Essential things to do before relocating with your family

Moving to a new environment as a family can be an exciting, challenging experience, but getting it right is easier if preparation is done before the leaving date.

Travelling en famille to a foreign country is all about new experiences, new cultures and new job opportunities, and can be especially valuable as a learning process for your children as well as for you and your partner. However, successful living and working overseas needs careful preparation involving research before you pack you bags and head for the airport.

If you’re leaving without a job to go to and arranging the emigration process yourself, finding out about the necessities such as visas, opening bank accounts, transferring money, tax liabilities and available long-term accommodation before you leave is essential. If you’ve school age children, a brief stay in your chosen destination should be enough to investigate local international schools and their requirements as regards charges as well as your requirements as regards the standards of available courses in English. If you’ve younger children, enquiries about childcare can also be made.

Meeting up with local expats can answer many questions regarding healthcare standards and costs as well as suggestions as to available jobs. Of course, if you and your family are travelling on assignment, much of the above may well have been taken care of by your HR officer. One important difference you’ll need to consider is the business etiquette in your new land as it’s certain to be different from the one you’re used to in the UK. Studying the culture of your destination country can be easily done online and will help a lot when you’re building networks or finding a job.

Working overseas can be complicated as it often involves different rules to those in the home country, making educating yourself as to your rights the best idea. Bureaucracy, contracts, paperwork, permits, visa changes and suchlike can wreck your carefully-laid plans and should be nailed down before they become a nuisance.

One important issue ignored by many expats, with or without their families, is saving money whilst working overseas. In many destination countries, especially in the Middle East, job markets are volatile and rules are changing, making it important you have savings set by for emergencies.