Sometimes, traveling abroad for a brief vacation just isn’t enough: more and more people want to make their dream of living in another country come true. Students who’ve just graduated from high school or college opt to go on a gap year – slightly older employees take a sabbatical and consider going abroad to work in Canada or Australia on a working holiday visa – middle-aged couples put their savings together to open a B&B in Ireland – retirees want to spend their golden years under the sun of Tuscany or Thailand… In short, the possibilities are endless, no matter your age and current situation in life. However, unless you are the adventurous type, you probably shouldn’t hop on the next plane with your carry-on luggage. Preparing to move abroad – whether it’s for ten months or ten years – requires a bit of “homework” to do before you leave. The following checklist may come in handy:

• Do you have a valid passport? If it’s about to expire or will become invalid while you are abroad, you should renew it before your trip. Otherwise, you’ll have to spend some time at a consulate during your precious time abroad, or you may run into trouble at the border when you want to go back home.
• What do you know about your destination’s visa and residence requirements? Now’s the time to get in touch with the nearest embassy or consulate and make enquiries about your specific case. Depending on the country, your own nationality, your reason for moving, and the planned duration of your stay, you may have quite a bit of red tape to cut through. Particularly if you’d like to go abroad for work, sorting out your application for a visa-plus-work-permit can take a while. Make sure that you start your preparations well in advance of your departure date. Three months is a good rule of thumb: this might seem like a long time, but if the embassy staff is known for taking their time or if you have a lot of additional documents to submit, you will definitely need it.
• Also, if you are planning to run your own business abroad or being self-employed, make sure you know the legal regulations. It’s probably best to have a reliable local partner or advisor to help you with administrative matters.
• Once you’ve submitted a complete visa application and have a better timeframe to work with, you can start looking into travel tickets and temporary accommodation. The latter depends a lot on your personal budget. Backpackers on work & travel visa make do with hostels; expats with lower-income jobs are often interested in renting a room in a shared flat, and expatriate families with a generous salary and/or housing allowance will feel most comfortable in a hotel suite or serviced apartment.
• Are you in good health and fit for travel? While you’re still at home, find the time for a comprehensive check-up exam with your family doctor. If you need some minor surgery, dental fillings, or a new pair of glasses, take care of it before going abroad. Moreover, you should read up on your destination: do you need any special immunizations? Are there any health risks you should know about? What are the medical standards like? Can you just import your usual prescription drugs? And, most importantly, do you have any travel or medical insurance to pay for emergency treatment and regular care? You wouldn’t want to be settled with a major hospital bill because you suffer, say, from acute appendicitis during your gap year in France!
• Indeed, money makes the world go round – so make sure you have some money around the world! You should check how long your credit card is valid, if your cards will be accepted by standard ATMs abroad and if you can access a bank account with some emergency funds. Even if you don’t have to submit proof of sufficient funds for a visa application, lay aside some money that might pay for a few nights at a hostel and a flight home. There’ve been plenty of clueless backpackers who had to spend some days sleeping on park benches and living off half-price bread because they ran out of funds and had to wait for their family to wire them “back-up money”. Okay, if you’re twenty and it’s summer, this is kind of fun, but at a certain age, you probably just want a decent bed and a hot meal instead.
• Especially if you are older and/or if you earn a full salary, you should also talk to your financial service provider and your tax advisor. Your move abroad can affect your income taxes, tax returns, as well as your retirement provisions. If you have never heard of things like “fiscal residence” or “social security agreement” before, you’ll have to dig into those topics now.
• Finally, the date of departure is drawing nearer and nearer… Unless you are planning to travel light, it may be time to do a property inventory and think about what you’d like to take or ship abroad. Particularly if you are in for a long-term move, you shouldn’t skip this step: most expats want some family heirlooms or prized possessions to accompany them abroad.
• In case you intend to take bulky items like household appliances or even your car, it’s worth checking import regulations and technical standards. If your fridge from the US doesn’t even fit into a standard-size kitchen in Japan or if your car needs a major overhaul for the UAE, it’s probably easier to buy or lease the same things abroad.
• Last but not least, you may have to cancel your subscriptions before you leave. You certainly don’t want to keep paying for phone, Internet, electricity, gas, and the local paper while you’re busy dashing round the world. If you want to get your mail forwarded, take care of it too.

Phew, that was quite a bit of work, wasn’t it? However, all the time you invest beforehand really pays off once you move abroad. When you’re actually overseas, you can simply relax and focus fully on your experiences, the new life you are building, the interesting sights you visit and the great people you meet – no reason to worry about things left undone.