How much does it cost to move overseas?
Let me breakdown all the costs involved with moving overseas
The latest episode of my podcast The Expat Diaries is out now! The Expat Diaries is the podcast for people in their 20s who are wanting to move overseas and live the expat life but need some help to make it happen. The latest episode is all about how much it costs to move overseas.
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Moving overseas is a dream a lot of people have, but how much does it really cost?
As much as I wish I could give you an exact figure, everyone’s personal situations make that impossible. Depending on your destination, budget and job, the cost of moving overseas will be different for everybody.
What I can do is breakdown all the potential costs for you to consider when figuring out the financial side of your overseas move.
I’ve been living overseas for about four months now, and I’ve met a lot of other expats from all over the world. One thing I didn’t expect was what a spectrum “living overseas” could be. We’ve met people who had jobs lined up before moving, people with remote jobs, people trying to find jobs (this was us), people volunteering in exchange for accomodation and food (us now because we didn’t end up finding work) and everything in between. Depending on how you “do” living overseas, can really change how much moving overseas can cost. If you have a job lined up they may pay for your moving costs, and if you’re planning on doing a work exchange you won’t have to worry about rent.
When my partner and I first moved overseas we thought we’d find somewhere to live and then find jobs, but unfortunately it wasn’t as easy as that. We ended up doing remote work for a while, before deciding to try work exchanges. Moving around and changing plans often has definitely been a chaotic and more expensive way of living overseas, so we’ve discovered. I think if you have a better idea of what you want to do when living overseas it’ll save you money in the long run.
But no matter your situation, there are many different monetary costs to take into consideration when taking the leap to move overseas. You have to think about packing up your current life, taking the steps to actually make the move, and then preparing for when you arrive in your new country.
My main money related advice before moving overseas, would be to sit down and make a spreadsheet. Use that to factor in all your potential costs to make sure you know from the get go what kind of costs you’re looking at. Also make sure to research the cost of living in the country you’re planning on moving to, to ensure you’ll be able to afford it. From there you can work out how much you’ll need to save for your big overseas move.
Moving overseas definitely isn’t cheap, but there are many different ways you can do it to make it work with your budget.
Packing up your current life
When it comes to the cost of packing up your existing life, there are a few things to think about.
If you’re a renter you might have to pay to break your lease. If you’re a home owner you’ll need to figure out how to cover your mortgage (there may be other costs involved but I’m not a home owner so not super sure about that sorry!).
When it comes to your possessions, you’ll have to decide if you’re taking them with you, and if so, how much that will cost. The price to take a few suitcases versus a shipping container full of your stuff will differ significantly. If you’re only planning on taking the bare minimum with you, then you’ll have to make plans to sell or store your possessions. If you’re not able to leave stuff with family or friends, weigh up whether paying for storage is worth it for you, or if you’re better off just to sell it all. Selling your belongings can also mean a decent extra chunk of money to buy new things when overseas. We sold almost everything we owned before moving overseas and it was quite liberating.
Preparing to move overseas
In terms of costs to actually get overseas, the main expenses will be for flights, a visa and travel insurance.
The cost of a flight will obviously depend on where you’re going and when. A visa is the same. Every country will have different visas, that vary in price, depending on what type you need. The requirements to get a visa will often cost you money, like getting a police check and insurance. If your visa needs you to pre-purchase insurance, that can cost a decent amount. A lot of visas needed to live in another country will also require you to prove you have a certain amount of cash in your bank account, so keep that in mind. Some visas also have more specific requirements, like knowing the language. In order for me to get a working holiday visa for Portugal I needed to learn Portuguese to a certain level, and so lessons were an expense I had to factor into my move.
When you arrive overseas
Once you arrive overseas there are more costs to factor in.
If you’re planning on renting, you will need to have a deposit/bond, plus potentially a couple of months rent up your sleeve. Every country will be different but I’ve heard of some people having to pay six months rent upfront, which is a big chunk of money. Then depending on if your new place comes furnished or not, and if you bought things over with you or not, you may have to purchase new things for your new home. Furniture and appliances can be a big expense, plus don’t forget about your utility bills.
Other things you’ll need to fork out for will potentially include a new sim card and phone plan, fees to open a local bank account, and the cost of transferring your money to the local currency.
An emergency fund is also essential when you move overseas. You never know what might happen so it’s good to have a few thousand dollars extra up your sleeve if anything were to go wrong.
Once you’ve settled in overseas, then hopefully, your costs should start to go back to normal (of course depending on where you move to and your specific circumstances).
As I said before though, there are many different ways of living overseas, and how much you end up spending can really depend on your personal situation. The best thing you can do to be prepared to move overseas is to calculate a ballpark figure based on potential different costs outlined above.
Weekly update
We left our Workaway at the vineyard last week, and stopped off for a night in Coimbra on our way to our next Workaway. Coimbra is a university town with one of the oldest universities in the world, so we wanted to check it out and it was very nice!
We’ve been at our new Workaway for almost a week now and unfortunately, it hasn’t been great so far.
This Workaway is an events venue about an hour northeast of Lisbon where we’ll normally be doing random maintenance, cleaning and gardening around the place. Our first weekend was a bit different though as the owner’s son was getting married here, so we worked setting that up and then packing it down.
I’m not gonna get into all the dramas we’ve had so far at this Workaway, but the owners aren’t around very often and have been terrible at communicating everything which has caused some issues. There are other volunteers here too, who said it’s normally been good work and vibes but I think the wedding over the weekend has everyone very stressed. Despite the owners not being great, we’ve had some lovely times with the other volunteers and the property is very nice (it has a lake!).
