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Moving To Portugal – What You Need To Know

Portugal Discovery Tours 2022

Enjoy a tailored tour with someone who knows the area inside out to help you decide the right location for you, who can assist you in planning your move and answer your questions.

7 Fitness Tips For Expats In A New Country

Moving to a new country is a challenging task. It means starting a new chapter in your life, changing your environment as well as your habits. While it’s a great way to broaden your views and explore new cultures, it also presents unique challenges. Everything is new and exciting, but also stressful. Additionally, you…

Wanting To Work As An Expat Partner? Do You Really Want To?

When your partner is offered a career enhancing opportunity abroad and you decide together to take the step, the family will enter a whole new phase in family life. If you are happy to leave your job behind and look forward to spending more time with the family and building a new life in the…

The Impact Of Giving Up Your Job To Become An Expat Partner

Not everyone outside the expat community responds positively when you talk about being an expat. Sometimes judgement is apparent; you can be seen as a spoiled, stay-at-home expat partner with no material needs or wants, spending lazy afternoons at the pool-side sipping cocktails with friends. This may or may not have been true many decades…

Portugal’s Real Estate Market In Light Of COVID-19 And Brexit

Portugal has long been regarded as the perfect country for expats. Low living costs, 300-days of sun, favorable tax-benefits and stunning landscapes. Buying a house here as an expat has a very long list of advantages for foreigners. However, recent uncertainties birthed from the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to Brexit, have created concerns about moving…

Research Study: How Has COVID-19 Affected Expats’ Mental Health?

For mental health awareness week 2021, William Russell surveyed over 1,100 expatriates in five countries to reveal some worrying stats about expat mental health. Expat Network is publishing the results here from an article originally published by William Russell. Written by Inez Cooper, Co-Founder & Managing Director, William Russell The…

How To Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle As An Expat

Being an expat is both a challenge and a great experience. People who have been living abroad for many years have experienced countless adventures and have faced every opportunity for a better life. While these are just some of the positive impacts of living in another country, there are still considerations to reflect upon,…

5 Tips For Dealing With The Stress Of Moving Abroad

It is easy to get the travel bug when everyone on social media posts photos of fantastic vacation spots. The idea of moving abroad and living as a nomad, moving from one country to the following sounds exciting and utterly glamorous. Still, when it comes to actually taking the step and moving away from your…

7 Things You Should Know About Moving Overseas With A Pet

Moving overseas with a pet is an arduous task that requires a lot of forethought and planning. Most travelers leave their pet to a care facility to avoid all the hassles and loads of paperwork associated with bringing a pet abroad. However, parting ways can be a hard choice for people having a deep…

Tips For Those That Want To Retire Abroad

Retiring might sound like an amazing idea as you go to work every day. Yet, once the reality kicks in, you may wonder how to keep busy during retirement. One answer to enhancing this golden period of your life could be to move abroad and live a life in the sun. How easy it…

How To Nail The Video Interview

Technology and connectivity are a gift to the modern day expat, presenting them with a way of communicating globally – regardless of their geographical location. And, with video interviews now being carried out by almost 80% of employers thanks to the pandemic and implementation of lockdown restrictions, global job seekers now have more opportunity than…

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.