to Corfu. Obviously, if you intend working and / or selling your UK home, you will have many more considerations.
If you have any comments, please feel free to
Enjoy Corfu!