complete guide: How To Prepare For An International Move

So you’re planning an international move? Maybe you’ve just been hired for that dream job overseas, or perhaps you’re going back to school! Whatever it is, go you! Setting up a life in a foreign country can be a challenge. Trust me, I know. I’ve lived overseas for a decade and I’ve made two international moves on my own: The first from America to Switzerland and the second from Switzerland to Scotland. I’ve learned a lot about how to make an international move go smoothly and I’m ready to share it all with you! Read on for my top tips on how to plan an international move. My ultimate guide includes a handy checklist and a webinar packed with helpful tips.

How to plan an international move 3 months ahead

organize your paperwork for an international move

Before the fur starts to fly, you’re going to need to get organized. I suggest you download my fully customizable move-abroad checklist. Not just another packing list (I trust you to decide how many pairs of socks to pack on your own) this checklist breaks down how to plan an international move from three months ahead through your first month abroad. It’s packed with all of those little things you didn’t know you didn’t know before making an international move. I’ve even added blank pages so you can add the tasks that are unique to your move!

Visas and work permits for an international move

Start on visas and work permits immediately. Seriously.  If you are making an international move for a job give it 8-12 weeks before your move date or as soon as you are hired, whichever comes first.

Important: Even if you’ve made an international move before, do not assume you know anything about the Visa process in a given country. 

medical & educational records for an international move

When you plan an international move remember every country is different. Some countries require you to show proof of vaccination and proof that you don’t have diseases like HIV or Tuberculosis. Taking tests and accessing your medical records takes time.

When I moved to Switzerland I was required to supply scanned copies of my official college and graduate school diplomas, as well as my birth certificate. I had to make a special trip to my parent’s house to track all that stuff down. If you’re applying for a student visa, as an international student you may be required to show bank statements or official letters from your bank to prove you’ve got enough dough to reside in your host country for the given period of time.

familiarize yourself with support resources before your international move

Your new employer or school should have a point person or information portal for people who are about to move there. Familiarize yourself with the support resources available to you and use them. Whatever you do, don’t break the rules, and don’t just rock up in your new country without the requisite paperwork or you could wind up getting deported. If you don’t know the rules before your international move, DO NOT be afraid to ask. If you’re there for work or school it is literally someone’s job to help you!

start learning the language

There’s no two ways about it, learning the local language is key to feeling settled in a new country. It helps to start your language lessons before you move, that way you’ve got the basics down before you arrive.

I find that one on one lessons give me the individualized attention I need to make progress faster. My German improved by leaps and bounds once I started working with a private teacher, and I’ve had similar success with Italian too! Lately I’ve been using Preply for my language lessons because they make it so easy to find a good tutor and schedule lessons. You can name the price you’re willing to pay per-lesson, study at your own pace and easily find a new tutor if the one you start working with doesn’t suit you.

Ready to start your language learning journey? Here’s 70% off Preply!

How to plan an international move 4-6 weeks ahead

Documents and Finances for your international move  

scanning and uploading

Once you’ve got all your documents for your international move together such as degrees, birth certificates, medical and financial records, scan them and put them on a hard drive, then upload them to the cloud so you’ll have them no matter where you are on the go.

memberships and auto-pays

Do you have memberships to cancel or monthly auto pays to put on hold? How about notifying your utility companies and cell phone providers? Get on it!

banking and finances

Local bank accounts

Notify your bank and credit card that you are going to be traveling, and remember, that these “travel advisories” have a shelf life on them so if you plan to use your domestic cards overseas you may have to remind your bank you are abroad again after a month or so.

open a wise account

The first week or so of your international move, you’ll be in a bit of a limbo while you do things like set up your bank account. This is where an online, international bank account such as Wise really comes in handy. Wise allows you to transfer, tap, spend, and track your money like a local in a variety of world currencies. It’s not an alternative to a local bank account, but it will make moving your money around and getting settled before an international move much easier!

heads up about local banking

Living in a foreign country for a length of time will probably mean you need to open a local bank account. There may be some things you won’t be able to do without a local account, such as paying rent. Be aware that not all banks will allow foreigners to open accounts with them, although most larger ones will.

Also be aware that due to international banking laws, just because your bank has branches in another country does not mean you can use your account as if you are home. Do your research ahead of your international move and find out what you can and can’t do with your home bank, and which banks in your new country will allow you to bank with them.

Have a plan for how you’ll access your money while waiting for your new bank account to open. This is where your Wise account will come in handy!

get insurance!

You don’t want to be caught out while you’re moving countries! That’s why Nomad insurance is always a good idea! If you’re always on the go, check out SafetyWing, which covers you for extended travel and health worldwide. I personally love the idea of having a global safety net for all of my adventures, but you don’t have to take my word for it, you can check out their Trust Pilot Reviews.

Finding A Place To Live

Maybe your new job supplies you with housing or has a lovely person whose job is to find you a place to live. Wonderful! For the rest of us, beware! Finding housing in a foreign country can be fraught with peril. This is another case of not allowing assume to make an ass of you. Just because you can adult perfectly fine in your home country and you’ve been finding apartments with no sweat since you were twenty doesn’t mean you won’t need help moving abroad.

learn about tenancy laws

Tenancy laws are different everywhere around the world. For example, before I moved to Switzerland I didn’t know that in most cases there are only 3-4 set times a year when you can move in or begin a lease, and moving outside these times can cause considerable hassle. I also didn’t know that the general time frame for finding a new place there is 3 months ahead of time.

Contrast this to Scotland, where most leases are month to month, you can move in on just about any day of the month, and apartments generally go on the market shortly before they are ready to be moved into and get scooped up in a matter of days!

know your rights

Wherever you’re going, it pays to know your rights. Fortunately, there’s help out there for you. In Zürich, I joined the local tenant’s association, which really helped me advocate for myself with a landlord who wanted to take advantage of me. In Scotland, I asked the tenant’s rights organization for help so I understood exactly what I was getting into when I signed my new lease.

looking at flats

If you don’t receive help from your future employer, you have a few sensible choices:

1. Move to your destination and stay in an Air B&B while you apartment hunt.
2. Find a trusted friend in your target city and ask them to see potential apartments for you.
3. Make a special trip to your intended city a month or two before your international move to scope out flats for yourself.

rental scams

Unfortunately, there are way too many scams out there taking advantage of hapless foreigners such as yourself. Beware of Facebook ads for new flats, these are usually dodgy. Don’t negotiate a lease over Facebook Messenger, text or WhatsApp and never, ever send money sight unseen. In the UK you can ask for a Landlord Identification number to make sure the listing is legit.

getting rid of your stuff ahead of an international move

first: organize your stuff

Even if your future employer is going to pay to move your stuff, it makes sense to pair down ahead of a big move. Divide everything you own into three categories:

1. Things you will never let go of, either because you plan to ship them to your new destination, they are sentimental, or you want them on lock in your home country so you can come back and re-populate your home nest again if needed.
2. Things you don’t need but are in good enough condition to sell and make a bit of money off of.
3. Things you could give away.

putting things in storage

Items in category one are the most important to you, so settle what you’ll do with those things first. Either you can afford to put them in storage, or you’ve got a nice friend or relative who will hold on to them for you. Suss out how much space you have for storage and anything you can’t store… sell.

selling your stuff

Items in categories two and three will be your biggest pains, so start on those ASAP. There are lots of ways to sell your stuff, but all of them take time and effort.

I’ve had good luck with Craigslist and Facebook Buy/Sell groups. Others have had success with things like e-Bay and Poshmark, it just depends on how much effort you’re willing to put into photographing your junk, answering stupid questions from people, and shipping/ waiting around for buyers to show up.

giving away your stuff

Giving it away is by far the easiest option. People will take almost anything off of your hands for free and it saves you the effort of having to dispose of it yourself. If you want to see your stuff do good in the world, consider donating it to charity.

When I left Boston I donated an entire front porch’s worth of household goods to Big Brother’s Big Sisters of Boston. I literally gave them a call to arrange a pickup, brought my stuff down to the front porch, and they took it away.

how to plan an international move 2-4 Weeks Before You Leave

Packing tips

Focus on Quality

Okay, so now you’ve got this (hopefully) small mountain of stuff that you want to take with you. Well, I’ve got some bad news, you’re going to have to make it into an even smaller mountain. How to? It feels daunting to pack for moving somewhere, so imagine you’re only going over for a month and take as much as you think you’d need for your basic activities in that time period.

personal style

Now is the time to either repair or get rid of anything that’s not in tip-top condition. Focus your wardrobe around some high-quality basic pieces, and then add in some things you love and can’t live without to spice things up a bit.

Pick a few “wardrobe signatures” that encapsulate your personal style, maybe even in a specific color plate if you want to go that far. For example, I’m a sucker for vintage bangles and brightly colored dresses. I probably will throw in extras of these at the expense of having another pair of jeans, but I’m okay with it.

pick it up when you get there

Here’s something that is important for me to remember: I don’t need to import my entire inventory of cheapo basics with me. Repeat after me: you don’t need a cotton H&M layering tee for every day of the week, you don’t need a veritable rainbow of tights, and you don’t need a half dozen tatty black cardigans in case you catch a draft.

Socks, underwear, pajamas, cheap workout clothes, chances are they have those where you are going. Pick a few favorites and give the rest away or put them aside until the next time you come home to visit!

pack for weather and season changes

The kicker about packing for a long-term move is that you don’t have the luxury of planning for just one season. 

For example, when I moved to Switzerland I knew I was going to be spending most of the time working, so I needed a decent fleet of professional clothing right off the bat.

I knew it was going to go from fall to winter so I needed to include sweaters, a good cold-weather coat, some scarves and hats.

I knew I was going to be exercising and doing yoga, so I picked a couple of my favorite yoga leggings, tops and sports bras and left the rest of my extensive collection of yoga shwag at home.

I did not plan as much for casual outings, hiking, or skiing, all of which I ended up having to pick up gear for when I was there, but that was okay! As I said before, unless you are moving to the middle of nowhere, once you get there you’ll shop where the locals shop and wear what the locals do!*

*Okay, let it be said, I wasn’t wild about the selection of affordable clothing in Switzerland (it’s basically H&M, Zara or nothing, hope you like supporting slave labor!) so I did the bulk of my clothes shopping when I was back in the states for holidays every year. This may also be an option for you.

think about the little things

There’s always a few of those little items you feel silly tossing into your bag but you’ll really miss if you need them, so I allow myself one business envelope-sized pouch of such things.

I found out the hard way the first time I moved abroad that nobody in central Europe seems to know what a Neti-pot is and I sure didn’t feel like trying to find one in German the first time I felt sick. So from now on, I chuck my travel Neti pot and Neti salts into my luggage. Ditto with the nice little pair of scissors I cut my bangs with and my travel-sized manicure kit.

You know what I don’t bother with though? A hairdryer/ straightener or curler, and anything more than medication and the most basic toiletries and cosmetics. All of those things can be picked up once I arrive.

medication

Pack 1-3 months’ worth of any prescriptions you need, that way you’ll have some lead time with refills.

packing tricks

Roll things tight or layer them as flat as possible.

Use packing cubes for things you want to keep compressed and together.

Use space-saving vacuum-sealed bags.

I used vacuum sealed bags to condense my giant snowboarding jacket and huge woolly sweaters into something more manageable. If you use this tactic, use it sparingly.

I discovered the hard way that too many vacuum-sealed bags do not save space because they’re basically just a bunch of hard, lumpy blocks that won’t play well with the rest of your suitcase Tetris.

the best type of bags for an international move

Look, name me a suitcase I’ve tried it. Hardshell, soft shell, two-wheeled, four-wheeled, convertible backpacks, duffle bags. All of them have their perks and drawbacks.

rolling duffle bag

Right now I’m really into Da Kine’s split duffle. It was originally made for snowboarding gear so it’s super rugged, it stands on its own, opens like a clamshell, and has three zippered compartments that I use to roll my stuff tight and compress so I can fit the maximum. It can also be collapsed to store flat under a bed when not in use!

lightweight, hard side luggage

For hard-shell luggage, I am a huge fan of Monos’ lightweight, stylish designs.

transporting your stuff for an international move

Let’s assume you aren’t one of those lucky stiffs whose employer is paying for a shipping container.

Your basic options are:

1. Your Luggage.

2. The Mail.

Between those two things, you should be able to get everything you need there without completely breaking the bank. I packed for both international moves with two checked bags and two boxes I mailed through the U.S. Post office.

Bag It Or Box It?

Be sure to check the luggage allowance for the airline carrier you have chosen. Many let you check an extra bag for a fee beforehand.

This may seem like a waste of cash until you realize that you get a LOT more bang for your buck this way.

Think about it. Checking an extra 50-pound bag costs dramatically less than what it would cost to ship 50 pounds worth of your crap overseas. Also, some airlines will allow you to check sporting goods such as a bike for free, so make sure you ask!

mail it

What’s worth paying to ship? That’s a really personal question. When I moved away from Switzerland I shipped an antique clock, some picture frames and my favorite coffee mug back to the U.S for safekeeping. All those things were worth it to me.

Not worth it? The mountains of “teaching resource” books I shipped to Switzerland and then back to the States. They ended up sitting in a closet for years because my school was happy to buy me any book I wanted. Oops!

Also not worth it? Shipping things like kitchen supplies. Any charity shop in your destination will have those things for less than the cost of shipping, or you can buy them off an exiting expat for peanuts! Hit up those expat Exchange/Buy/Sell groups to see what’s on offer.

When You Arrive on your international move

Days 1-7 of your international move

residence permit

The very first thing you need to do is report to your local authorities and pick up your residence permit card because this piece of plastic will be essential to getting your life set up in your new country. Without it, you won’t be able to do basic things such as opening a bank account or get a phone contract.

bank accounts and utilities

Once you’ve got your ID you can set up a bank account, get a phone contract, set up your utilities, and start settling in! Hopefully, you’ve left at least 1-2 weeks between your arrival and when you start work or school… right?

doctor’s appointments

My best top tip for planning an international move? Register for a doctor in your new location before you get ill. That way there is no delay if you get sick or need access to medication or medical care.

Tip for Americans: Don’t count on being able to fall back on urgent care/walk-in centers for non-emergency health issues. This type of healthcare is less common abroad than it is in the U.S. In many other countries, non-emergency care is coordinated through your regular doctor’s office, and the hospital is strictly for emergencies.

self-care

International moves are STRESSFUL! Be sure to block off some time for self-care, whether it’s taking a bath, going for a walk or getting a massage.

settle in

Now the fun part comes, decorating your flat, learning a new language, and perhaps even hitting up a local festival or two!

need a pep talk?

I’ve experienced the agony and ecstasy of two international moves. My free Webinar: I Moved Abroad, Now What? Is a pep talk full of my best tips on how to thrive abroad, develop your expat mindset, make friends, and feel settled in your new home. This is exactly the kind of encouragement and tough love I needed before I made my international move and I’m so thrilled to be sharing it with you.

Let’s keep in touch

I’m building an international community of women who are ready to Thrive Abroad. If this sounds like you, join my Newsletter!

Daily life abroad in Edinburgh on Instagram

love it? pin it!

more resources for moving abroad

How to Make Friends Living Abroad as a Solo Female

How to Deal With Culture Shock as a Solo Woman Abroad

How to go to Grad School in Scotland

How to Move to Scotland as an American

How to Teach at an International School: Your Step by Step Guide

Getting a Tattoo in a Foreign Country

The Best Bookshops in Edinburgh

50+ Things to do Alone in Edinburgh

Edinburgh 3 Day Itinerary For Solo Female Travelers

Car Free Solo Female travel to the Isle of Skye

Jupiter Artland Day Trip From Edinburgh

Things to do Alone in Lucerne

Cool Things to do in Zürich

The Most Instagrammable Cities in Europe