Most people planning a move abroad have a spreadsheet. It has the rent, the flights, and the visa fees. But somewhere between the planning and the actual move, reality arrives with a wave of costs that weren’t in any column.
We’ve seen these costs delay moves and drain emergency funds. Almost every time, it wasn’t because people couldn’t afford the move. It’s because nobody told them what was coming.
Shipping is often the biggest single surprise cost, and it comes down to a consistent misunderstanding: the quote you get online is almost always port-to-port, not door-to-door.
Getting your belongings from your home to the departure port is a separate cost. Getting them from the destination port to your new address is another. Customs clearance and taxes often aren’t included in the shipping quote. If your new place isn’t ready when your container arrives, or if you have to delay your shipment due to paperwork requirements, you pay weekly storage fees. Insurance isn’t always included by default. Packing materials, if the company is packing for you, are extra.
By the time all of that is on the invoice, the real number can be double the initial quote.
Before you start packing, it’s worth asking a question most people don’t: is shipping worth it? Many people arrive and realize they could have replaced much of what they shipped for less than the cost of shipping it — and gotten newer things in the process. It’s a personal call, but we recommend running the full numbers before you decide.
If you have pets, give this its own line in your budget and start planning early!
Moving a pet internationally is not like checking a bag. There are a number of costs beyond what your airline charges that may not be obvious up front. These include: government-issued health certificates, endorsements of those health certificates, specialized vet fees, microchipping (required in the EU), vaccinations, and supplies for the journey.
In addition to those costs, you have to consider how to physically get your pet from country A to country B. There are a range of options at various price points:
In most countries, the visa application fee at the consulate is just the starting point — once you arrive, there’s a separate round of fees to obtain your actual residency permit or ID card.
In Portugal, for example, there’s the initial visa application fee of around €115, and then a separate fee of several hundred euros paid to the immigration authority once you’re in-country to convert that into a residence permit. In Costa Rica, on top of application fees, there’s a repatriation fee based on your nationality — covering the cost of a flight home if required.
Almost every destination country will require apostilled documents as part of your visa or residency application. An apostille is an internationally recognised certification that a document is genuine. You’ll typically need some combination of: birth certificate, marriage certificate, proof of income, and a criminal background check — all apostilled.
How much this costs depends on how you get it done. In most countries, going directly to the relevant government authority is significantly cheaper than using a private document preparation company. In Canada, for example, you can go through Global Affairs Canada.
But sometimes that is not realistic. In the United States right now, federal apostilles can take more than two months, which sometimes makes a private expediting service a practical necessity rather than just a convenience.
Budget roughly $25 to $200 per document depending on your country, the document type, and whether you go direct or use a service. A couple with several documents to apostille can easily spend $300–$1,000 on this step alone.
Many visa applications require an in-person appointment at the destination country’s consulate. Most countries only have a handful of them — typically in capital cities and a few major urban centres. If you don’t live near one, you’re looking at flights, a hotel, and time off work. For a couple, a consulate trip can easily run several hundred to over a thousand dollars before you’ve submitted a single form.
The same applies in reverse once you arrive. Residency permit appointments don’t always happen in the town you’ve chosen to live in. If you’ve settled somewhere scenic and rural, some of your bureaucratic life will involve traveling to a larger city, sometimes more than once.
For most long-stay visas, proof of health insurance is a required document in your application. For anyone over 50, the cost can be significant.
International expat health insurance for a couple can range from a few thousand to well over ten thousand a year, depending on age, coverage level, and provider. It’s one of the larger pre-move budget items, and one people consistently underestimate because they price the cheapest possible policy rather than one that actually covers them properly.
Some countries have specific requirements about what the policy must cover. Spain, for example, requires a policy without any copays or deductibles, which rules out many standard international plans.
Once you have residency, your access to the local health system may change — often significantly for the better. But for the application phase and the transition period, private international insurance is often where you start.
Looking for international health insurance? [AFFILIATE LINK — insert preferred broker(s) here with disclosure]
Some visa applications require proof of accommodation before your visa is approved, which creates a catch-22. You need an address to get your visa, BUT you can’t sensibly commit to a long-term lease in a country you haven’t moved to yet.
The typical solution is booking at least a couple of months of short-term furnished accommodation — an Airbnb or similar — to use as your proof of address. It works, but short-term rental rates are often meaningfully higher than long-term rates.
Even if your visa doesn’t require proof of accommodation, almost nobody lands and moves straight into the right long-term rental. Finding a home you actually want involves time on the ground — walking neighbourhoods, visiting multiple properties, understanding the market. Budget 4–8 weeks of short-term accommodation to do that properly.
Then, when you do sign a long-term lease, the upfront costs arrive all at once: first month’s rent, a deposit of two or three months, and often an agency fee on top. On a modest apartment in a European city, that can easily amount to five or six months of rent due before you’ve spent a single night as a resident.
If you haven’t spent real time in your target country before committing, a dedicated scouting trip is one of the best investments you can make. Not a holiday, but a structured visit where you look at real properties, explore the neighborhoods you’d actually live in, and talk to people who’ve already made the move.
We assist our concierge clients with scouting in our program countries: Portugal, Spain, Costa Rica, and Panama. For destinations where you’re going independently, factor the cost of a proper research trip into your budget before you make any irreversible decisions.
Although this doesn’t feel like a moving cost, it often is one of the larger expenses.
When you transfer savings or ongoing income from your home bank account to an account abroad, your bank will almost certainly apply an exchange rate that’s worse than the mid-market rate, plus a transfer fee. Some banks charge fees on both ends — for sending and for receiving an international transfer. On a significant sum, that margin can quietly cost you thousands.
The solution is to use a specialist money transfer service rather than your bank. What we recommend to our clients:
When you account for shipping, pets, government fees and document preparation, travel to appointments, health insurance, accommodation on both ends of the move, deposits, currency transfer costs, and professional advice — you’re typically looking at a meaningful additional budget on top of what most people initially plan for. Often tens of thousands, in any currency.
That’s not a reason not to go. It’s a reason to go in with your eyes open.
The people who get derailed by these costs aren’t the ones who couldn’t afford the move. They’re the ones who didn’t see it coming.
Plan for the full picture. Then go.
Sign up for a free consultation to discuss your situation and get personalized guidance. StartAbroad provides a comprehensive suite of services to make your move abroad as easy and painless as possible. StartAbroad’s international moving experts have over 20+ years of experience living abroad and helping others get settled in Europe and around the world.
StartAbroad is a full-service relocation company that assists new expats with every aspect of the move abroad.
We get our clients to Costa Rica, Portugal, Spain, & Panama.
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