Moving abroad for 6 months: a checklist

Three to twelve months somewhere new is closer to moving than a holiday: paperwork, a place to live, a monthly budget and a routine. This is the list we'd start from, wherever you're going.

Two to three months before

• Check visa and time limits for your passport and destination with an official source. If you're thinking about a digital nomad or remote-work visa, check what it asks for and how long it takes to process.
• Check that your passport is valid well past your return date and has blank pages.
• Ask whether a long stay changes anything for your tax or residency at home or where you're going. This depends on your situation, so check with an official source or an adviser.
• Get health insurance that covers the whole stay. Many travel policies cap trip length.
• Decide what happens to your home: keep paying, sublet where your lease allows it, or end it. Same for your car.
• Set a monthly budget. Rent is usually most of it, so look up what medium-term rentals cost in the areas you like.

The month before

• Book the first two to four weeks short-term, then look for a medium-term rental once you've walked the areas.
• Tell your bank you'll be away and carry a card without foreign transaction fees, plus a backup card kept separately.
• Sort your mail: a forwarding address, a trusted person, or a mail scanning service.
• Pause or cancel subscriptions and memberships you won't use while away.
• See your doctor and dentist, and get enough of any regular prescriptions, with a note on what they are.
• Keep scans of your passport, insurance and bookings somewhere you can reach from your phone.

First week

• Get a local SIM or eSIM.
• Find out how local transport is paid for and get a card or app if there is one.
• Save the local emergency number, and find the nearest pharmacy and clinic.
• Walk your shortlist of neighbourhoods at different times of day before you sign anything longer.
• Ask whether you need to register your address locally, and by when.

While you're there

• Log spending by month against your budget.
• Keep an eye on the date your permitted stay ends, and how other countries you visit count toward it.
• Plan side trips and visitors early: they are the dates that fill up.

Wrapping up

• Give notice on your rental in writing and agree how the deposit comes back.
• Cancel the SIM, utilities and any local subscriptions.
• Book the flight out before your permitted stay runs out.
• Turn your home, mail and subscriptions back on.

Questions