Arriving
The first fortnight is an administrative sprint and it should be planned like one
Arriving for a long stay front-loads almost every piece of officialdom you will face, and treating those…
· 4 min read
Sofia Almeida
Staff writer, Globetrotter Talks
Sofia joined to cover arriving, visas & paperwork, money abroad and stayed for the awkward questions and prefers a plain explanation to a clever one.
18 articles
Visas & Paperwork
One document gates the next, and the sequence is most of the difficulty
Residency paperwork is rarely difficult item by item; what makes it hard is that each piece requires…
· 3 min read
Visas & Paperwork
What paying a qualified adviser actually buys, and when it is worth it
Professional immigration help is not a shortcut through a queue; it is the transfer of a specific kind of…
· 3 min read
Visas & Paperwork
Renewal is its own process and the clock starts long before the expiry
A permission that has to be renewed is not simply extended; it is generally re-decided against the rules in…
· 3 min read
Money Abroad
The real cost of moving money is the rate, not the fee
Currency transfers are priced in two places at once, and the visible charge is usually the smaller of the…
· 3 min read
Money Abroad
The cost-of-living comparison that matters is the basket you actually buy
National averages are built from a household that is nobody in particular, and a foreign resident’s costs…
· 3 min read
Leaving
Closing accounts is harder than opening them and needs an address you no longer have
Institutions are built to acquire customers and reluctant to release them, and almost every closing process…
· 3 min read
Arriving
A parcel has to find a name, a door and somebody at home
Receiving post and deliveries at a foreign address fails in three distinct places, and almost all of them…
· 4 min read
Visas & Paperwork
Losing the card that proves your status is a process rather than a catastrophe
The document in your pocket is evidence of a record held elsewhere, and understanding that distinction is…
· 4 min read
Visas & Paperwork
Permission is granted against a described life, and lives change
A residence permission is usually decided on a set of facts about your work, your address and your…
· 3 min read
Money Abroad
What happens to your income if you cannot work is rarely checked
A foreign resident who falls ill or is injured usually finds out then, and not before, whether anything…
· 3 min read
Money Abroad
Buying property abroad is a different decision from living abroad
Ownership is a long, illiquid and heavily local commitment, and people frequently reach for it as a way of…
· 3 min read
Settling In
Driving on a foreign licence works until the day it does not
Most countries let a new resident drive on the licence they arrived with for a period, and the arrangement…
· 3 min read
Settling In
Choosing a school abroad is really choosing which system your child leaves in
The decision looks like one about the next year and is mostly about the qualification at the end, the…
· 3 min read
Settling In
A qualification is recognised by a body, not by the world
Professional credentials are granted by institutions with national authority, and whether yours means…
· 3 min read
Settling In
Working for an employer several time zones away costs you the middle of the day
A permanent remote arrangement across a large time difference is not a scheduling inconvenience but a…
· 3 min read
Leaving
Money keeps arriving after you have gone and it needs somewhere to land
A final salary, a returned deposit, a refund and a closing balance all appear on somebody else’s schedule…
· 3 min read
Leaving
Going back to visit the country you left is stranger than leaving it was
A return trip to a place you once lived puts you in a category with no name: not a resident, not quite a…
· 3 min read