Things You Need to Know if You Want to Live Abroad
If you absolutely adore one of the countries you’ve visited during your travels, then there’s a good chance that you might want to consider moving there eventually. Many people get tired of the country they come from and they occasionally look for new and unique opportunities in overseas locations. If this is the case for you, then you may want to think twice and carefully consider your options before you move abroad.
So in this post, let’s discuss some of the challenges that come with living abroad and what you should be keeping in mind.
Is it financially viable for you to buy or rent a home abroad?
Buying a home abroad is really expensive. This should be obvious to most people, but there are many hidden costs that you might not fully understand at first. For example, moving often requires that you also move any belongings that you might have. For someone that doesn’t have many possessions this usually isn’t a huge problem. However, if you do have a lot of furniture or large items and boxes that you want to keep, you’ll have to find a solution to it.
However, you can often drastically reduce the cost of buying a home abroad if you know where to look. For example, there are projects such as The Greenwich in Singapore which is not only cheaper than buying a home that is already built, but you might even be able to secure a discount as a foreign buyer.
Unfortunately, there are some caveats to buying a home abroad compared to buying in your own country. The biggest consideration is that you’ll need to have the money upfront unless you sell your home first and can stay with a friend or family member while you arrange the property purchase overseas. This is different to buying a home in your own country because you often have a grace period where you can sell your home but still live in it for a while as you sort out the logistics of your move.
With that saying, buying a home abroad isn’t the most difficult thing if you’re willing to pay a little extra for help from a local realtor. You’ll find that there are plenty of foreign-friendly services that will help you find a home and sort out the legal documents, but you do need to invest a little more money to make it happen.
How do you plan to secure your financial situation?
One of the most difficult things about moving abroad is that you often need to think about how you can secure your financial situation. In other words; how do you plan to make money?
Most people would likely have an option of earning money that they can do from home. For example, working remotely or even starting up your own online business can be an excellent choice. This is because you can start this in your home country and then easily transition to an online-focused strategy as you move. You’ll need to pause your business for a day or two as you move and organize your situation, but it’s usually something that you can do without much disruption to your workflow and overall business.
This is a fantastic option for people that want to start their own business or work from home. However, you also need to consider your options if you don’t want to go this path. Some people much prefer to work a traditional job where they commute to the workplace, do their work, then come home to enjoy their free time. This is usually something that’s a lot more difficult to achieve because you’ll need to consider the different visa classifications and how to apply for them. This can get really confusing if you’re not well-versed in the legal literature surrounding it.
As such, we’d recommend taking a look at visa types and which one you need in order to live and work in the country you want to move to. In some cases, if you’re able to find overseas employment with a relatively large company, they might be able to help you with the application process. Some visa types may even need a guarantor, and this is where your employer can come in handy.
Moving abroad isn’t the biggest ordeal in the world, but it certainly requires a lot of planning. However, if you’re motivated and are willing to put some time and work into it, you’ll find that it’s easily doable with the right mindset.
