Continental Shift

So you’ve explored your preferences and ranked them in order of priority, now you have to match your wants and needs to a country and lifestyle.

Lake in the Uyuni desert, South America

Make a list of which countries you would like to live in. Using resources such as web pages, discussion groups, guidebooks, embassies, and expats, find out as much as you can about each country in relation to the list of priorities you made earlier.

Keep a focus on your list; you may become distracted, either by the ‘glossy brochure’ aspect of what you are reading, or by rants and trivialities expressed by some people. However, if you at all times keep in mind both your list of priorities and your overall reasons for moving, you should be able, at the end of this process, to have a short-list of a maximum of three or four countries.

International Living, the source of much of the information in this chapter, strongly recommends that, if at all possible, you spend a few weeks in each country, to see for yourself how it really stacks up against your needs and wants for your quality of life once you move there. Don’t be distracted by the holiday vibe, the beautiful weather, the tourist attractions – think about what it would be like to live there – do your grocery shopping, drive or walk around, find a doctor, meet people, go out to restaurants etc.

Take into account any special social or cultural issues you might encounter – for example, openness to gay or lesbian relationships (or violence towards same) might be a very important factor to you if you yourself are gay or lesbian.

You should now cut your list to only one or two countries, and plan for an extended stay if you can. Meet with expats already living there, visit in the off-season to see the worst of the climate, see if the cost of living will wipe out any gains in income you expect, and meet with real estate agents and look at properties.

In general, if you have the luxury of this time (and expense), it gives you a chance to begin to plan your move, narrow down your location within the country, and double-check that all your priorities will indeed be met.

This try-before-you-buy advice is obviously given to those of you planning to move overseas permanently and for your own purposes; those being moved for work, and those planning to spend only a few months or even just a few years in the new country, don’t really need to go to this level of research.

If you are unable, or don’t want, to visit, at least do as much research and talk to as many people who have lived there as you can about as wide-ranging topics as you can. You should also meet with tax experts in your home country and in your new country, and begin to look into what kind of visa will be appropriate. These may have a bearing on which country you eventually choose.

Having gathered information, visited the country, and checked your financial and visa situation, you should be able to narrow the list to just one country.

This is not the end of the story – you also need to decide between city and country life, and which city or country area. But those kind of decisions can be made once you’ve moved. You’ve done the hard bit – choosing your new country.

Now all you have to do is get organised, get packed, and get going. Easy, isn’t it?

How to move overseas. That’s it for this week. Next week, we’ll talk about how to decide when to go.

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