Moving your life abroad is more about paperwork than moving your possessions. There are hidden expenses, unexpected costs and overages or simply too expensive procedures. When you put it all together, it's a significant amount. However, it's better to actually put it all together and sum the total amount needed, than to be caught by surprise. Here are some crucial financial aspects of moving abroad that you should think about and be prepared to.
Leave your domestic affairs in peace
Make sure you tie up some things before leaving your country. For example, if you have a bank account, make sure to cancel it, also to freeze credit cards and cancel any subscriptions for utilities and services in your homeland.
Go through all of your monthly fees and make sure they have all been handled accordingly. After all, it might take you only a few clicks on the internet to get this all sorted in time.
Ticket
Most people have already visited the country they are moving to, at least once. Therefore, they are familiar with transportation costs. Depending on the country you are heading to, the ticket can cost up to several thousand dollars. Booking your ticket a couple of months ahead can drastically lower your transportation fees.
Shipping things
This is also a tricky part when moving abroad, especially overseas. Moving most of your life to another country or continent is just as messy as it sounds. First of all, recalculate whether it's more expensive to carry over your possessions or to simply buy new ones once you arrive. For house supplies and furniture, opt for a buying-new-things option, and only bring the items with sentimental value. There are several ways of shipping those things before you arrive and try asking your way around and figuring out the cheapest shipping option for your country.
Language studies
Language study is a very frequent step when moving to a certain country. You can decide whether you want to be self-taught or to be properly tutored by a school or a private teacher. Depending on the level of your previous knowledge and the way of learning, prices vary drastically. If you opt for a teacher or lecturer to give you one-on-one classes, it can cost you from $50-200 dollars per class. You can opt for cheaper options like online subscription or self-learning from the textbook. Anyhow, this is a smart thing to acquire before moving abroad.
Passport and visa
If your visa is due to a later date than your passport expiration date, you will need a passport renewal. This can provoke additional cost to your budget. Also, visa for a certain country can cost several hundred dollars, depending on the country and the type of visa. You can check which countries require a visa for your country. For example, there is limited visa-free stay for Australian citizens in some countries. Other countries and the longer stay require the visa. You also might need to provide additional fees for translating authentical documents and verification, as well as the health certificate, police record copy and such. Luckily these expenses will all occur before you leave the country and you can easily ask around to determine the exact amount of money and paperwork needed. By hiring the best immigration lawyer Sydney has, you will make sure everything goes smoothly and follows the law.
Medical expenses and insurance issues
No matter where you choose to move, it's better to be safe than sorry. Renewing your vaccinations and receiving the new ones, recommended for your host country, is a good idea. Also, getting a whole medical checkup before you leave will prevent any unpleasant surprises. Draw the blood, check your teeth condition and make sure you have any prescription drugs you may need.
Health insurance
Many countries don't offer cheap health care, not even in case of emergencies. National health coverage is the cheapest option, but only available to those with a permanent residency. Other options are getting long-term travellers health insurance or keeping your insurance policy at home country if it includes international coverage. If your health is stable, you should consider just a basic emergency health plan that only covers hospitalization. This will help you cut costs.
Let's hope that some of these pieces of advice helped you organizing you're moving abroad and made it easier and less expensive.
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