5 Tips For People Who Are Considering Being An Expatriate

by Donald Saunders

Every year many thousands of people decide to move overseas permanently and to start a new life for themselves in a foreign country. For a lot of these people this will prove to be one of the best decisions they have ever made, but for a large number of other people their dream quickly turns into a nightmare. Below are a few of the many things that you will have to consider.

It is a simple fact that the grass is always greener on the other side and it is all too easy to imagine a heavenly picture of living in the country of your choice. However, once you arrive, you might well discover that in fact the grass is much greener back at home. It is also generally the case that your thoughts about a foreign country as a holidaymaker is quite different from your view as a resident.

Not only should you visit the country a number of times before you make any decision to live there, but you should also do so at differing times of the year and for increasing periods of time. You should also try to 'live' in the country by renting a house or apartment and living as far as is possible as you would be living as a resident and not as a holidaymaker. If you still think that moving is the correct choice after you have spent a few months or so 'living' in the country, thenthere is a pretty good chance that you would not come to regret your decision.

*Make sure that you fully understand the immigration rules for your chosen country.

Check on the present immigration policy of your chosen destination and also look at its immigration history and any published or rumored plans for change.

In most cases you will be required to meet strict visa requirements and some of these may be inconvenient, costly and leave you without much security. The very last thing you want to do is to sever your ties with home, buy a condominium and settle the children into school only to discover that you are not allowed to extend your visa and are given three days to get out of the country.

*Examine your finances carefully.

Think very carefully about how you intend to support yourself in your chosen country. Do you, for instance, plan to look for a job after you arrive to provide you with an income, or do you plan to fund yourself from saving, investments or a pension from home?

If you want to look for a job abroad then how simple is it going to be to find a job? If you are able to get a job, what sort of salary can you expect? Will they allow you to work at all? Many countries will require you to have a work permit and these are often issued only in exceptional circumstances or for employment requiring specific qualifications or skills. In a lot of cases your visa will specifically state that you may not seek employment.

If you are going to fund yourself from sources back home, do you have sufficient resources not merely for today but for the next five or ten years or beyond? For instance, if you are going to be taking a pension abroad will it keep pace with the rising cost of living? In many countries you are allowed to draw a pension abroad but, if you elect to do so, you will lose any cost of living increases and your pension is fixed at the level at which you begin to receive it abroad.

*Think about what to do with your assets back home.

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

Naturally your home is a great deal more than a mere asset as it also provides you with a link to your home country and gives you an address back home which might be very useful if you do not have friends or family who would be happy for you to use their address. Just wait until your credit card runs out and your bank informs you that they can only send your replacement card to the address to which the account is registered in your home country.

As far as your other belongings are concerned you could of course get rid of many of them if you wish, retaining only those or especial real or sentimental value, or you might decide to take them with you. But how simple is it to ship things overseas and how much will it cost? Look carefully too at the regulations in your chosen country. Some countries will allow you to bring more or less whatever you wish into the country, while others will have very strict limits or charge high import taxes. For example, in many cases it is far cheaper to buy a new car than to ship your own car and pay high import duty and possibly to need to have your car altered to satisfy local requirements for registration.

*Examine the provision of healthcare.

You might feel fit and healthy now but, if you are considering moving abroad permanently, then a time is going to come when you will have to make use of the local healthcare facilities. Just how good are the local facilities and how well do they stand up against the facilities that you are accustomed to?

Yet another extremely important factor is the provision of public healthcare. If you come from a country which has publicly funded healthcare, like the United Kingdom, then you may be more than a bit shocked by the cost of medical treatment when you are residing in a country that has only private healthcare. Of course, if you are used to paying for private healthcare, you might be very pleasantly surprised to discover that you can get the same or better medical treatment at a fraction of the cost.

No matter what the case, healthcare is something that you will have to look at very carefully and you will certainly want to have some sort of expatriate health insurance plan.

This short list of only five tips is far from exhaustive but it will hopefully provide you with a starting point and get you going in the right direction. Becoming an expat is a huge step and one that requires considerable and careful thought.

Donald Saunders writes on many subjects, in particular health, and is also himself an expat. For more information on international travel health insurance or on low cost health insurance in general then please visit MedicalHealthInsuranceToday.com