5 Tips For Anyone Who Is Contemplating Becoming An Expat

Each year many thousands of individuals make the decision to move permanently overseas and to start a new life for themselves and their families in a new country. For a significant number of these people this proves to be one of the best decisions they have ever made, but for a number of other people their dream will rapidly turn into a nightmare. Below are just a sample of the many things that you will have to consider.

� Make sure that you really do want to live permanently overseas.

It is often said that the grass is always greener on the other side and it is far too easy to create an idyllic picture of life in the country of your choice. But, once you get there, you might well discover that in fact the grass is a lot greener back at home. It is also generally the case that your thoughts about a foreign country when you are a holidaymaker is quite different from your view when you are a resident.

Not only is it essential to visit the country a number of times before deciding to live there, but you need to make your visits at different times of year and for increasingly lengthy periods of time. You should also try to 'live' in the country by renting a house or apartment and living as far as possible as you would as a resident and not as a holidaymaker. If you still feel that moving is the right choice after spending several months or so 'living' in the country, then it is a fair bet that you would not regret your decision.

� Make certain that you fully understand the immigration rules for your chosen country.

Check on the current immigration rules of your chosen destination and also take a look at its past history on immigration and any published or rumored plans for change.

In most cases you will need to meet strict visa requirements and some of these could be inconvenient, costly and leave you without much security. The absolute last thing you ought to do is to cut your ties with home, buy a condo and get your children settled into school only to find that you are not permitted to extend your visa and have forty-eight hours in which to leave the country.

� Take a very close look at your finances.

Think carefully about just how you will support yourself financially in your chosen country. Do you, for example, plan to look for a job after you arrive to give you an income, or will you fund yourself from investments, savings or a pension from home?

If you want to look for a job abroad then just how simple is it going to be to get work? If you are able to get work, what kind of salary can you expect? Indeed, will they allow you to work at all? A large number of countries will require you to apply for a work permit and these are sometimes only issued in exceptional circumstances or for employment that requires specific qualifications or skills. In a lot of cases your visa will expressly state that you are not allowed to seek employment.

If you are going to fund your stay from sources at home, do you have enough resources not just for today but for the next five or ten years or beyond? If you are taking a pension abroad will it keep pace with rising costs? In many cases you are allowed to receive a pension abroad but, if you decide to do so, you will lose any cost of living increases and your pension will be fixed at the level at which you start to draw it abroad.

� Think about what you will do with your assets back home.

If you own your home do you intend to rent it out, sell it or just leave it empty? What do you intend to do with your car, furniture and other personal belongings?

Of course your home is a great deal more than merely as asset because it also gives you a tie to your home country and affords you an address back home which might be extremely useful if you do not have friends or family who would be happy to let you use their address. Just wait until your credit card expires and your credit card company informs you that they will only send your replacement card to the registered address in your home country.

As far as your other belongings are concerned you can of course dispose of many of them if you want to, retaining only those or particular sentimental or real value, or you could take them along with you. But just how simple will it be to ship things out and how much will it cost? Look carefully too at the regulations in your chosen country. Some countries will permit you to bring just about whatever you want into the country, but other countries will have strict limits on importation or charge high import taxes. For example, in many cases it is far cheaper to buy a new car than to import your own car and to suffer high import duty and maybe to need to have your vehicle adapted to comply with local requirements for registration.

� Examine the provision of healthcare.

You might feel on top of the world today but, if you are thinking about moving abroad permanently, then the time is going to come when you will have to avail yourself of the local healthcare facilities. Just how good are the local facilities and how well do they stand up against the facilities that you have grown accustomed to?

Another very important consideration is the provision of public healthcare. If you live in a country that has publicly funded healthcare, like the UK, then you may be more than a little shocked by the cost of treatment when you find yourself in a country that has only private healthcare. Of course, if you are used to paying for private healthcare, you might be pleasantly surprised to discover that you can get the same or even better treatment far more cheaply.

Whatever the case, however, healthcare is one thing that you will have to check out very carefully and you will certainly have to have some form of expat health insurance policy.

This brief list of just five tips is certainly not exhaustive but hopefully it will provide you with a starting point and set you in the right direction. Becoming an expat is a very big step and one that requires a great deal of careful thought.