House Moves For Expats: How Do You Make It Work?

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House Moves For Expats: How Do You Make It Work?

An international move can be an intimidating prospect as well as an exciting time. Moving your life and belongings to another country is a challenge but here are some tips to help to make sure the move goes smoothly.

As an expat, a house move can be one of the most wonderful things you can experience. After all, you’ll finally be able to get to the house of your dreams and transform it into your new home. Moreover, this is your opportunity to finally get you and your family into the best neighborhood and enjoy a happier and fuller life. However, you might soon realize that you can’t exactly enjoy your dream home if you haven’t moved everything you own in there yet. And unfortunately, the process of a house move can be one of the most demanding things that you can do in your life.

However, just because a house move can be stressful doesn’t mean it’s impossible. In fact, you can actually pull off a house move as an expat and not have that much worries. You might just need a few tips and tricks to get you started. Here are some tips you might want to take note of so your house move can become a piece of cake:

Submit all documents and requirements before you start the process. Prior to the move, it might be extremely helpful to submit all requirements and documents that might be of use to you and required in your destination country. Doing this is extremely important in the moving process, as a missed document or a failed submission can ruin your moving plans in the future. Make sure you have these settled as soon as possible, be it through physical or online submissions. Now is also a great time to clarify whether your moving company or other services are cleared to operate in that country in order to finalize other requirements in that regard.
Create and organize an inventory as soon as possible. If you’re planning on moving to another country, it’s also essential for you to get an inventory going in order to make sure you know exactly what you own and what you want to do with the items you have. Thanks to an inventory, you can identify items you own that you want to keep, sell, or even throw away. Moreover, an inventory allows you to have an accurate list of things you have that you might want to consider replacing or upgrading before moving to your new home. Interestingly, if airport security or the law in your new country requires them to know what you’re bringing along with you for your new home, an inventory can also be a handy reference.
Buy your packing materials online to avoid unnecessary absences. If you’re still finalizing stuff at work or at school, having to allocate a day to just buying packing materials in the nearby mall or hardware store can force you to accrue unnecessary absences and leaves. In order to avoid these, you might want to consider resorting to online shopping. Thanks to fast delivery policies and convenience options, you can get the packing materials you need as soon as you require them, and you no longer have to go outside to get these materials in order.
Fix your schedule and your moving timeline. Just because you’re moving doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice aspects related to your school or your work. If possible, you may want to talk with your supervisor or direct manager in order to see what adjustments you can make in order to avoid unnecessary penalties on your performance. Aside from that, it’s best to synchronize your schedule and moving timeline to avoid overlaps. That way, you won’t have to accrue unnecessary leaves and absences since you can allocate a few hours or days to do certain tasks more efficiently.
Hire professionals to accelerate the moving process. One of the best things you can do as an expat during a house move is to actually find professionals such as cross country movers in order to help you with the rest of your move. Thanks to their skillset, expertise, and manpower, movers and other professionals will be able to get the heavy-lifting out of the way when it comes to your move. It’s important to get this kind of manpower as soon as possible in order to ensure that you can focus on other aspects of the move and leave the packing, unpacking, and even transportation for them to handle.

Moving For Expats: Make It Comfortable For You

If you’re an expat, you might want to make sure that your house move turns out to be as comfortable as possible. Thankfully, such a prospect is possible with a few tips and tricks that we’ve provided above. Remember, just because your house move can be one of the busiest times of your life doesn’t mean it has to be the most inconvenient.

With the above tips, you can actually pull off your house move with the right kind of planning and execution. Remember, as an expat, you need to make sure everything is in order for you to have the most comfortable experience once you finally start settling in your new home.

Moving Abroad Checklist

Initial Considerations

Will your partner be travelling with you?

If so, what will they be giving up in your present home and will they be able to continue with their career in your new home? You will need to check whether a separate visa is required for your partner to work or if your visa gives that right. If they are unable to work you will need to decide on the effect on your finances and what alternatives are available to give a fulfilling life (home business, training, voluntary work).

Are you taking family with you?

Moving with family raises many exciting opportunities, but also can create challenges. The HSBC Expat Explorer survey indicates that expat kids can take six months to settle in to their new country (see article). Getting young or even older children to prepare to move and leave their friends and family behind can be a challenge and should be thought through.

The options for education is another area that needs to be thought through.

Moving your child to a new country with a different education system can be a great opportunity to broaden their experience, but if they are close to key exams the timing can make this inadvisable. If you do take your family with you, it is important to decide between joining the local school system or choosing an international school.

Where will you be living?

Whether you will be living in a house or apartment, furnished or unfurnished, these decisions will affect what you need to take with you. The time you are planning to live overseas will also affect whether you should leave your property at home empty, rent it out or sell it. See the article Sell, Store or Ship.