Continental Shift

How to pack up your life and move overseas October 21, 2009

Your plans are in place, your move date is set, you’re financially ready. What concrete steps do you need to take to finalise your move.

door knocker, Ghadames, Libya

Think back to the last time you had to move house. What kinds of things did you have to do? Necessary tasks may include: (more…)

Budgeting for your move overseas October 14, 2009

You’re now well-prepared with information and plans, but there’s one other thing you’ll need – money. It’s time to start saving.

Rice fields, Sapa, Vietnam

Moving countries is an expensive undertaking. Some costs are similar to what you would experience just moving across the street. But other costs are either far higher than they would be for a more usual move, or they are specific to moving overseas, and they add up.

Costs can include: (more…)

Do your research September 23, 2009

You’ve made your big decisions: where to go and when. But there’s still lots of work to be done, and it’s time to start researching.

Qasr (fortified granary) in Libya

Possibly you skipped or did not need to do the research phase suggested in Chapter 2 to help you choose where you were going. Now you must do some research, to help you plan for the rest of your trip. (more…)

When are you going? September 16, 2009

By now, you’ve chosen the country you want to move to. But when you should you move there? This decision will affect all your planning.

Electronic bells near the MCG, Melbourne

Whether you have been transferred by your company or are moving as a personal lifestyle choice, you will have to nominate a date of arrival.

You may be somewhat constricted in this date if you are doing a move for work, as the work program, deadlines, and company arrangements will affect when your supervisors expect you to be there. However… (more…)

Narrowing your choices September 9, 2009

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. (more…)

Where are you going? September 1, 2009

After you’ve decided you definitely do want to live and work overseas, the first step is to decide where to go.

Camping in the Sahara

If you’ve been given a transfer by your company, that decision is made for you, and in many ways, that takes the pressure off you.

If, on the other hand, you’re moving overseas off your own bat, you have over 200 countries to select your new home from, and your final choice should not necessarily be the first country you think of.

Chances are (more…)

Why are you going? August 18, 2009

How to move overseas. Before you can decide where, you have to decide why…

A lake in Austria

Think about why you are considering the big move overseas. Because your company told you to? Because you want a temporary cultural experience? Because you want a permanent improvement in your quality of life?

Think carefully in particular about why you want to move overseas at all.
(more…)