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Renting Abroad: How To Choose The Best Option

There are so many decisions to make and things to plan when you’re moving abroad, so we’re here to make at least one of those things easier for you – choosing somewhere to rent. It can be difficult enough renting in your own country, so throw different customs and languages into the mix and you’ve...

What The Federal Budget Announcements Mean For Australia’s Migration Program

If you are seeking the expat lifestyle in Australia, you may be keen to know how international travel restrictions impact your plans. Australia’s 2020-21 Federal Budget has confirmed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be felt by the nation’s migration program for years to come. Interstaff set out the implications. Written by Sheila Woods of Interstaff 20...

How Can A Student Live A Healthy Lifestyle?

Just because you are away from your parents or guardian, you shouldn’t ignore personal development strategies such as healthy feeding. For most college students, balancing a busy study schedule or focussing in class might be a simple task compared to staying healthy. This article discusses how you can stay healthy. By merely changing your diet...

10 Tips For Freshmen Students Abroad

It is the dream of every ambitious student to travel the world, study in the best colleges on the planet, and compete with the best of the best brains from all over the world. Such education opportunities are rare to find, so one must make the most of them when they come knocking. Written exclusively...

British Boarding School: An Education Worth Travelling The World For

British boarding schools are more popular than ever before, and an increasing number of young people from Portugal are taking advantage of cheap and plentiful flights to attend schools in the UK, where they make the most of a broad education in a modern, cosmopolitan environment, and leave ready to take on the world. Written...

Choosing Schools In Portugal

The programmes of international schools in Portugal vary from the International Baccalaureate (IB) to the British GCSE and GCE examination systems. All schools in Portugal are required to satisfy the requirements of the Portuguese national system. The International Baccalaureate Organisation’s Diploma Programme was created in 1968. It is a demanding pre-university course of study that...

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.