Preparing Your Move Abroad: The Complete Checklist

CONTENTS

• Introduction
• My checklist
• Over time — my relocation calendar
• Conclusion

Introduction

Moving abroad can be exciting and joyful if you prepare for it properly. In this article I want to share a detailed checklist of things to do before you leave.

If you are reading this, it is because you too have decided to change your surroundings and your way of life, and settle in Mauritius.

Westimmo supports you through your move, and the “before departure” stage matters as much as the rest. If things are done properly from the start of your adventure, you will enjoy your move rather than endure it.

Westimmo offers a general checklist for moving to any country. Your departure will inevitably call for further information. To be sure you have forgotten nothing, get in touch with us.

My relocation checklist

You and your family

• Research your destination country: read specialist guides and expatriate blogs to get a picture of life on the ground.
• Have a medical check-up for every member of the family (doctor, optician, dentist and so on). Keep your X-rays and take prescriptions with you so you can buy the medicines you need in your new country.
• Vaccinations: check which vaccines are compulsory and which are recommended. Plan any vaccinations that have to be given in several stages.
• Insurance: consider taking out international cover for healthcare costs, repatriation assistance, personal liability and so on.
• Children’s schooling: notify their current schools of your departure and look into schooling options abroad.
• Learn the language, through classes or a language method.

Your administrative steps

• Check that every family member’s passport is valid.
• Apply for a visa according to your destination country (not required for Mauritius).
• Book your tickets (plane, train, boat) in advance.
• Cancel your subscriptions: phone, internet, gym and so on.
• Cancel your contracts: car insurance, home insurance, health cover, water, electricity and gas.
• Inform the authorities of your departure: pension fund, family allowance office, tax office.
• Pension: check with the relevant body (in France, the CFE — the fund for French nationals abroad) to keep accruing your pension entitlement.
• Post: have your mail forwarded through a specialist service or your postal operator.
• Apply for an international driving permit from the relevant authority.

Your documents

• Keep a photocopy of important documents: family record book, birth certificates, diplomas. You can also scan these documents and email them to yourself so you can reach them anywhere in the world.
• Have passport photos taken.
• Have your important documents translated.
• Remember to take: international vaccination card, blood group card, health records, prescriptions, X-rays.
• Request your European Health Insurance Card from your health insurance fund if you are moving within Europe.

Your property and possessions

• House or apartment: give notice to your landlord, or put your home up for sale or to let.
• Car: deal with your vehicle at home, and arrange the rental or purchase of a car on arrival (Westimmo can point you to trusted providers in Mauritius).
• Make an appointment with your bank: ask about transferring money, opening an account abroad and so on.
• International removals: request several quotes before choosing your international mover. You can also put belongings into storage.
• Pack your luggage and send the surplus through a specialist logistics company (DHL, FedEx and the like).

Other things

• Sell what you will not be keeping: place classified ads, use online auction sites.
• Put together a medical kit with useful and comfort medicines (especially if you are moving to a country with less developed medical facilities).
• Pets: find out which vaccinations are needed, which formalities must be completed before departure (import permit, quarantine) and what the transport conditions are.

Bringing a pet to Mauritius is a step that calls for a whole separate plan. Look out for our article on coming to Mauritius with your companion on four paws, feathers or otherwise.

• Take food with you (where possible) that you cannot find in your new country. Everything is available in Mauritius, but if you have particular favourites by brand, do ask on forums or Facebook groups.
• Give your new address to friends and family. It sounds obvious, but in the rush it is better to write down even the most basic things.
• Start a blog to share your new expatriate life. No time to set one up? Get in touch and I would be delighted to share your relocation story on the Westimmo blog.

Over time — my relocation calendar

D-90 — before the big departure

• Send notice to your landlord (recorded delivery letter).
• Owners: choose one or more agencies to let your property if you intend to rent it out.
• Notify the building’s managing agent of your departure. Ask for the accounts to be settled as at your departure date.
• Make appointments with three removal companies for the survey visit that will produce the quotes.
• Make appointments with doctors, orthodontists, dentists, for check-ups, and with the vet.
• Draw up the vaccination schedule for the family and for pets.
• Start applying for papers, identity cards and passports for the whole family (each child needs their own passport).
• Contact schools abroad to arrange enrolment and, once departure is certain, notify the current schools so you can collect school records and leaving certificates.
• Obtain from your employer the letter confirming your transfer, which will be needed for many administrative steps. (In France in particular, for your resignation letter if that applies: resigning to follow a transferred spouse is a legitimate ground that opens unemployment rights within four years of resigning. It is also possible to claim benefits within Europe.)
• Also look into activating any personal training account you hold: that budget could be used to learn a new language, for instance.
• Over time, start sorting, giving things away and preparing the practical side of the move.
• If you have the chance to make a reconnaissance trip, prepare it by making contacts on the ground.

D-60 — two months before the move

• When your quotes arrive, study them for a good week, negotiate and decide on your removal company. Fix the final date with them.
• Book a date for them to deliver the boxes, about three weeks before the removal date.
• If you are only moving part of your belongings, or taking just a few trunks, look into air freight.
• Find out about the customs formalities of your destination country.
• Plan to take a first aid course, especially if you are moving with young children.
• Book your travel: plane, train, boat.
• Collect passports and identity cards, and any authorisation for a child to travel, if you need one.
• Go to the consulate of your destination country to collect the papers needed for the visa, if that is your responsibility.
• Start scanning important papers and storing them on several USB keys, one of which you keep in a safe, or in the cloud.
• Make an appointment with your bank manager for account formalities: opening a non-resident account, for instance, and negotiating transfer terms.
• Check the family’s social protection, and your own if you have a job waiting abroad or intend to find one there.
• Think about your pension: if you are not working, contact the relevant fund to keep contributing to your basic pension.
• If you have chosen to resign, send your resignation letter to your employer by recorded delivery. Remember to attach your spouse’s transfer certificate.
• Make an appointment with your tax inspector.
• Enrol with distance learning providers if you need them.
• While shopping, think about early purchases: a yoghurt maker, a bread machine, an e-reader, shoes for the children and so on. Look at the city fact sheets that tell you what is actually worth taking.
• If you are selling a car, appliances or furniture, place classified ads locally and online.
• Set a date for a farewell party to say goodbye to family and friends. Plan the same for your children.

D-30 — things speed up

• Arrange with your landlord the date for handing over the keys, the check-out inventory and so on.
• Cancel the following: mobile phone, cable, TV and internet subscriptions.
• Check that all vaccinations have been done and that everyone has their international vaccination card.
• Sort what you are taking from what goes into storage. Use different coloured stickers on furniture, pictures and so on.
• Get your international driving permit, and your spouse’s. It lets you drive abroad for a maximum of six months.
• Rent a safe deposit box at the bank for valuables.
• Collect school records and leaving certificates.
• If any family travel cards are due to expire while you are abroad, renew them now — very handy for train travel the following summer.
• Sell your vehicle or find somewhere to garage it (leaving a car standing too long is not ideal).
• Start packing a few boxes little by little.

D-15 — things take shape

• Make appointments to cancel water, gas, electricity, phone and cable.
• Inform the following bodies in writing — some steps can be done online on the public services website: health cover, pension, family allowance office, your various insurers.
• Finalise your tax file.
• Put together a basic medicine kit and have passport photos taken for everyone.
• Take an inventory of your belongings and value them for insurance.
• Confirm the removal date with the company (arrival time, number of staff and so on).
• Arrange childcare for removal day.
• Find somewhere to stay on the night of the move.
• Reconfirm your flights, order a bassinet if you have a baby, and children’s meal trays or special meals.
• Settle any outstanding bills at home.
• Create an email address with a provider such as Yahoo or Gmail, if yours was tied to your internet provider.
• Celebrate with your friends.
• Check and set aside all the important documents you are taking with you.

D-7 — a week from flying to your new life

• Arrange mail forwarding to an address in your home country — go to the post office and buy stamps, which you can use to give letters to someone travelling back.
• Check the insurance contract with the removal firm and finalise the inventories.
• Warn the neighbours of your removal day so they are not caught out, especially in a block of flats.
• Read this whole list again and check that everything is ticked off.

D-1 — here you are!

• Take out of the house and put somewhere safe everything that must not go.
• Go and buy soft drinks and biscuits for the removal team.
• Get the children involved.
• If you have any time left, think of yourself and take a breath. Do not hesitate to visit the hairdresser, the masseur, the beautician, or any other source of wellbeing.

In conclusion

To be sure you have forgotten nothing before your move, we offer you this relocation checklist. Prepare your departure calmly with Westimmo.

Every departure is different, and every situation calls for its own organisation. We hope this general list helps you get organised before you leave, so that on the day itself your mind is clear and focused.

Westimmo wishes you a good journey and will welcome you on your arrival in Mauritius.