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| 5 Tips For Anyone Who Is Looking At Becoming An Expat |
By:
Donald Saunders |
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Every year many thousands of people make the decision to move overseas permanently and to make a new life for themselves and their families 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 others the dream will quickly turn into a nightmare. Below are just a few of the numerous things that you will have to consider.
� Make certain that you really do want to live overseas permanently.
It is a simple fact that the grass is always greener on the other side and it is all too easy to create a heavenly picture of life in your chosen country. But, once you get there, you may find that in fact the grass is now much greener back home. It is also often the case that your picture of a country as a holidaymaker is considerably different from that as a resident.
Not only is it essential to visit the country a number of times before deciding to live there, but you should also make your visits at differing times of year and for increasing periods of time. You should also try 'living' in the chosen country by renting a condo or house and living as far as is possible as you would as a resident and not as a holidaymaker. If you still think that moving is the right choice after spending six months or so 'living' in the country, thenthere is a pretty good chance that you would not regret your choice.
� Make certain that you understand the immigration policy of your chosen country.
Look at the current immigration requirements of your chosen country and also take a look at its immigration history and any known or rumored plans for the future.
In many cases you will have to meet strict visa requirements and these might be inconvenient, expensive and leave you without much security. The absolute last thing you should do is to cut your ties with home, purchase a house and get your children settled into school only to discover that you are not allowed to extend your visa and have seven days to get out of the country.
� Examine your financial position carefully.
Think carefully about just how you plan to support yourself financially in your chosen country. For example, do you intend to seek employment after you arrive to give you an income, or do you plan to fund yourself from investments, savings or a pension from home?
If you plan to seek employment overseas then just how easy will it be to get work? If you are lucky enough to find work, what sort of salary can you expect? Will they permit you to work at all? A large number of countries will require you to have a work permit and these are often issued only in exceptional circumstances or for employment requiring special skills or qualifications. In a lot of cases your visa will specifically state that you are not allowed to seek employment.
If you want to fund your stay from sources back home, do you have enough resources not just for today but for the next five or ten years or more? For example, if you are going to be receiving a pension overseas will it keep pace with the rising cost of living? In a lot of cases you may draw a pension overseas but, if you choose to do so, you lose any cost of living increases and your pension will be fixed at the level at which you begin to receive it overseas.
� Consider what to do with your assets at home.
If you own your home will you rent it out, sell it or just leave it empty? What will you do with your furniture, car and other personal possessions?
Naturally your home is a great deal more than a simple asset as it also gives you a link to your home country and gives you an address back home which may be extremely useful if you do not have family or friends who are happy to let you use their address. You only have to wait until your credit card runs out and your credit card company tells you that they will only send the new card to the address to which the account is registered in your home country.
As far as your other possessions are concerned you could of course dispose of many of them if you wish, retaining only those or particular sentimental or real value, or you can take them with you. But just how easy will it be to ship things overseas and how much will it cost? You must look carefully too at the regulations in your country of destination. Some countries will allow you to bring just about anything you want into the country, while other countries will have strict limits or charge high import taxes. In many cases for example it would be much less expensive to purchase a new car than to import your own car and pay high import duty and perhaps to need to have the vehicle altered to comply with local requirements for registration.
� Examine the provision of healthcare.
You may be on top of the world now but, if you are thinking about moving abroad permanently, then a time will come when you will have to avail yourself of the local healthcare facilities. So, just how good are those local facilities and how do they stand up against the facilities that you are used to?
Yet another very important factor is the provision of public healthcare. If you come from a country which has a publicly funded healthcare system, like the UK, then you could be more than a little shocked by the cost of medical treatment when you are 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 find that you obtain the same level of or even better medical treatment at a fraction of the cost.
No matter what the case, healthcare is one thing that you have to examine very carefully and you will certainly want to have some sort of expatriate health insurance policy.
This brief 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 very big step and one that needs considerable and careful thought.
Donald Saunders writes on many subjects, in particular health, and is also himself an expat. For more information on expat health insurance or on affordable health insurance in general then please visit MedicalHealthInsuranceToday.com |
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