There are many reasons to live outside of your native country, in my case, the USA. Your job could take you somewhere else. Maybe you have a strong sense of adventure, or you want to really learn another language fluently. Perhaps you want to help those less privileged than yourself. Maybe you want to retire someplace with a slower pace of life. Or maybe it comes down to a simple matter of dollars and cents — the expense of living here has outstripped your means. All of these are legitimate reasons for relocating.
If you have a job that relocates you to a different country, you are in a unique category of expats, and the issues you need to deal with and obstacles you need to overcome in moving abroad are different from mine.
I am writing this for US or Canadian citizens like me who, for the other reasons stated above — or perhaps some reason not included in my off-the-cuff list — are making the decision on your own to leave your native land for a time. We have a lot of research to do, many decisions to make, and a multitude of tasks to complete in order to make our moves.
But let’s start at the beginning. What reason(s) do you have to consider an overseas move.
