Global Lifestyle

Moving Overseas Checklist

Moving overseas is exciting, but you do have a lot of ground to cover (literally and figuratively). With this helpful checklist, though, you can start a whole new life abroad with a lot less stress.

Here’s what you need to do before your move:

Find a Place to Live, and Let Everyone Know About it

Contact your local post office, tax authorities, creditors, insurance providers, credit card issuers, and banks, as well as your friends and family, to let them know about your upcoming change of address.

Get Your Visa

Visa requirements vary (in some countries, for example, you’ll need travel insurance in place), and it could be more difficult to get your visa after you’ve already entered another country. So do your research in advance and get your visa, or submit your change of residency, prior to actually making your way to your new home.

See Your Doctor

Make an appointment for a checkup and receive any necessary vaccinations based upon your destination. Be sure to ask for copies of your immunization records and health records. And talk to your doctor about what you need to know about getting your prescriptions abroad.

Sell What You Don’t Need; Ship What You Do Need

Finally, sell anything that you won’t be able to take—or don’t need to take—with you abroad. The extra cash will come in handy when it comes to paying an international shipping company to send the items that you can’t live without and can’t replace.

File or Copy Your Essential Documents

From passports and birth certificates to driver’s licenses and transcripts from university, your move abroad checklist should include filing essential docs in the cloud or taking hard copies with you in case of emergency. The more you prepare in advance the easier it will be once you arrive.