How Much Does It Cost to Move Abroad?

Visa application fees themselves are generally the smallest real cost in a move abroad, which surprises people who budget for the move by starting with the visa fee. The larger costs are typically: shipping or replacing belongings (see the site's shipping and moving guide), housing deposits (often first month plus a security deposit equivalent to one to three months' rent, paid before you've earned anything locally), health insurance setup, and simply the income gap while you're getting established.

The income gap is the cost people most consistently underestimate. Even with remote income continuing uninterrupted, there's generally a real adjustment period — finding permanent housing, navigating unfamiliar local systems, and the general cognitive load of relocating — that reduces effective working capacity for the first few weeks to months, which is functionally a cost even if no money is directly changing hands for it.

Run your specific numbers through the Cost Calculator for your target destination's ongoing monthly costs, and separately budget for a one-time setup cost on top of that — a reasonable planning rule many relocators use is budgeting for two to three months of full living costs as a one-time buffer, on top of whatever your ongoing monthly number comes out to.

Shipping, deposit, and setup costs vary enormously by country and by how much you're bringing versus buying new locally, more than almost any other cost category in a move abroad — confirm specifics directly for your destination rather than assume a general figure applies. As one real, confirmed example of how these costs vary by visa category rather than just by country: Philippines SRRV holders get a one-time duty-free importation allowance of up to $7,000, a specific perk worth checking for your own destination and visa type rather than assuming it's universal.