How to Move to a Different Country & Love It Forever

No matter what, you’ll have to do paperwork to move abroad – and typically a lot of it. Laura Jean Spineti, who moved earlier this year from New York City to Shenzhen, China, for a job with a theater company, called the process of getting a Chinese Z-Visa “gently harrowing and deeply perplexing.” 

“On top of the obvious requirements [like] valid passport, inviting party paperwork, and thorough background check, a physical trip to the NYC Chinese embassy was required,” she added, plus “a medical check by both a U.S.-based doctor and a mainland China-based doctor,” which she notes would’ve been pricey without health insurance.

Braden Bjella, who left the U.S. for Germany in 2017 and is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia, notes that how difficult the move might be definitely varies by country. He initially moved to Nuremberg on a Fulbright scholarship, which provided some help with visa paperwork, but even moving within Germany later was “definitely complicated.” However, his experience in Georgia was much easier, as Americans don’t actually need a visa to stay there.

The administrative work doesn’t end once you’ve arrived, though. “I think something a lot of people don’t talk about is when you’re an American moving abroad, you need to pay American taxes,” Bjella notes.

The actual act of filling out the paperwork is just one part of this process. It also takes time. 

“We generally recommend people start preparing at least six months before their intended moving date,” says David McNeill of Expat Empire, a company that assists potential expats with a variety of relocation logistics. This largely has to do with paperwork processing times.

There are exceptions to that. While Bjella’s initial relocation was planned well in advance, his other moves have largely been more spontaneous. And Spineti made her move to China happen in just two weeks, thanks to plenty of help from her employer and “Chinese-speaking friends and relatives.” “Making an inventory and meticulously planning for two weeks made the actual move a breeze,” she adds, so it certainly pays to be organized.

It may pay to be organized, but you’ll still require quite a chunk of change to make an international move happen. 

“Moving expenses can include flight tickets, shipping costs, short-term accommodations while searching for long-term accommodations, security deposits for long-term accommodations, new furniture purchases, government and lawyer fees for visa applications, and more,” McNeill explains, adding that security deposits “may require upfront costs equivalent to three to six months of rent … I think it would be good to have $5,000 to 10,000 saved for the move.”

However, says Bjella, “You can make it work for pretty cheaply if you’re willing to cut your standards a little bit,” like starting out with “a cheap apartment on the outskirts” of a major city. “Once you’ve bought those smaller things you can do the bigger things like finding an apartment you actually want to live in, buying furniture, all that stuff,” he says.

6 Up-and-Coming Bedroom Trends Real Estate Agents Love

Spineti previously worked for a company that “managed international moves,” which made it easier to prep for her own relocation. 

“It typically costs way more money to safely move furniture and bulky items halfway across the world than to just buy new items at your destination,” she explains. “Break rates on international moves are incredibly high if you don’t choose the best movers, and I’d be too nervous that I’d spend all of that money, only to have the items break in transit. It’s quite common!” 

McNeill notes that shipping is often the biggest cost of a move, “especially if people are shipping large items like furniture and cars.”

Both Spineti and Bjella opted to move with suitcases and made additional purchases once they arrived. “I shipped some stuff, but shipping especially [in Georgia] is kind of a mess, the post just loses everything,” Bjella says. “Staying in a month-to-month, mostly furnished building while locally shopping around for anything I might need has been both convenient and fun!” notes Spineti.

If you do want to find overseas housing remotely, it’s definitely good to get some help. “I would recommend hiring relocation professionals who offer home-finding services because they know the local property market extremely well,” McNeil says, adding that they can tour homes while video-chatting with you, which is likely going to be more objective than if the owner or leasing manager gave you a video tour. 

Spineti had a coworker in China find options for her, but she still encountered a few surprises in Shenzhen: “The only shock I experienced was realizing that my ‘furnished’ apartment did not actually include a mattress, but rather, a 3-inch sleeping pad. And the toilet is in the shower.” In other words, it also pays to ask questions – including what “furnished” might mean.

To Bjella, “Housing is the most annoying thing about moving abroad,” especially in a place like Berlin, where he encountered hyper-competitive online listings, short lease terms, and quickly rising rents. “I would recommend, if someone is moving abroad, definitely just get a hotel or local rental for the first month then go see apartments.”

Of course, moving abroad isn’t just about logistics. 

“I think the thing that surprises most people, including me even though I have moved internationally several times, is that it can take more than a year to feel really settled and have a strong group of friends,” notes McNeill. “Most people imagine arriving abroad and immediately starting to live an incredible life, but I have found that it can take 12+ months to truly feel at home.” 

Leaving America is undoubtedly an undertaking, but if expat life is truly calling your name, it’s probably worth answering. “You build a life, you build friends, and you just start to feel comfortable,” Bjella says. “Tbilisi is my home now and I really can’t imagine it any other way.”

Read More from AT Media

We Asked 8 Pro Travelers What They Never Pack in Their Carry-On, and Here’s What They Said

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Article’s DTC Furniture

I Tried the 90/90 Rule and My Closet Is Now Fully Decluttered

The Best Plug-In Sconces for the Prettiest Lighting – No Electrician Needed