Yearly, hundreds of UK residents leave Great Britain to pursue a life overseas, with statistics from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development detailing that over 4.5 million Brits live abroad as of this writing. But even if you’ve always dreamed of waking up in a beach-front house each morning, immigrating overseas is just as daunting as it is exhilarating.
After all, trying to relocate your entire life can be tricky whilst juggling farewell parties, visa applications, searching for the best home loans, and the rest! During these stressful final months in your home country, you will find it challenging to remember your own birthday, let alone all the details that go into immigrating overseas, which is why it’s essential to create a checklist.
Fortunately, you can learn from the mistakes made by other ex-pats so that you don’t repeat them using our list of things you need to know before your big move. From researching the cost of living to downsizing your belongings as moving day looms closer, regardless of your destination, we discuss all this and more below:
Research The Cost Of Living
One of the essential things to do before moving abroad is to calculate your budget, as this will determine many factors like what area you will be living in, the school your children attend (if you have them) and much more. To calculate this, you’ll need a rough idea of the cost of living for the country you intend to move to; otherwise, you won’t know what you can and can’t afford.
Fortunately, hundreds of websites are excellent starting points for your research, like Reddit, Quora, and even social media sites like Facebook. However, if you want the best idea of what you can afford in Singapore, you’d be best to speak to experts on the Singapore property market, like the team at PropertyGuru.
From helping you find the best home loans to answering all the questions, you might have about your upcoming move, having a member of their team on hand is a valuable tool for potential ex-pats. Consider visiting their website or contacting them directly to learn more about their services and how they can make your move easier.
Make Travel Arrangement For Your Pets
As well as figuring out how to get you and your family into the sunshine, you’ll also need to think about how your furry friend will follow in your footsteps. This is also crucial since all countries have different rules and regulations for bringing animals into the country. From banned breeds to vaccination requirements, there are various things you’ll have to research before your fluffy companion can join you on your travels.
Since all countries are different, it is generally best to take advice from the country’s official government website and no others since that will have the most accurate and up-to-date information. It’s not worth making one mistake by following inaccurate information advice, as your pet could be denied over the slightest thing.
The most important things to look out for are as follows:
- Are there any limitations on breeds that are allowed into the country?
- What expenses are involved?
- Is there a quarantine period?
- Can your pet travel to the country using any mode of transport? Or does it have to be by aeroplane, cargo etc.?
- What vaccinations are required? And do you need to provide a timeline of when these inoculations were received?
Go Through Your Stuff
Just because you’re moving to another country doesn’t mean that all the accumulated stuff must come with you, which is why it’s essential to downsize your cargo before the moving date arrives. For instance, if you’re moving to a notoriously hot country, do you need to take a dozen coats with you? Or, if you’re moving to a snowy country like Canada or Finland, do you need to take twelve pairs of flip-flops with you?
Chances are probably not; if this is the case, there are many ways to reduce your packing amount. Whether you sell your preloved items using one of these mobile applications for selling stuff, donate items to your local charity shop, gift stuff to your friends, or pay for it to be kept in storage – there are loads of ways you can slim down your belongings.
Ensure that you do this well in advance, so you’re not running around last minute trying to offload items you don’t want so that you can focus on more important jobs. And although it might be time-consuming, you will indeed thank yourself for doing it when you receive the bill from your chosen international removal company!
Save For Your Emergency Fund
The last thing you want to do is move abroad without a backup plan to fall back onto, so another something you shouldn’t forget is to save for an emergency fund. No matter how carefully you planned your move, unforeseen circumstances can always pop up out of the blue and derail your progress.
So, avoid this by creating a little nest egg for you and your family to fall back on should you encounter any trouble. Ideally you’ll want to save around three or six months’ worth of living expenses, leaning towards the higher figure if possible.
