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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.

Things To Consider When Moving Abroad

Moving abroad is a brilliant opportunity to learn more about other cultures and yourself. Stepping out and taking this giant leap of faith can easily grant you the opportunity to have many new experiences while allowing you to explore a terrain that is otherwise unknown to you. However, moving abroad is…

Opening A Bank Account In Portugal

Expats living, working or retiring in Portugal may benefit from opening a bank account in Portugal to receive salaries, pensions etc and to pay regular bills and access cash machines. There are options to open a Portuguese bank, an account with an international bank with branches in Portugal or a mobile/digital bank account. …

How To Make A Smooth Transition From Tourist To Expat

Are you considering making the move to expat life? Making the transition from tourist to expat can be a daunting task, but with these tips, you can make it a smooth process. From researching your new city to setting up your home, we will walk you through everything you need to do to feel…

An Expat’s Retirement – Double The Challenge

Retirement is like a bereavement. Overnight you lose your title, identity, network of colleagues and sense of purpose. Like a bereavement, many go through a stark emotional time. Add leaving a country into the mix, and an expat’s retirement can involve a more challenging time than most. Written exclusively for Expat…

How To Get A Student Loan As An Expat: 4 Ways To Fund Your Education

Taking your education to the next level is an investment in your future, and one which will repay itself many times over, not only in terms of opening up new career opportunities, but also when it comes to making you a more rounded human being. How do you fund your education? …

how to prepare their current properties for a quick sale

Moving Abroad? How To Prepare Your Home For A Quick Sale

As a prospective expat looking to sell up and move abroad you should think about how to prepare your home for a quick sale. Property experts from Your Overseas Home have revealed seven top tips to help sellers get their homes ready for market, so they’re snapped up fast. House prices…

How To Make Friends In A New Country

Travelers and expats spending time in a new country have been advised on the most effective ways to meet people and nurture new friendships abroad. The team behind online remittance service Remitly, have revealed their top tips for how to make friends in a new country. Moving abroad can be a…

6 Expat Job Hunting Tips To Get Your Dream Job

Almost all of us have been taught by our parents to continue our education so that we can have the perfect job that impacts both our own lives and the rest of society. As we get older, we really want to find our dream job, even if that dream job leads us to a…

How To Claim The UK State Pension Abroad

You can continue to claim your State Pension when you decide to retire abroad, provided you have paid enough UK National Insurance contributions to qualify. If you have not yet started receiving your pension you can get a State Pension statement to tell you how much State Pension you may get In order to claim…

How Can You Get Citizenship Of A Different Country?

Are you interested in moving to a warm, sunny European country? Did you know that there are several benefits of gaining citizenship in an EU country, including the right to live, study and work in any EU country? If you are looking for a way to make this dream a…

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.