Finding a house when moving overseas December 30, 2009
Posted by Wendy in Move yourself.Tags: emigrate, moving overseas, organisational tips, resources for expats
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castle, somewhere near Nice, France
If you’re able to carry out pre-move visits to your new country, one of the things you should try and line up for your more permanent return is renting or buying a house.
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How to (not) pay a bribe to a police officer December 16, 2009
Posted by Wendy in Move overseas - general.Tags: emigrate, moving overseas, organisational tips, resources for expats
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This is part of extra tips and helpful hints, information that didn’t make it into the first edition of Continental Shift. If you enjoyed this article, please check out the book. You may find it useful.
One of the interesting facets of moving from a developed to a developing country is the increase in your brushes with corruption, ranging from the endemic to the casual. You may encounter blatant or subtle requests for ‘facilitation payments’ or ‘convenience fees’ in applying for visas and entry or exit stamps, in getting your housing sorted, in having your phone or internet hooked up and so on. In many cases, the only difference between these ‘fees’ and the ones charged by companies in developed countries is that the developed-country companies have formalised the notion of paying extra for faster or better service whereas in developing countries, it’s still an informal payment on the side to the official you’re dealing with (and may or may not make any difference to your actual treatment).
One encounter you are almost sure to have is with traffic police. Consider this recent example:
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Language lessons December 2, 2009
Posted by Wendy in Move yourself.Tags: emigrate, moving overseas, organisational tips, resources for expats
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You’ve decided where you’re going and begun to plan your organisational steps to achieve your goals. Now it’s time to look at some practicalities for when you arrive in your new country. One issue is that of learning a new language.
Arabic writing, Libya
If you are moving to a country that does not speak your language – and I am going to assume that your mother tongue is English – then I strongly advise you to learn its language.
There are a number of reasons for this advice. Obviously, and foremost, it is to be able to communicate. However, even if English is widely spoken where you are going, you should try to learn the language, and try to go beyond a few common phrases.
Benefits of doing this include:
