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Yikes - imminent move overseas - what do I need to sort out before we go?

47 replies

fanjolina · 01/04/2011 10:37

DH has been asked this week to work abroad. They want him out by end May, and all I can think of is OMG - how can we pack up our life by then?!!

I don't have to worry about sorting out accommodation the other end, shipping etc as his company will take care of that. But I don't think I have fully got my head around all that needs to be done here.

So far I have thought of:

  • sell / give away as much of our crap lovely possessions as we can
  • tell schools
  • tell doctor
  • tell dentist
  • rehome cat :(
  • arrange forwarding of mail (or similar)
  • check with mortgage company that can rent house
  • contact estate agent
  • contact house insurance
  • have a party!


Can any of you who have been through this before help by providing me with a full list? Thanks!
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shelscrape · 01/04/2011 10:57

Oh fab where are you going?

I moved to NZ 2 months ago. Sort out permission to rent your house with the mortgage company as soon as possible. Out mortgage company took nearly 2 months to do this, so the sooner you do it the better. I'd suggest you go to a letting agency that offer a full service - that is find tenant, collect rent, arrange basic maintenance for you - will save you a head ache in the long term. We hve just redirected all our mail to MIL, she bins all obvious junk mail and forwards the rest to us every month. Royal mail will do international redirection, but you need an address to send it to before you go. Also, research schools abraod as soon as possible. Take as much personal stuff, furnitire, toys, china etc that you can. It will help your place to feel like home overseas and will hepl the DC's to settle. We brought our entire house contents to NZ, and nothing was broken at all. you may be able to take the cat with you, there are specialist pet moving services ... a friend took her aged cat to melbourne for about £3000.

Yes, to big party and lots of Wine

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sunnydelight · 01/04/2011 11:13

Tell Child benefit and tax credit people if appropriate. You don't want to end up having to reply an overpayment from overseas. Make sure any life insurance you hold will still be valid (you should be fine but some insurance companies have strange rules about covering non residents so don't end up not covered when you think you are). Get a pro-rata refund on your car tax/insurance if you have paid upfront. If you are thinking of private schools (or your DH's company is willing to stump up for them) or your children have any special needs get school reports. Bring records of vaccinations (countries have different requirements - you can't always enrol children in nursery or school if they aren't up to date with the local schedule). That's all I can think of for now - good luck!

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empirestateofmind · 01/04/2011 11:26

Sell car.

Check house is in a good state for renting out (we had to have ours rewired the week before we left as the electrics failed their inspection- OMG the stress was immense).

Make a video of the house with all your things in to show the DC. Ours soon forgot what their house looked like and the video was very useful.

Take reminders of when DCs were small with you eg baby books, photos. It is surprising how often these things are needed in infant/junior school even in international schools.

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fanjolina · 01/04/2011 11:57

Oh, this is such a great help - thankyou.

The video is a lovely idea. Was just thinking earlier than youngest DD won't remember this house if we are away for 3 years, as planned.

Location is still tbc as it will depend on where they base the project. Definitely in Asia though - locations likely to he Singapore, KL or HK.

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Merlion · 01/04/2011 11:58

We also bought our cats here - depending on where you are going might still be feasible. We're lucky that Singapore is part of pet passport scheme and no quarantine when they arrived.

Would also recommend letting agency. You will need landlords' insurance too and gas safety inspection to be carried out.

We didn't bring much furniture with us and managed to give a fair bit to relatives who were just buying their first houses at the time.

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kreecherlivesupstairs · 01/04/2011 13:33

Tell your bank that you are moving abroad. You can avoid the rejection of cash cards that way Angry.
Fin out which vaccinations (if any) you'll need. When we moved from Oman to Thailand we found out we needed rabies and hep a (we had already had hep b) and get those done. You should be reimbursed by your new company.

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strandednomore · 01/04/2011 13:41

As soon as you know where you are going, talk to someone who is already there. Find out as much about the country as you can - in particular what you can and can't get there, what you should bring with you etc.
As it looks like you are going somewhere hot, you might want to stock up on things like sun tan lotion, mozzie spray, after sun etc (although this all might be cheaper where you are going, check!).
Also, check what clothes are available locally - in some countries it is harder to get things like children's swim suits, nice bras etc. Ditto nappies, wipes etc (not sure of age of your children!); ditto tampons, make-up etc.
Think about stocking up on things like DVD's, Wii games etc depending on what tv is available locally (I am sure some of the countries you list will be fine for these things - not so some of the places I have lived!).
Don't get too stressed about having a party before you go. Fine if you can but I always found the last few weeks before we left SO stressful, I couldn't have fitted in organising a party as well. Perhaps just arrange to meet at a pub or something.

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fanjolina · 01/04/2011 14:01

All this is great advice, thank you - keep it coming!

I had forgotten about the bank! No wonder it seemed relatively manageable, as I'd omitted the major things.

Vaccinations is a good point. Need to dose the DCs with the ones I opted not to have in this country too.

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snailsandwich · 03/04/2011 01:02

In asia, clothes sizes are different (i.e. adults are in general thinner than westerners) and big-cupped bras difficult to find. So a trip to M&S to stock up is a must.

Get you vaccinations started as soon as possible, in case you need a course of injections.

With young DC's, think about flying overnight so they can sleep, rather than say flying Emirates and having long stop overs in the middle of the night in Dubai.

Check your baggage allowance, if it is a business flight you may get 30 kg not 20 kg so can bring more stuff, and check how much the children are allowed.

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BaggedandTagged · 03/04/2011 14:05

Are your children school age or approaching school age? If you're going to Singapore or HK you NEED to get in touch with the schools asap as the International schools are hugely oversubscribed and if you don't have a debenture it's going to be tricky if you need places in the next year or so.

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amerryscot · 03/04/2011 14:11

A lot of things you can do after you leave. You don't have to prioritise telling your doctor/dentist etc.

You need to concern yourself with more tangible things on this side (what to do with your possessions). You need to redirect your mail and sort out your bank accounts so you can access your money in your new location.

If your children need evidence of vaccinations for their new schools you need to get them up to date and certified.

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schoolholidaymeanshotcrossmum · 03/04/2011 18:57

hello

if you are letting your house get a few quotes for having it fully managed, also you'll need a non resident landlord form from inland revenue so that you can sort out your tax on it. you'll also need gas and electric checks done

re: party - how about having one quite close to when you leave and insist all your guests take some of your crap/ lovely possessions with them?!

make copies of all of your financial stuff (eg. pensions documentation etc.)

errr talk to the kids - can they make memory books or something to help the transition?

that's all i can think of that hasn't been mentioned, enjoy the ride!

xx

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fanjolina · 03/04/2011 20:23

Thanks all - I really appreciate the advice.

Hotcrossmum - great idea about getting people to take our crap away at a party!!

Snailsandwich - great tip about the bras. I am larger sized (all over) than average, so I suspect I will need to stock up on most clothing before I go. And we'll get quite a lot of baggage allowance, as well as a number of crates to send.

Amerryscot - good idea about the prioritisations.

Baggedandtagged - our eldest is reception age (4). I believe DH's company do hold debentures (certainly in HK), so am hoping schools shouldn't be too much of an issue

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kreecherlivesupstairs · 04/04/2011 04:08

Not sure about other places, but superplus tampons are not available in either Thailand, Oman or Dubai so if you need them, I imagine HK would be the same.

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WhatSheSaid · 04/04/2011 04:26

Once you know your destination for sure, start another thread on MN asking anyone in that country what they would recommend you bring that is hard to get hold of/expensive. Expat forums could be useful for that sort of advice too.

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ninedragons · 04/04/2011 05:51

I'm not sure about KL, but there are branches of M&S in both HK and Singers.

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ninedragons · 04/04/2011 05:53

Aspirin is bizarrely expensive in HK, though, so send a couple of big packets in your crate.

Parecetemol is fine, and you can buy the most outlandish drugs over the counter, but for some reason aspirin is really expensive and not widely available. I suspect some kind of stitch-up - I've only ever seen the Bayer one; nobody stocks the generic.

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Horopu · 04/04/2011 06:19

Fantastic advisce here.

If you get time before you go: think about who has birthdays etc. coming up in the couple of months after you leave. If you can buy cards/presents before you go it will be easier to leave with someone else rather than worrying about sending things back after you have arrived in your new country and are not used to their postal system.

You could do what I did and write a year's worth of cards and leave them with my mother to post but most people are not quite as sad as me!

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thelittlestkiwi · 04/04/2011 06:35

I wouldn't tell your Dr you are going away. If you are out of the UK for 6 months then the NHS may refuse to treat you if you return. Or that is the policy they are planning to bring in. Anyway, no need to mention it just in case you wanted to return to the UK for medical treatment.

Buy a kindle and register it to a UK bank account. Books are expensive in KL and Singapore.

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laptopwieldingharpy · 04/04/2011 07:10

brilliant advice.

Just wanted to add that if you move to Singapore or KL do not bother with winter clothes. You will NEVER use them and they will go moldy.

Pack a few sweaters (for the chill factor in cinemas), a couple of sensible shoes and jackets for the occasional trip (ie: back home in winter or highlands) and maybe ski gear if you are fanatics and plan to do the season in Japan. Your husband might need some winter work clothes though if he travels for business.

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Merlion · 04/04/2011 07:14

If you prefer reading books (rather than on a screen) I recommend ordering from The Book Depository - they do free worldwide delivery and everything I've ordered has turned up very quickly.

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SnapFrakkleAndPop · 04/04/2011 07:25

From my experience do tell your doctor that you are temporarily and unavoidably posted away for a specified period. The 6 month period has been around for a while but many doctors will be very understanding that your place of ordinary residence is the UK amd keep you on the books but stop sending you appointments for things.

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fanjolina · 04/04/2011 07:49

Interesting (contradictory!) advice about the doctors. I might have a quick word with my GP about a "hypothetical" situation to see what she advises.

Horupu - that is a good plan. Also solves one problem for me, as I always plan ahead so have about 50 cards and lots of children's presents already bought and was cursing how prepared I am when realising we are about to go away!

Kreecher - good advise about the tampons. I am a mooncup user, but suspect they are hard to come by, so I should probably buy a few spares.

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eastendmummy · 04/04/2011 07:55

So glad I've seen this thread - we've all just moved to HK and there are things on this list that I still haven't done e.g. contacting re CB - didn't even cross my mind, so will sort that out!

Wish I'd known re tampax - may have to get some posted by my mum!

Fanjolina - in case you haven't found them already, geobaby (if you have small dc), geoexpat and asiaexpat are brilliant forums and I've found them so valuable for asking the most random questions!

Good luck with the move!

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fanjolina · 04/04/2011 08:25

Thanks Eastend mummy, I wasn't aware of those forums.

Hope you're enjoying HK!

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