Moving Overseas to Live With Your Partner
The majority of people will find themselves in a relationship with someone who happens to live relatively near to them. They will settle down with someone living in the same city, or at least the same state or country. But there are a few of us who will fall for someone who happens to live a long distance away. Perhaps you met them while they were visiting your home country on holiday, or during their studies. Maybe you met online and developed a long distance relationship from there.
Alternatively, you may have settled down with someone who lived near to you, but they have to move overseas for work opportunities or other reasons. Whatever your reason for considering a move overseas to live with your partner, you are going to find yourself with a whole lot on your plate. Here are just a few different things you should take into consideration before booking your flight and waving goodbye to the life you currently know!
Deciding Whether This is the Right Decision for You
The first thing that you should focus on when considering moving overseas to live with a partner is whether it is definitely the right decision for you. This is by no means a minor life decision to make – it will affect pretty much every aspect of your life. Here are some questions you should ask yourself before completely settling on moving to a new country for the sake of love.
The Strength of Your Relationship
Examine the strength of your relationship. Moving far from home is an intense experience and can get extremely emotional at times. Your partner will need to support you through this. You will also find yourself increasingly dependent on your partner early on in the move, as they are likely to be the only person that you know well when you do move. Will they be able to provide you with ongoing support while you find a job, make friends in new social circles, and get used to your new surroundings?
Work Opportunities
Chances are that you’ve had to work hard to find yourself in the job role you have at the moment. So, you need to make sure that you can find something equally as good or even better when you make a move. You don’t want to find yourself unemployed, feeling unfulfilled, or having to work your way back up the corporate ladder all over again. Scout out work opportunities well in advance of moving. This will help you to secure a desirable job as and when you do move.
Ensuring That You Can Live in Your Country of Choice
You can’t necessarily just walk into any country you like and set up home there as and when you please. Every country will have its own immigration laws, rules, and regulations, and you’re going to have to make sure that you do everything as you are supposed to in order to avoid becoming an illegal immigrant, which can see you run the risk of being deported. So, the first thing that you need to do before considering any move seriously is to conduct plenty of research into what you have to do in order to gain more permanent access to the country you have in mind.
Most governments will have a web page that you can visit, which will give you all of the necessary details and information. Some countries will require that you have a particular sum of savings to your mind, others will accept partner visas, and some will require you to be qualified in a sector where they require workers. Getting this step out of the way early on will ensure that you have plenty of time to meet the country’s requirements and can start planning your move further.
Preparing Yourself
Once you’ve decided that this is the right decision for you, and you know that you meet the legal requirements for moving overseas, you can start preparing yourself to head away. Here are just a few steps that you should consider taking.
Learn the Local Language
If you are moving to a country whose native language you happen to already speak, you can skip this step. But those who are moving to a country where they don’t speak the native or local language will need to start learning this language.
You’ll need to be able to communicate with people in order to land a job and get by with day to day tasks, such as shopping, asking directions, and following street signs or reading warning signs. You also want to be able to socialise with other people, rather than relying solely on your partner. If you can only speak to your partner, or require them to translate for you on daily basis, unnecessary strain will be placed on your relationship. Use language software such as Rosetta Stone, download language apps like Duolingo, and take language courses to get started on the right foot.
Minimising Your Personal Belongings
It’s going to cost a whole lot of money to ship all of your personal belongings abroad. So, you’re going to have to start whittling them down. Sell anything that you cannot take overseas with you, then save the money that you make. This can be spent on new belongings in your new home when you arrive. If there are large belongings that you can’t afford to ship now, but can’t bear to part with, source a reliable storage solutions company. They will be able to hold on to these items until you are ready to ship them internationally.
As you can see, there’s a whole lot to take into account before making a firm decision in regards to moving overseas to live with your partner. Don’t feel rushed. Instead, take your time, do your research, and go with whatever feels best for you! This is a major life decision, and shouldn’t be made lightly.
This is a collaborative post.
