Since this wasn’t apparent the last time I asked… no, I’m actually not a US citizen or green card holder (permanent resident). Just happened to be in this country for a long time due to career reasons.
Get an FBI background check, and get it apostilled. Easy to do from your local post office in the US, difficult and expensive to do outside the us, and you will need it for many things you might want to do in other countries
This is a pretty important step!
Buy some non US-based cloud storage and copy all your sensitive data to it, and delete said data from personal devices before leaving the country, so you can safely allow customs access to devices if required.
Retrieve data from the cloud when you arrive in the destination country.
Has anyone seen customs ever actually search an electronic device before? I travel internationally nearly every month and have never seen this before, even in China.
According to CBP’s own stats they conducted 42725 basic and 4322 advanced searches of electronic devices at US ports of entry last year (so before any new policies of the current administration took effect)
“Under a basic search, a border agent physically inspects your phone and reviews what they can, while an advanced search means the agent can potentially download all of your files using an external device.”
or just encrypt it, in case you have the technical knowledge to do that reliably.
Yes but you could be compelled to decrypt devices, and detained for failing to do so
yeah true i guess
Visit some national parks if you can (while they still exist).
The Grand Canyon is amazing
- consider keeping your US phone number until all banking stuff is done since many banks do 2fa and this can be a giant pain after moving. Try to switch to an app if possible. Many providers also disallow known VoIP numbers.
- driving license was another one mentioned. Having it not expire before you can transfer it is preferable (assuming the target country allows transfer. Japan didn’t until after two years after I got here and my license expired so I had to start from zero despite driving for 15+ years in the US). You may need to get notarized driving records which is also easier before you leave.
- go through and change/cancel anything with an address on file – can be much easier from within the US. I went through the past year’s bank records to find anything sneaky that doesn’t renew monthly. If you have things that only renew every N years, don’t forget to cancel or update those (domain names, for instance).
- Make sure all city, municipal, county, state, and federal tax stuff will be OK to do after leaving (sometimes, some prep is needed)
- If you have any retirement plans like 401ks, IRAs, etc. see about rolling them over or whatever
- maybe do something with social security with regard to your target country if an agreement is in place, particularly if you didn’t work long enough to claim it. You can get US SS overseas in the vast majority of countries, but there are also certain provisions where you wouldn’t or it would be reduced based on what you have in the target country.
- Freeze credit reports at the agencies as others mentioned
driving license was another one mentioned. Having it not expire before you can transfer it is preferable
This is a giant, often overlooked issue. My home country of the Netherlands for example doesn’t allow a simple transef and makes you take a test (because road safety is important to Dutch people!). In Germany it’s even worse. There it depends on the state you obtained your US license in, since Germany has agreements with some states but not all…
In Germany it’s even worse. There it depends on the state you obtained your US license in, since Germany has agreements with some states but not all…
Wow, I did not expect that. Is it more with or without agreements?
Honestly, I can’t blame them. Some states are true shit holes without a functioning government.
There’s more with an agreement. Some also have a partial agreement, where only a written test is necessary. Here’s the full list, if you’re interested: https://www.german-way.com/for-expats/living-in-germany/german-drivers-license-reciprocity/
Cool you moved to Japan? How has it been?
I’ve been happy most of the time. It’s not for everyone, but I’m a decade in and don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.
Glad to know you’re doing well!
Thanks!
What’s the cost of living like compared to the US? I’m guessing you speak the language if you’ve been there that long?
Both the US and Japan have extremely varied costs of living depending upon where you’re talking about. I live in the countryside and things are generally fairly cheap, though inflation has been hitting hard since corona and a poor rice harvest last year. I studied the language a bit before I moved, came over as a language student (probably second-oldest there in my 30s), and found a job a few months later. I’m conversational, but my reading is pretty crap. I generally do all my own medical stuff and the like, though definitely run documents by my wife to make sure of some things (particularly government and finance). We basically only speak Japanese at home.
Tokyo can be expensive or not totally depending upon the experience you want to have. No need to own a car so no inspection, tax, insurance, gas, and parking spot cost. I lived there for 8 years without driving at all but did end up getting a motorbike after moving to the suburbs. I had to get a car when we moved to the countryside. Houses are going to be much smaller and much closer than most of the US. I earn well above the median salary (which is something like 4-6 million JPY/year for someone in their 40s) and pay roughly 26% of that out to pension, taxes, etc. Healthcare is far cheaper than in the US but not free at point of service like other countries. There are out-of-pocket maximums over some periods and tax rebates on the year if you go over 100k yen.
Thanks for the thorough reply!
Open as many credit cards as you can and spend all the money and don’t worry about paying it back it’s all good
I mean the banks most likely gonna carsh in a few years anyway.
yeah I wonder why
Russia is sinking, so they grabbed onto America and pulled us down with them, only they’re in our pockets stealing everything so once a rescue is done, they now own the American brands being hurt by the tariffs.
If you have the money to leave. Buy a couple people on the street loaves of bread or a sleeping bag or something.
Take me with you!!
Get a few public library cards. Then abroad you can use it to borrow ebooks and audiobooks for free.
Those libraries won’t be around much longer, unless heavily curated and basically useless.
Libraries are not a US only thing.
Libraries with access to the enormous amount of English language content are usually only found in English speaking countries, though.
Good luck finding more than a few books on niche topics in, say, Dutch (ask me how I know).
I deeply regret not hanging onto my US library card.
Understandable, just another reason to learn the country’s language then.
I speak the language fluently; that’s not the problem.
It’s the fact that there are a much smaller number of books available on most topics because the country is so small.
My bad, I misread your comment, sorry.
Close the door firmly after you leave.
So others can’t get out? So others still can’t come in? So we don’t let out all the AC?
Find out next time on: Puzzling Commentary!™
this has been a Desilu presentation.
Pee on Kissinger’s grave?
So many graves to piss on, who has that kind of time.
Or bladder volume…
Drink water until your piss is crystal clear and you’ll be doing 10 or more graves per day.
(Not so) fun fact, but you can actually Die from drinking too much, because you may dillute your blood up to a point where your blood cells are bursting, because the osmotic pressure outside of the cells is to low to hold against the inner pressure of the cell.
Take me with?
Obviously this is entirely dependent on where you’re moving to, but I struggled to find the following when living abroad:
- good (American-style) pizza
- good Mexican food
- good BBQ
- certain ice cream flavors (like cherries jubilee/cherry garcia)
- wide open spaces completely devoid of people
- large-group events of a boisterous and goofy nature
- certain types of museums/educational facilities (such as good zoos/wildlife rehab open to the public and interactive science museums)
If you learn to cook, you can have those foods anywhere you move.
You might need a brick oven though (or at the very least, a pizza oven) if you want that pizza to compare to the good shit you can get pretty much anywhere in the Northeast US.
Yup I do good (to our family’s taste anyway) pizza in about 40 minutes from scratch to eating with just:
- flour
- water
- yeast
- sugar (I pre feed the least in hot water for 5 minutes)
- salt
- olive oil
- homemade crust spices (salt, garlic powder, oregano, red pepper flakes, etc )
- maranara or pizza sauce (might be harder to find a good one abroad, not sure)
- cheeses (or not for my wife)
- basil leaves in season (we grow enough in mid summer, but buy it occasionally otherwise)
Finding the cheese and toppings might be harder, but it’s often just frozen broccoli, bell peppers, onions and roni.
American style pizza
frozen broccoli
You have exactly ten seconds to get the fuck out of my comment section
It’s more like neopolitan pizza that I make, and sometimes I do proper high temp thin stretchy crust type too, more like I’ve seen in Italy.
And I thaw the broccoli first before cooking it, but it doesn’t burn the tips as much when it’s cold and the oven is at 500 (I’m still working out building a brick oven in the back yard someday).
Again, depending on where in the world you are, you may not have the equipment nor access to ingredients necessary to make these properly. You might be able to approximate, but it won’t be as good, which is the entire point of my comment.
American pizza requires a pizza oven or regular oven with a steel/stone (or dish for Detroit-style pizza), specific types of cheese, and depending on your preference, specific toppings; these may not be available abroad. In some countries, ovens are not considered standard kitchen equipment; good luck making decent pizza on the stovetop.
Similarly, really good BBQ requires special equipment that even most American homes don’t have, and requires a good deal of outdoor space (otherwise you risk smoking out yourself/your neighbors).
Mexican food is more flexible in terms of equipment, but ingredients may be hard to source (especially spices).
For ice cream you might struggle to find the right add-in ingredients depending on what flavor you’re trying to make, but again, the biggest issue is equipment. You can make ice cream at home without an ice cream maker, but it seems like more hassle than it’s worth and still requires some equipment and decent freezer space (fwiw I’ve never done it before; maybe it’s easier than it sounds).
It is not easier than it sound.
You need freezer space which would mean to usually run your freezer half empty and recipes calling for a ice cream maker will require an ice cream maker. There is no way around it and ice cream maker were about the same in the middle age. Just not powered electrically.
Your first three sum up to:
- Italian food but worse
- Mexican food but worse
- Food that’s probably better in most other places
I think OP is set on those in the future, but otherwise good recommendations IG
Take sometime to learn about what you will do with your 401k if have one.
Make sure your last permanent address is where you wanna be voting. Absentee ballots will all be for whichever district you lived in last.
Don’t think they can vote if they’re not a citizen, no?
oh right missed that part. well, still relevant for other readers
Currently in the same boat, though I’m a citizen
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Figure out your car and drivers license stuff. Some countries have an agreement that lets you swap a US license for theirs.
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Mail forwarding. Either forward your mail to someone you trust or pay for an international forwarding service. You’re still gonna be getting mail afterwards, like credit card renewals.
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You’ll likely have to do the same for finances
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Go through everything you own and trim down. Whatever you don’t get rid of, you’ll have to deal with customs.
And finally, get a lawyer. No seriously. I know they’re expensive but you don’t want to fuck around with emigrating on your own. You’re gonna have pleeeenty of questions for them
Cash travels, sell your non -heirloom stuff.
Doesn’t need to be a lawyer, relocation companies are amazing at this stuff. They can help with taxes, government registration, all of it
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