Thinking About Moving Abroad? 5 Easy Steps To Get Started
I’ve lived abroad for almost a decade now. My wife and I moved to Abu Dhabi in 2015, then Brasilia in 2019, and Lima in 2023. We’ve lost count of the number of countries we’ve visited.
Expatriate (expat) life has been great to us, from the lower cost of living to the cultural experiences to the friends we’ve made, both among other expats and locals. Our daughter was born in Brasilia and has Brazilian citizenship for life.
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And honestly? The logistics have been surprisingly easy. If extended overseas adventures appeal to you, follow these easy steps to get out of your comfort zone and see the world.
Plan Your Income Abroad
I’ve worked remotely since 2008, and it’s certainly gotten easier and more common since then. You have plenty of options for remote work, whether as a W-2 employee, a gig worker or as a business owner.
If your current job doesn’t allow you to work remotely and you want to find a new one that does, check out FlexJobs or Remote.com. Alternatively, most traditional job platforms like Indeed and ZipRecruiter let you filter your search for remote jobs.
You can also ramp up your freelance gig work through platforms like Upwork or Fiverr.
Of course, you could also search for in-person work in your destination of choice. My family’s adventure abroad started when my wife visited a job fair for international schools, and took a job offer as a counselor at an American school in Abu Dhabi.
We met plenty of expats there who worked in marketing, or as an engineer for energy companies, or as doctors or nurses or a thousand other high-skill positions.
Arranging income that you can earn in another country proves the hardest part of moving abroad. Once you put that cornerstone in place, the rest falls in easily.
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Plan Your Legal Residency
Countries don’t have open borders. If you want to live somewhere for more than a few months, you need the government’s permission.
For workers who earn remotely, many countries now offer “digital nomad” visas. Applications and approvals are pretty quick and easy, at least by the standard of bureaucratic red tape. Start with this list of countries offering digital nomad visas from Citizen Remote.
If you take an in-person job overseas, your employer will almost certainly help you through the visa process. The three schools where my wife has worked overseas have each helped her step-by-step through the process, from giving her a list of required documents to organizing and filing her paperwork.
Many people worry about this step, but it’s not the high hurdle that they assume. Arrange the income first, and the visa process tends to go smoothly. Just budget plenty of time for the red tape.
Plan Accommodations
Some overseas employers provide housing, perhaps even subsidized or for free.
My wife’s first two international schools provided us with free housing, and her current school gives her a housing stipend, and we found our own apartment. We currently enjoy an oceanfront apartment with an 180-degree view of the Pacific, which we could never afford in the U.S.
Even if you have to find and pay for your own accommodations, most housing markets overseas remain far cheaper than comparable cities in the U.S. For example, Lima’s population of 11 million makes it larger than any US city, and my oceanfront apartment rents for just $1,300.
When in doubt, start by simply booking temporary accommodations on Airbnb or VRBO. That gives you some breathing room to get to know your new city better, to explore the neighborhoods before choosing one to rent longer-term.
Plan Transportation
In the U.S, nearly every middle-class adult owns a car.
That’s not true in most of the world. When we moved to Abu Dhabi, my wife and I paused and wondered, “Do we each actually need a car?” We didn’t, which saved us a huge amount of money.
No, really. The latest report from AAA shows the average annual cost of owning a new car at a jaw-dropping $12,297 or $1,024.71 a month.
When we moved to Brasilia — an extremely walkable city — we paused to ask whether we needed a car at all. It turns out we didn’t, and to this day we don’t own a car.
As you explore countries, cities and neighborhoods, keep transportation in mind. Aim to start in a neighborhood where you can get around by walking, biking, scootering, or Ubering.
You can always lease or buy a car later, but you may find you don’t actually need a car at all.
Plan Banking and Other Minor Details
In every country we’ve lived in, we ended up opening a local bank account — but only because my wife earned money in the local currency.
Most of our banking has remained in the U.S. I use Bank of America for checking and savings, and Charles Schwab for brokerage accounts. Easy peasy.
You’ll need cell phone service, which is easy enough. The latest phones don’t even require a physical sim card — you can buy access online using e-sims.
Foreign languages don’t pose much of a problem in today’s world. Google Translate will get you by in most circumstances. You can, of course, learn the local language, although I confess it’s been a humbling experience trying to learn Spanish in my 40s.
There just isn’t much more to it. Income aside, the greatest challenge doesn’t actually come from moving to a new country, but from leaving your old one.
If you own a car, you may need to sell it. If you own a house, you may want to rent it out or sell it. And so it goes for your furniture and other personal belongings.
The world gets easier to explore by the moment. Go enjoy it!
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Thinking About Moving Abroad? 5 Easy Steps To Get Started
