Thinking: Can I Move to Another Country? Here’s How

Are you thinking about moving abroad? You’re not alone. More and more there are videos on
TikTok and Instagram where people are expressing their goal of moving out of their home
country. Whether you search broadly about moving or a specific destination, there are various
motivators that lead to people wanting to move, especially from the United States. This brings
up the question, “Can I Move to Another Country?”

While it’s an exciting idea, there are so many considerations that play into the final decision and
it can be daunting to know where to start. Even if you have been an avid traveler and have an
adventurous spirit, a move is notably different, and even more so if moving with a family. It’s a
life-changing choice that involves careful planning, a dash of bravery, and a lot of questions.

For 10% OFF your first month subscription with AskRudy.ai, use referral code BEBRAVE10

This is where AskRudy.ai comes in! We’re here to help you think through considerations and the
maze of decisions, so you can be ready to start your new life. From researching locations,
navigating the various visa types, bureaucracies and requirements per country, figuring out
where to move and how to build a community, we’ve got you covered. You don’t know what you
don’t know and sometimes you just need some help working out what you don’t want, so you
can get specific about what you do. With AskRudy.ai you can provide criteria about what you
are looking for to your personal assistant, Rudy. If you truly want a starting place, you could
even use chat with Rudy using a discussion starter to start to narrow down your search, like
this:

Act as my relocation coach moving from the US to another country with my family. Guide
me through discovering what I truly want from a location-and how that lifestyle will look.
Ask me targeted questions about my ideal workday, perfect environment, and non-
negotiables to be content and happy. After each response, ask me follow-up questions
so we can dig deeper to help me refine my vision and ideal location, so it’s more than
vague ideas. Once we’ve built a clear picture, create a one-paragraph description of my
ideal life that I can use to stay motivated during my transition.

Try it out and see how Rudy can guide you through this visioning exercise to help you discover your next steps.

What is AskRudy.ai? Watch this video to learn more.

AskRudy.ai is an AI-powered platform designed to help people navigate the challenges of
moving abroad and starting their new life in a new country. Whether you’re a digital nomad on
your hunt for your next location, relocating for work, retiring and dreaming of brunches and
beaches, or just a change, Rudy provides personalized insights and resources to guide you
through every step of the process. With various features to support understanding PDF’s, such
as chatting with your document, suggested follow-up questions, cited sources within your
document and document translation, you are able to better understand and navigate your
journey and move abroad. Additionally, you have your own personal assistant, Rudy, that is
available 24/7, to help you move from the unknown to confidence about planning and executing
your move.

AskRudy.ai is an affordable way to plan and execute your move. However, it’s also important to
say that every person’s situation is unique and you’ll know if you need more or less support
given your circumstances and who you are as a person. Some people want to pay someone to
“handle it,” while others want to DIY. There is no wrong answer. We want you to have the tools
you need to make your dream a reality.

Who is Rudy?

I’m a lifelong traveler who moved from the US to Portugal in 2023 with my wife and two young kids. After years of stressful jobs, living through Covid-19, and navigating life as a person of color (POC) in California, Canada, and New York, we were at a turning point, asking, “What do we want our future to look like?”

Passionate about tech and systems, I found the process of moving abroad overwhelming and frustrating. While seeking answers to simple questions, like “what visa should I apply for?” I encountered a sea of unhelpful, contradictory advice from online communities, endless Google searches and consultations with attorneys and relocation experts. I felt frustrated and at times felt like our dream to move out of the United States was a pipe dream we would not be able to achieve. This is why I created AskRudy.ai—to provide affordable, reliable information that helps people make informed decisions about moving abroad without needing to pay the high costs of lawyers or specialists. Moving abroad has been life-changing for my family, and if it’s something YOU want to do, we want to help make it happen!

You made the decision to move, but how to navigate the next steps?

2 steps forward, 5 steps back is how I felt along the journey to immigrating to Portugal! Each time I thought I had something figured out, 10 more questions popped up with multiple answers and options. I’ve always been someone that loves to be in control and be informed so I know I’m making the right decision. But, at this point, I hit decision fatigue! When could we move? Where do we apply for a visa? How long will a visa approval take? When do we list our house for sale? What exactly do I show for passive income? The list of questions went on and on. 

My broad advice on how to navigate this next part of the journey is to grab a coffee, take a deep breath, and give yourself small, attainable goals. Small wins help you to stay motivated. Continue on below as I break this down more:

To start, I would say – Get Organized

Based on your life, make a list of topics that you need to be sure you research and folders where you can save documents. For example: a folder for each member of the family, traveling with a pet(s), education, taxes, health needs, people you need to tell (in person or can text), the list of topics goes on and on. You can ask your personal assistant, Rudy, to make you a moving abroad checklist, to help you to stay organized and prioritize your steps.

This is not a “one and done” list but a living document that you will add to over time. As you learn more, you will find other pieces of information that you realize you need to look up or don’t want to forget. With Rudy, you can give specific criteria you need in your moving abroad checklist and it will also provide additional information to incorporate based on a relocation. This helps you to get an individualized checklist.

Organization will help to keep you sane!

Identify a move date – goal.

Can you pick your move date or are there factors that are deciding your move for you, like a job that is waiting? Or do you have kids that need to finish up the school year but also need to be enrolled in a new school by the school’s enrollment period? Once you have a goal for your moving date, you can count backwards from there to see if this is realistic. At this point, you’ll be looking at visa timeframes and requirements, so you know what you need to do and by when in order to make your goal. There are lots of options for making the timing work for you, that are available depending on finances, needs, location and reasons for why you are moving.

Check out this article:  How to Plan the Timing of Your Move Date… Out of the Country

Research Research Research…

Now that you have a vision of where you are going and when you want to move by, you can start to research the details. Yes, you will have more questions and here is where the Moving Abroad Checklist becomes the living document that you add to.

When we first started to research, I would ask a broad question on Facebook groups or to relocation specialists, “what should I do first?” This was just too broad and the responses I got did not help me to narrow down my next steps. Now you can ask Rudy and through a simple chat with your personal assistant, you can find the answer that works best for you.

From location research to visa requirements, housing options, and settling into a new culture, Rudy is your personal assistant that will help you to learn more so you can make informed decisions. Ask questions 24/7 and feel confident you are getting the correct information so you can be informed as you make decisions or better understand your unique situation. If you still opt for an immigration attorney, you can still use AskRudy as a way to learn more, so you can be as specific as possible in asking the right questions to the attorney that you pay by the hour.

Understanding information in a new language

Unless you’re fluent in the local language, understanding legal documents and contracts can be overwhelming. Even if you speak the language, legal jargon is tough to decode. AskRudy provides a second review to ensure you fully understand what you’re signing!

AskRudy.ai has specific features to help with document translation, or as I think of it, a document breakdown for a 7 year old. I’ve learned after a year and half of living abroad that understanding the words and comprehending a document are 2 very different things. I could translate a document using DeepL, and I would get the gist of the document, but there were often a lot of questions left about what the specific details are and I really didn’t understand the document as fully as I should have before signing. Now, when we review an important PDF for school, housing, work or anything, we use Rudy so we can ask ALL of our questions to be sure we understand. This includes summarizing, asking for key takeaways, highlighting important dates and timelines and more.

Even more helpful, when we ask a specific question about the document, it will highlight the text where it got the answer from, so you have citations to know where it was pulled from. We know it’s important to feel confident about the information received and having the citation clearly marked, has helped us to point this out when having a “clarifying discussion” with our landlord.  With AskRudy.ai, you can chat with your PDF and ask all of your questions. AskRudy.ai will be able to give you confidence in what you are reviewing. 

To make this simple, the translation and understanding PDF features are all inclusive of your monthly subscription. 

Staying Organized

As you continue on the journey, you find yourself with tons of paperwork and your brain swirling with information. AskRudy.ai has an organization feature that lets you create folders where you can save the documents and your chats neatly within AskRudy’s platform. This way you can go back and see the information clearly. This helps you to stay organized, and clear about what you learned and where so you can stay on track with your move date.

Managing Your Emotions of Moving Abroad

There is the literal move and then the emotional part of the planning and the move itself. Both take a lot of energy! For us, we didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about whether we wanted to move or not, which probably served us (due to our personalities) in the end, because we got into the logistics that got us busy, however, this was a misstep in our thinking as we didnt give ourselves much time to process the mental move for ourselves, let alone family and friends that we would be leaving. It was a shock to a lot of people and we have had to do some repair work post move.

Give yourself time and space to be present in the journey. You will be both excited for change and the potential of what’s to come, but you also grieve the loss and familiarity of what you are leaving behind. Both feelings can be true and real. The old airplane line of getting your mask on yourself before helping others, stands true in the relocation journey.

Self-Care First: Just Like on a Plane, You Need to Breathe Before Assisting Others.

I could only help my partner and children if I was clear on my own feelings. This doesn’t mean I had to feel great or that everything is “under control,” it just means that I needed to be aware of how I was feeling so I knew if I could respond in a way that would meet their needs. Or I knew I needed to say, “let’s give this some time and talk on this later.” Give yourself grace, breathe, and the pieces will fall into place. 

Let AskRudy.ai be your trusted companion as you embark on your international adventure!

Safe Travels!

Ask Rudy✈️

For 10% OFF your first month subscription with AskRudy.ai, use referral code BEBRAVE10

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