Preparing to move to another country
Background
I got my acceptance letter for Trinity College Dublin exactly 3,5 weeks before the start of the introduction week.
As an international student from an European country you still have to prepare lots of things before you can finally move, in my case, to Dublin.
In this post I want to give insights in things you need to think about before moving to another country.
Preparing
I recommend to start looking in to these things as early as possible. Even well before you will know if you got accepted to your new university.
Insurance
When planning to move between European countries, it's important to ensure that your insurance coverage is valid in both your current and destination country.
Health insurance
As an European (EU/EEA) citizen you should already have an European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). It should be present on your current health insurance card, otherwise you should request a new card from your insurance company.
EHIC provides access to medically necessary, state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in another EU country, under the same conditions and at the same cost as people insured in that country. Please check with your own insurance company what they cover in other countries and how it works.
Travel Insurance
If you are staying temporarily it can be beneficial to get travel insurance. Travel insurance can provide you a couple benefits such as coverage for personal belongings, emergency medical expenses, etc. Always check your local insurance company what they provide.
Liability Insurance
In The Netherlands a student under 27 falls under theirs parent's liability insurance. This is true for living in The Netherlands but when you are moving abroad there is a chance that your parent's insurance does not cover that. You should be able to find this information on the website and in the terms and conditions of their insurance.
Home Insurance
This is a interesting one because some student housing providers will add home insurance to your contract. It will then be an all in rent with insurance. Do check as I have only seen this happen with one student housing provider in Dublin.
Administrative tasks
If you have already been working for a bit of time before moving to another country you should check what happens when you leave the country for longer than X amount of time. For example, in The Netherlands I have to officially deregister from my municipality if I stay abroad for more than 8 months. This is very important as this will affect health insurance, taxes, and other administrative matters.
Pension
In The Netherlands I will lose 2% of my AOW pension when I deregister. You should check in your country what happens when you deregister yourself.
Taxes
Most countries have made agreements with other countries on tax law. Please contact a registered tax attorney in your country that can help you figure out what you should do when moving abroad.
For example, if I keep working for a Dutch company, that means that after 183 days (183-dagenregeling) I have to pay double taxes. I will have to pay Irish taxes and Dutch taxes on the money that I make while working fully remote.
Accommodation
That is it for all the boring administrative stuff. Now let's get house hunting!
A lot of universities provide guidance when looking for a place to stay. They have information on their website that explain where to look, how to look, what companies they work with, and more. An example is Trinity College Dublin, they provide a list of websites that you can use to look for houses and they have companies that they work with for providing housing.
Some universities also provide housing on campus. You need to be quite early to make a chance for those rooms and sometimes they only provide that for undergraduates and not for postgraduates.
Advice from me: if you are new to the country/city please look for places with shared kitchens. This will allow you to become closer to your roommates (if you have those of course). This will help you feel less lonely as you will have people around you that are in the same state of mind as you are.
Outlet plugs
Something so small but so important. Having the right outlet plug in the right country makes sure that you can charge and use your electronic devices.
You can use this guide to decide which plug you need for your country. Don't forget to double check!
These are all the things I can think of now. Please do not hesitate to reach out to nielsblog DOT hypnosis249 AT passmail DOT net. (Replace the words with the actual symbol)