Property investment > Resources

Who helps Brit's move?

Lots of people seems to be the answer, as there are services for almost every aspect of moving and living abroad. Helping people get a holiday home or emigrating altogether from the UK has become a business in itself.

Of course everyone is different. Some Brit's use few expatriate services and some use many. Some services are extremely specific to the reason people are leaving, for example gap year students.

The idea to buy a property abroad might have been formed whilst flicking through a Sunday supplement on foreign property or watching a programme on moving abroad. Their curiosity awakened, the Brit then might look at on-line travel guides or buy a book or magazine on how to emigrate overseas to help them decide on their destination and may even attend one of the overseas homes exhibitions which take place across the UK.

Once they have fixed on a country, they might buy a cheap flight and rent a car to investigate the properties that they have seen on a real estate directory website. Property purchased, they may decide to settle in permanently and join an on-line forum to ask others what it is really like to live abroad. Depending on the immigration rules of the destination country, they may have already found out if they are eligible to live there by inputting some of their characteristics into a ‘points calculator’ either on a government website or at a visa specialist in the UK.

If they are accepted, the visa specialist or immigration lawyer will then process the application on their behalf and suggest other services like British schools overseas, cross-cultural communications consultants, expatriate health insurers, professional pet movers and overseas tax advisors. A new job can be arranged from the UK using an international job portal. Before they leave, they might log onto the FCO’s Know before you go website to find out about the location of the Consulate and other British organisations near their new home. Once they are there, Directgov’s webpages for Brit's abroad provide information about regulations for healthcare, pensions and tax. As well as joining British associations, they may also opt for an orientation tour or become a member of a British meet-up group, which provides suggestions about where to buy British goods, either on-line or in British shops abroad.

One of the more popular destinations is Cyprus, this is due to the relative ease that a move or trip can be arranged from the UK. For information on Cyprus please visit out Cyprus information site

Writen by Catherine Drew