Tips for Moving Abroad: Honest Advice from People Who Did It
In the Next Job Abroad Relocation Survey 2026, we asked people who had already moved abroad what advice they would give to someone considering doing the same.
The people we asked had moved abroad for different reasons, to different countries and at different stages of their lives. Some of the people we asked had eventually returned home, and others had stayed abroad for years. A group of people were still living abroad when they completed the survey.
All their answers were similar even though their experiences varied.
At some point, you must stop thinking and go
This was one of the strongest topics in the responses. People gave variations of the same advice. Go for it. Take the leap. Don’t hesitate. Just do it.
If you wait until you’re completely ready, you might wait forever. There will always be another question you could research, another reason to wait or another thing that could potentially go wrong.
At some point, you must decide that you’ve prepared enough. Then you must make the decision to act.
Remember that you can come home
This was also a repeated advice. Moving abroad can feel enormous and extreme when you think about it as leaving your country. It can feel less intimidating if you just think that you’re going to try out life somewhere else for a while.
If you move abroad and you hate it, returning home is not failing. You tried something and discovered that it wasn’t right for you, and that’s ok.
The experience doesn’t need to be permanent to make sense or be worthwhile. There isn’t one correct way of moving abroad. We’re all different.
Think about work before you arrive
Most people found a job before moving abroad, although not everyone.
Having a signed job contract before moving abroad can remove a huge amount of uncertainty and it can also make the relocation itself significantly easier.
Many international employers are used to hiring people from abroad and offer relocation support as part of their process. For example, nearly all jobs advertised through Next Job Abroad include a relocation package. Depending on the job and the destination, that can include things like flights, airport pickup, temporary accommodation and practical support once you arrive.
When someone relocates through Next Job Abroad, we’re there throughout the whole process. From figuring out whether a particular destination or job actually makes sense for you to preparing for the move and navigating the questions that appear along the way.
Don’t let fear of making friends stop you
Making friends was the most common concern before moving abroad. It was also one of the most common benefits afterwards.
Some people described being surprised by how quickly they met people or formed lifelong friendships.
Of course, making friends abroad isn’t effortless. You’ll still have to put yourself in situations where friendships can happen. But worrying that you’ll be alone isn’t necessarily mirroring the reality of moving abroad.
Be open to people you wouldn’t normally meet
Living abroad is an experience that often puts you in situations around people from completely different countries, cultures and backgrounds.
International workplaces, shared apartments, expat communities and local friendships can suddenly put people in your life whom you’d probably never had met back home.
Going abroad and trying to recreate your exact life at home can mean missing quite a lot of the point. Curiosity will help you a lot.
Expect some things to be worse
Not every piece of advice was inspirational, and that is expected.
Some people mentioned the challenges with navigating the housing market in a new country, bureaucracy, rental deposits, different working cultures and some things not functioning as smoothly as in their home country.
Someone described how difficult living abroad could actually be, and we believe that it deserves a place in the conversation too.
It’s easy to discuss moving abroad as either terrifying and irresponsible, or in terms of beaches and cocktails after work. Real life abroad tends to contain more admin and mundane day-to-day aspects.
You might encounter rules that make no sense to you. Maybe you’ll discover that getting one document requires another document, which requires an appointment to obtain the first document.
Knowing this beforehand doesn’t make moving abroad less exciting. It just makes your expectations more realistic and hopefully takes off the pressure of everything needing to feel perfect and amazing from the very beginning. Most people don’t have everything figured out early on, even if it might look like it.
Give yourself some time to adjust
You have a new job, new colleagues, new supermarkets, new commute, new healthcare system, new social circle and a new daily routine at the same time.
The things that used to happen automatically suddenly require thought.
Several people partaking in the survey advised future movers to be patient and give the experience time. The first difficult week is not a premonition of how your life will look six months later when you’re more settled in. Neither does the first exciting week.
Trust the process.
Your reason for moving doesn’t have to be super serious
Most people in our survey moved just for the adventure.
Sometimes there is pressure from your near ones to justify your moving with a super solid and sensible plan. But wanting a different experience is valid enough.
You can literally move because you want sunshine. You can move because you’re bored. You can move because you just want to see what happens.
Your move may still end up benefiting your career anyway. 51% of people taking part in our survey selected career growth as one of the biggest benefits they experienced moving abroad.
You might gain something completely different from moving abroad than you expected
People left seeking adventure, lifestyle changes, relationships, careers and something different.
Collectively they ended up gaining personal growth, new friends, career growth, better quality of life, greater confidence and a romantic partner.
What makes moving abroad worth it may not be the thing that made you move in the first place. Maybe that’s why it’s so difficult to decide whether you should go before you’ve done it.
Summarizing the advice from people who moved abroad
Research the destination.
Understand your finances.
Look into jobs.
Prepare for things to go wrong.
Be open to people and experiences that are different than what you’re used to.
Give yourself time.
And?
At some point, you may simply have to go.
The people who took part in our survey were remarkably positive about the decision they had made to move abroad.
When given an empty text box and asked what they would tell someone considering it, many came back with the same type of answer:
Don’t let fear make the decision for you.
