How to Move Abroad (+my personal story of moving 5 continents!)

This week, as the US election results came in, my Reddit homepage suddenly floods with “how to move abroad?” questions in multiple forms. Our US friends – I sympathise with you! I had the same question, now nearly a decade ago. Since then, I’ve lived in 4 different countries and continents, and soon to be 5! So don’t worry – I got you!

Moving abroad is both, simple and complicated. So we wont answer absolutely everything in this post, but I’ll try to give a rough overview of how to move abroad, including my personal story of how I moved abroad. In the coming weeks, I’ll write more about the specifics, details, and any common questions. So if you have any specific question, please make sure that you’ll write those questions in the comment section so I can write about them too.

My Story – How I Moved between 4 Continents!

I was born and grew up in Indonesia to a Chinese-Indonesian parents. Meaning, they are of Chinese ancestry, but born in Indonesia. I didn’t travel much as a kid, but I was an avid book-lover. The books brought me to far-away places, and that’s how I got inspired of wanting to live abroad. My dad had a temporary work assignment in China when I was 4 and in Egypt when I was 10, and I went to visit him. Other than that, we didn’t really do much travelling abroad. I, however, really wanted to study abroad since I was quite young.

By some crazy chance, my Dad got a job in Nigeria. His office has a branch in Nigeria, and he got a job there through a contact. So we all moved there with him – but without a fight from my part. Which 15 year-old teenage girl wants to drop her life and suddenly move to Nigeria? I have to say that it wasn’t an easy transition, especially that my English was quite poor when I first moved. I lived there for 1.5 years only, as that was when I graduated my GCSE (UK equivalent to high school).

My parents promised me the opportunity to study abroad if I moved to Nigeria with them. Long story short, I chose to study in Manchester, the UK. (PS: I wrote Manchester 101 guide for those coming to study or live in Manchester!) During my degree, I also had a short stint in the US as part of study exchange. It was only one semester, but it gave me great flavour of studying and living in the US. I then returned to the UK and got my current job not too far from Manchester, where I still live. Just a month ago, I became a UK citizen!

I am currently preparing to take a half-year sabbatical in New Zealand in 2025 – so more of that coming soon!

How YOU Can Also Move Abroad!

As you may be able to infer from my story above, there are multiple ways to move abroad. These will depend completely on your life circumstances. If you are based in the US, and/or American citizen, you are in luck! US citizenship is a strong citizenship which opens up a lot of opportunities to you, which people with weaker passports don’t have.The sabbatical in New Zealand that I’m planning next year is truly only made possible as a UK citizen. I’m not saying that it’s easy, but in comparison with passport holders of third-world country, it’s a lot easier.

I want to acknowledge that moving abroad is also quite a privileged position that I can be in, especially from financial point of view. Moving abroad is quite expensive and require quite a lot of financial buffer. However, if you are a US citizen, remember that the US dollar is quite a strong currency compared to other currencies.

So take heart! Now, let’s look into multiple, common ways to move abroad. Bear in mind that there are other more less common ways of moving abroad which we don’t cover here. Also, immigration rules changes country by country, so don’t think that it’s a blanket rule. I’m not a lawyer too, these are purely from my experience and experiences of others around me.

Ways to Move Abroad

#1 Ancestry

This is the easiest way of moving abroad. Check if you are a citizen of another country, or eligible to be a citizen of another country. You may be eligible if your parents or grandparents are a citizen of another country, or born abroad. If you are eligible, you can apply for a citizenship and then passport from the relevant country and make the move.

#2 Study Abroad

This is how I started my journey living abroad too. Unfortunate, this could be quite an expensive option, as you probably wont be able to work full time while studying abroad. A lot of visa is granted for full-time students and have restrictions on how many hours you can work, unless you already have a right to live in the country.

#3 Work abroad

This is how I am living abroad currently. It’s can be quite difficult to find a job in the country that you have no connection though. I was able to find my current job as I was in the area to study. It’s definitely much more difficult compared to getting a job in your current locality, I find. Even studying abroad doesn’t guarantee a job straight after graduation.

#4 Marriage

A lot of countries offer spousal visa if you marry a citizen of another country. I would be eligible for this too, but I didn’t use it as I could already apply for permanent residency using work visa route. However, the requirements get quite a lot more stringent in many countries, possibly due to the number of fraudulent application being made. the UK, for example, require that you earn £29,000 to bring your spouse to the country. Also, as we all know, it’s not a very reliable method to move abroad – don’t marry someone just for their passport!

#5 Youth Mobility Visa

This type of visa is mainly available to countries with strong passport, including the US, UK, Australia etc. Another restriction of this visa is being young – a lot of the youth mobility visa is offered only to 18-30 years old, in some cases up to 35 years old. If you are a young citizen of these countries, however, it is quite easy to move to another country. You simply need to have the financial means, most of the time, to apply for this visa and move. Youth mobility visa don’t often offer a path to permanent residency or citizenship, but it’s opens up a lot of opportunity for all the paths above (study, work, marriage) once you are in the country.

#6 Diversity Visa – US Specific

This is not applicable to US citizens, so if you are one, you may skip. The US has a lottery system for their diversity visa, where you can apply to move to the US. You simply enter the lottery if you are eligible (a few countries are not eligible, you can check in the government website) and if you win, you can apply for the visa and move to he US. There is a fixed amount every year though, and it’s only 55,000, so the odds are quite low and not guaranteed.

#7 Digital Nomad

The digital nomad movement is rising steeply in the recent years with the increase of remote working. Digital Nomads are people who move abroad and work remotely from abroad. They may move between countries quite a lot, as the options for digital nomad hasn’t been the most straightforward. Thankfully though, more and more countries are launching their digital nomad visa, so this is becoming more and more viable alternative. I’m sure it’s not impossible, but sounds to me like quite a lot of digital nomad visa have restrictions on bringing families, so if you are a family this needs considering.

#8 Investment

I’ve put this last because very few people will have the means to apply for this visa. The investment required is often in the range of US$250,000 and above. But if you have that much spare cash, those could be a way to move abroad too.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are so many different ways to move abroad. If you are starting this journey, my advice to you is to have a look at your current situation and think best on all the different possibilities. Subscribe to the newsletter and we will talk more on the coming weeks/months about the details in all these options, complete with my personal story! See you next time :)