Planning

A moving checklist

A sequence of tasks that many households work through. It is not a requirement, and not every item applies to every move.

• Confirm the city and, if you already know it, the workplace or the school. Housing and school runs should be planned together, not as two separate searches.
• Read the current official entry rules for your nationality and purpose of stay. Do not rely on a remembered visa category from an earlier trip.
• If a school place is needed, start with a current listing, then the school's own admissions page, then the application calendar. Mid-year places are not always open.
• At housing viewings, get the term, the deposit, and any management fees in writing, and read the lease in a language you can check.
• Ask how you will open a local bank account, a telephone number, and an electricity or internet account, and which identity documents those offices currently ask for.
• Plan medical cover before you travel if you will not have a local employer scheme on arrival. Prescription names can differ; bring a copy of a current prescription.
• If you are shipping household goods, confirm the current customs process with the shipper and with official guidance, not with a list copied from an earlier move.

When a task depends on a rule that changes, the official source is the last word. This checklist is only a way to notice which tasks you have not started.