Today, I’ll show you 10 practical tips for moving abroad.
These tips could save you thousands of dollars and dozens of hours in a single year.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the tips.
1/ Never pay for flights again
Since 2012, I’ve paid 80% of my flights with travel rewards.
12 months before moving, apply for ONE of these credit cards:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred (60K intro miles, $95 fee)
- Capital One Venture (75K intro miles, $95 fee)
- Capital One Venture X (75K intro miles, $395 fee)
In the next 3 months, earn your intro miles by reaching the minimum spend (~$4k)
Then book your flights using those miles.
That’s it.
Save $1,000+ on flights in minutes.
A few nuances:
- Only implement this if you have no credit card debt.
- Set up automatic bill pay so you never miss a payment. Paying on time, 100% of the time = huge for credit score.
- Pay off your entire statement, every month. Don’t let anything carry over. If you can’t afford to do this yet, wait until you can.
- If you don’t want to pay the annual fee, add reminders to cancel your card before 365 days have passed.
- You don’t need to be a US citizen to apply for these cards. You do need a good US credit score, which takes time to build.
2/ No more foreign transaction fees
Credit cards make it easy to travel without worrying about exchange rates and getting local currency. But many credit cards charge a 3% foreign transaction fee when used abroad.
This adds up to hundreds of dollars over time, simply for spending your money.
Get a credit card that specifically has no foreign transaction fees.
The three cards I mentioned above all have no foreign transaction fees. For a no-annual-fee credit card that also has no foreign transaction fee, I use the Amazon Prime Visa card.
(Non-affiliate link, I recommend it because I use it.)
3/ The best way to send money internationally
Transferwise is a fast, cheap way to transfer money internationally.
Send money knowing you’re getting a better rate and paying a smaller fee than you would at a bank.
There’s a small learning curve. You’ll have to gather account and routing numbers, and IBAN numbers. I recommend trying the service with a small transfer to start.
After that, you can “repeat transfer” and you’ll be set.
4/ Keep your cell phone number
Many social apps are tied to your phone number (e.g. WhatsApp).
More importantly, if you’re using the US banking or credit system, you’ll want your US number for two-factor authentication, or 2FA.
Without it, you’ll get locked out of your accounts while abroad.
The process is straightforward:
- Verify you own the number
- Pay a small fee
- Wait a few days for the port to finish
After that, you can access your phone number, text messages, and voicemail through the Google Voice app or website.
Read the documentation for all the steps.
5/ Stock up on your favorite drugs
Medicines available over the counter in the US are not the same everywhere else.
Every country has its own unique guidelines and restrictions.
Which sounds reasonable…
But it’s not something you think about until it’s spring, you’re plagued by allergies, and you can’t pick up any antihistamines without a doctor’s note.
Research the availability of your favorite drugs before you move.
6/ Carry original documentation
Bring the originals of the documents with you:
- Birth certificates
- Marriage certificate
- Social security cards
They’re necessary for all sorts of red tape you’ll wade through in setting up your life abroad, like applying for tax credits, renewing passports, enrolling in schools, and opening bank accounts.
Make digital copies as well, then save these in some cloud storage (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive) so it’s always readily available.
7/ Keep housing and travel records
You’ll want these for:
- Tax filings
- Buying property
- Renting property
- Passport renewals or applications
Tip: Your Amazon addresses is a surprisingly accurate place of record for past address.
8/ How to make friends fast
Want to make friends living abroad?
Get on the Facebook and Whatsapp groups.
This is where all the action is, for:
- Fitness
- Schools
- Meetups
- Tech events
- Buying/selling
The first thing I do now when evaluating a location is find and join these groups.
9/ How to remember everything
Wondering how you’re going to save all your photos and videos of your move and travels?
Go with Google One storage.
I’ve experimented with hard drives, Dropbox, YouTube, etc. Google One is the only way that’s stuck:
- Easy uploading
- Incredible search features
- Inexpensive ($2/month for a shared 100GB)
10/ Be radically candid about time zone challenges
I’ve seen managing time zone differences wreck people.
Particularly at tech startups.
A lot of meetings + constant 2-week deadlines = burnout
It’s difficult to juggle work hours, family time, and time for yourself.
You should experiment with different schedules and set ups. But after 16 months of managing an 8-hour time difference, I realized there’s only one solution:
1/ Set strong boundaries
2/ Communicate them often… both at work and at home.
It’s the second part that trips people up:
You should be communicating your schedule regularly, e.g. weekly.
This is how you keep remote work sustainable for the long term.
Conclusion
Here are my 10 favorite practical tips for moving abroad:
- Never pay for flights again
- No more foreign transaction fees
- The best way to send money internationally
- Keep your cell phone number
- Stock up on your favorite drugs
- Carry original documentation
- Keep housing and travel records
- How to make friends fast
- How to remember everything
- Be radically candid about time zone challenges
