大咖福利影院

Hi all,

We are a family of four from Austria seriously thinking about moving to Malta. We鈥檝e been to Malta before and liked it, but as moving with a family is quite a big step to take, we have decided to check out how 鈥渞eal life鈥� (as opposed to holiday life) is there for a family, especially for the kids, so the plan is to come over for about 3 months next summer. I am a freelance English teacher and the centres I teach at are closed over the summer months, and my wife鈥檚 on maternity leave for 2 years (unpaid, but she鈥檒l be able to return to her job after those 2 years if she wants), so we鈥檙e kind of free over the summer anyway.

I鈥檓 planning to work, while my wife and the children try to figure out if they really want to live in Malta. (I must admit I鈥檓 the driving force in this venture, as I鈥檝e always wanted to leave the cold Austrian winters behind鈥� but my wife鈥檚 sister has left Austria for Italy and started a family there, too, so we have 鈥渆xpat family members鈥� already and are not complete strangers to the whole idea of moving to another (warmer!) country 听

We are coming in February for two weeks to do some preparing for the long stay in the summer, and that鈥檚 where I鈥檝e got some questions I hope some of you experienced expats can help us with:

First, the plan would be to rent an apartment (2 bedrooms) for about 6 months, or 9 months if necessary. We鈥檒l be living in Malta all the way from July to September, for approximately 3 months, but I might come (without my family) over before the summer for a few days, and my wife and the kids might come over with my parents-in-law, too, so all things considered, I think finding a 鈥渓ong let鈥� is our best bet. 2 questions now: First 鈥� is it realistic to find a property in February (I believe we鈥檒l need to use a real estate agency as we鈥檝e only got 2 weeks to find something) but only rent it from the start of April or May, i.e. for 6 months (and not 9 months 鈥� from February to September)? And is it realistic to find something for not much more than 400 or 450 Euros? (I have read the related posts on this forum, and I鈥檝e noticed robpw in particular seems to have some tricks up his sleeve to find affordable property )
We do have to think carefully about the money, as we will of course be paying the rent for our apartment in Austria all the time (which is about 900 Euros/month), and as I鈥檓 self employed, I rent an office in Austria, too, which is another 450 Euros鈥μ�

On another subject, for the stay in summer I am considering coming to Malta in our car, as we have quite a lot of baby-stuff (our younger boy will be a bit over a year next summer), and the toys for the bigger boy (he鈥檒l be 5), and stuff I need for work. I know about driving in Malta, it鈥檚 not the most pleasant thing to do but I鈥檓 ok with it, but my question is: Am I right that I can legally drive our Austrian car in Malta for up to 3 months? The insurance covers all EU countries, including Malta, so no problem there, and in my opinion it would be no different to a trip to, say, Italy 鈥� where we often drive. I do realise that strictly speaking, I won鈥檛 be on holiday but temporarily resident in Malta, but I鈥檒l still be registered in Austria, have my address there and everything, so I don鈥檛 see any problems there. Could anyone who knows more about this confirm or correct me, please? (Please note: I have been following the other discussions on foreign plated cars on the forum, and they have often led to hot debates鈥� I am certainly NOT trying to do anything illegal here, it鈥檚 just that taking our own car over seems much less hassle than trying to get our stuff to Malta in another way, renting a car when we need one, etc., and then after 3 months shipping all our stuff back again. And registering the car in Malta is no option for a number of reasons鈥�

I know that鈥檚 a long post and a lot of questions, so thanks for being patient鈥�
I do have another question (about where to stay), but I will write this in a separate post.

Bernie