How to Move Abroad: A Planning Guide
Every other page in this Relocation pillar assumes you've already picked a destination and a route — this one is for before that.
The rest of this site's Relocation content — retirement visas, family reunification, corporate assignments — assumes you already know roughly where you're going and why. This page is for the step before that: figuring out the actual sequence of decisions a move abroad requires, regardless of which specific destination or visa route you end up using.
The realistic order is generally: settle on a rough destination shortlist based on your actual constraints (visa accessibility for your situation, cost of living, and — if relevant — proximity to family or specific healthcare needs), confirm the visa route that actually applies to you specifically using the Visa Finder or the relevant guide in Logistics, then work backward from that visa's actual documentation requirements to build your real timeline — not the other way around.
A common planning mistake is treating cost of living and visa income thresholds as the same number — they're not. Run your actual expected costs through the Cost Calculator separately from whatever visa income minimum you're targeting, since a visa that lets you in on a lower income threshold doesn't mean that income is actually enough to live on comfortably in that specific destination.
If you haven't already, the readiness quiz is a reasonable next step from here — it's built specifically to surface the gaps in a plan like this before they become expensive problems mid-move rather than manageable ones caught early.
This is informational, not advice. Visa, tax, and immigration rules change, and a general guide can't account for your specific situation. Before you act on anything here, confirm current details with the relevant embassy, consulate, or a licensed immigration or tax professional. See our editorial policy for how we verify what we publish.