Uprooting your life in the UK and moving to a foreign country will be a monumental moment in your life that’s as exciting as it’s terrifying! There’s a lot to organize and a lot to learn before you make the journey abroad. Fortunately, we’re here to help guide you by providing you with a brief checklist of the most important points about leaving the UK to live abroad!

Passport & Visa

The first stop on our list is documentation! By far, this is the most important thing to prepare. There are two documents that you can’t move without, your passport and visa. Regardless of the destination, you’ll always need a valid passport, otherwise you won’t be granted a visa or even be allowed to board the plane. Thus, you should ensure that your passport is valid and won’t expire for the duration of the desired visa plus six months, you need to allow for some breathing room.

As alluded to, if you’re planning an international removal from the UK to USA, Canada, New Zealand, or anywhere further afield, you’ll need to acquire a visa to legally enter a country. The only exception to this is Ireland where British citizens can live without the need of a visa due to the CTA, which is nice. Be aware, applying for a visa can take up to a month and sometimes even longer, so this should be something that you apply for well in advance! And remember, in most cases, having a job when applying for a visa will be a quite important factor for your eligibility.

Once your legal documents are ready, then you can finally start preparing to move abroad form the UK!

Housing

There’s nothing more important than the question of where you’ll live. Before you go, you’ll need to find appropriate accommodation. The best option will be to find a trusted estate agent or rental agency in the country you’re moving to who can guide you through the process.

Furthermore, you’ll need to either sell your house or end your rental lease before your international removal from the UK. It can, and most likely will, take time to sell your house. Thus, we advise that you start the process and house viewings early and be sure to find a good estate agent to help. If you’re under a rental contract instead, make sure to give your landlord the required amount of notice (which will usually be one to two months prior to your move). Keep in mind that you’ll also need to allot time for anything related to cleaning and repairs before departure to guarantee that you get the full value of the house or the entirety of your deposit.

Choosing an International Removal Company

Lest you have your heart set on organising an international house removal without help, which in our opinion is borderline impossible, we recommend that you visit https://sirelo.co.uk/ to find an international removal company that can aid you as you leave the UK to live abroad. The service is simple to use, you merely fill in a form with the details of your planned removal et voilà you will receive up to 5 quotes from international removal companies that can help move the contents of your old house to your new home! Additionally, in this platform you can read reviews and uncover any potential pitfalls with a company you’re considering. They promise to help you move with a smile, and you won’t be disappointed.

Packing for International Removals

When moving abroad, we can imagine there are a few things that you’d like to bring with you, be it for comfort or convenience. With a removal company, it won’t be too difficult to move your belongings abroad. But, if you’ve never had to pack a for an international removal, we’d like to inform you that it can be a little stressful. However, this can be avoided by being well prepared and approaching your move in an organised manner.

Our advice for a less stressful move is as follows:

Start packing early – the earlier you start packing, the less you’ll need to rush as your moving day comes closer!

Create an inventory – If you catalogue the items that you’ll be taking with you as you leave the UK to live abroad, the overview of your belongings will aid you in developing a packing strategy, and also give you insight as the which items you might not desire to bring with you.

Create a packing strategy – Deciding the order in which you’ll pack items away will give order to your packing! Always start with decluttering and packing non-essential items that you won’t be using in the time before your move.

Pack the essentials separately – The last items that you pack should be the items that are vital to everyday life, like a kettle to make a cup of tea. You should also prepare a bag filled with items that you’ll need while you wait for the rest of your belongings in transit. This will likely be items such as clothing and dental hygiene equipment.

Tax

If you’re leaving the UK to live abroad, you’ll need to clarify your tax situation to the authorities. While taxes may be complicated, it’s significantly better to engage with the system rather than to be taxed in two different countries and even possibly face potential fines!

Thus, it’s imperative that you contact HM Revenue and Customs to declare that you’ll no longer be paying taxes in the UK. This will also tie into your pension, and unless you want to lose all of which you have contributed to the system, this needs to be done. You’ll also need to let your local council know that you won’t be living in their administrative region.

Utilities

As you are leaving the UK, you won’t need to be serviced by UK based utility companies. Therefore, you’ll need to review your contract with the utility companies and cancel the service in the correct manner.

In most cases, you’ll need to indicate, with one month of notice, the date that you’d like the supply to the domicile to end along with taking a final meter reading. This isn’t too complicated, but it’s particularly important that you don’t forget and leave with an active account as you’ll likely receive a fine for this.

Mail

With so many things to organise before your international removal, you may forget to update some family and friends prior to your departure. Additionally, there are institutions that you’ll need to inform of a change of address such as your bank, Netflix, and more. Of course, it can be difficult to remember all those you need to inform, and there may be some sensitive items such as bank statements being sent to your old address, or a letter from a loved one. In this case, it might be wise to use the mail redirection service offered by the Royal Mail. Regardless of the destination, they can forward your mail!

Phone

One final piece of advice to consider before leaving the UK to live abroad, if you don’t want to buy a new mobile, you can request that your mobile provider unlocks your phone for use with an international SIM card. This will depend on your provider as to whether the phone is already unlocked or if the provider has some requirements. Doing this will allow you to purchase a local mobile number, which is always something smart to do as it can be costly and difficult to use a foreign mobile number in your new country.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are quite a few things too prepare before you leave the UK to live abroad. If you retain the information presented here, your international removal to you new home should be more pleasant and less stressful that it otherwise might have been. And even if your move doesn’t go to plan, your new life will be entirely worth it! One last piece of advice, if you move to a country where English isn’t the mother tongue, you should try learning the basics before you go, it’ll make a world of difference. Finally, good luck with your move!