
Picking up and moving is not easy work. Picking up and moving to a new country with unfamiliar cultures is even more difficult.
What Does It Take to Move Abroad?
As we approached retirement, we knew exactly what we wanted. We wanted an active lifestyle centered on learning and travel. We wanted to downsize and escape the car-centered life we had in the U.S. We dreamed of moving abroad.
Today we live in Valencia, Spain. Despite a heaping double helping of doubts in the early months, things seem to be working out.
We’ve had time to process our good luck and the many mistakes we’ve made. So we’re confident we can help when our friends ask us questions like: “What does it take to move to another country? Can you share the top 5 or 10 steps?”
The truth is there are so many more than 5 or 10 essential steps to successful retirement in a foreign country. More than we could cram into this overly long article. We're only covering the questions you might want to consider as you begin to contemplate retiring overseas.
So Here's Step One
We think that a good First Step when contemplating retirement abroad is to give serious consideration to the questions we have for you in the following sections. They only cover the beginning of your process but they will get you thinking about the reality of life abroad rather than the romantic notions that timeshare marketers and real estate agents weave for you.
Know Yourself, Know Your Goal
We were so anxious to begin the overseas phase of our lives that we jumped from working right into our international move. We didn’t spend time getting used to being retired. Before we landed overseas, we never worked out how to spend so much time together or how to divvy up the chores, like which decisions have to be made jointly and which ones can be made independently. It was like navigating a new relationship.
In hindsight, that made the already challenging early months here in Spain so much harder. Wounded, we survived but neither of us would want to relive those months. To know your goal and really know whether you want to embark on an international adventure, consider these questions first.

Why do you want to retire abroad?
Why do you want to move?
- What does retirement abroad mean to you? To your partner?
- Have you discussed your retirement dreams together?
How do you want to spend your time alone and together?
- Are you an experienced retiree or will you be a new retiree?
- What are your expectations for your day-to-day home life?
- What pursuits are important and meaningful to you?
What kind of home environment do you want?
- Small town? Village? Big City?
- Quiet? Vibrant?
- Will you rent or purchase?
How do you see yourself forging new friendships?
- Are you extroverted enough to take the initiative in finding friends?
- Are you emotionally ready to go it alone in a strange culture until you forge those new bonds?
What will you do if things don’t work out the way you expect?
- Is your partnership healthy? Can you talk about serious matters?
- Will your physical or mental health history make any of this more difficult?
- When faced with obstacles, how do you normally respond?
Where in the World Do You Want to Be?
Back in Salem, we thought we knew how we wanted to spend our days, we just didn’t know where.
Wouldn’t it be great to travel the world; then armed with first hand experiences, choose exactly where you want to settle down? Well, our pre-move family included five senior pets -- our dog Lizzie and her four cats. No extended research trips for us.
We became armchair travelers reading about the experience of other retirees instead. Susan spent a winter reading about Panama, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. As we read and considered, Latin America looked less and less promising. The thought of being “Rich Americans” in a developing country didn’t appeal.
Once we shifted our focus from Latin America to Spain, we knew we were headed in the right direction. Spain is a beautiful country with a complex history and mix of regional cultures. There are enough travel options to keep us occupied for years both within Spain and around the European Union. And if we were going to learn a second language, why not learn a widely spoken one? Spanish is the second most widely spoken language and easier than Chinese.

Where in the World Suits You?
And that’s the short version of how we ended up in Valencia.
Here are some questions you’ll want to ask yourself for each relocation destination you consider.
- Will I enjoy the culture and the language?
- Do I want to spend time learning the language?
- Can I get along without learning the language?
- How will I get along before I’m conversant?
- What kind of climate am I looking for?
- How will I get around?
- Is the community walkable/bikeable?
- Is public transportation readily available?
- Do I want to have a car?
- If travel is important, can I easily get to international airports and train stations?
- How often will I want to visit family and will it be affordable to do so?
- What activities are available? Is a rich environment of cultural and city activities important?
- Are volunteer opportunities important?
- Do I have specific hobbies such as music or sports that I want to grow?
What Are the Immigration Requirements?
Some countries are falling all over themselves to attract American retirees, offering easy immigration laws, retiree benefits, tax havens, and so forth. On the other hand, many European countries have a time consuming and expensive immigration process.
Begin your research with the local Embassy website for the country of your choice. So many people rely on hearsay or the experience of others and then scramble when they haven’t followed all the steps spelled out by the consulate. For example, there are nine Spanish consulates in the U.S. and each of them handle the visa application process a little differently.
Before you finalize your destination, investigate these key topics for your country of choice:
What are long-term resident visa requirements of your chosen country?
Pay attention to:
- Income requirements for a retirement visa
- Health care coverage purchase requirements for immigrants
- Cost of visa and visa preparation
- Duration of a temporary residence visa and how this ties to your time horizons.
- What kind of lead-time is needed to submit and receive an approved visa?
- Other requirements??
If you are a pet owner, can you bring your pets and what will it take to get them there?
- Are there any breed restrictions?
- What steps must you follow to bring pets into the country such as a quarantine or health certificate?
- How will you get your pets there? Drive, fly, ship?
- Is it easy to find pet friendly short-term accommodations and long-term rentals?
Will It Be Affordable?
Everyone’s expectations and budgets for living overseas will be different. But the chances are you’ll have many of the same expense categories that you have at home in the U.S. But there will be differences in how you’ll allocate your budget. For example, our health insurance here in Spain costs only a small fraction what we paid in the U.S. and petrol, water and electricity are much more costly.

How do your finances stack up?
The foreign exchange rate (FX) will have a profound effect on your disposable income. You might want to look at recent FX rates and historic trends over the past few years. When we were planning our move to Spain the euro was trading at about $1.09 on average and as low as $1.03. Wow, we were going to be comfortable at that exchange rate!
Then in our first several months the exchange rate had spiked to more than $1.25 or almost a thirteen percent erosion in our purchasing power. That’s a hard hit on anyone’s budget.
We found plenty of blogs and Facebook groups to give us insights about living in Spain (and the Spanish immigration process) during our exploration stage. I’d be willing to bet that every destination you might consider has similar resources.
What is the cost of living for your destination?
You can find good cost of living information at expatistan.com but they only cover larger cities in most countries.
Investigate your tax obligations as a resident foreigner.
- Is there a tax treaty between the U.S. and your target country?
- How will your host country treat capital gains, social security benefits and distributions from your retirement accounts, pensions and annuities?
- Don’t forget that even when you are living abroad, you’re still liable for U.S. taxes too.
Will the health care services you want and need be available and affordable?
- Is private health insurance available and affordable?
- What health care do you need now?
- How do you plan to handle your relocation if you should become ill?
Well, There's the Beginning.
We didn’t put a list like this one together before we chose Spain for our overseas destination. In fact, we probably couldn’t have put this list together before our first hand experiences. Most days during the first six months, we wished someone had.
We spent our first several months struggling to come up with solutions to most of the questions we posed in the preceding paragraphs. In fact, we're still wrestling with understanding our Spanish income tax obligations.
If you are still enthused about living abroad after seriously considering these reality-grounding questions, you’ll probably want to make an exploratory visit to your target country before finalizing your choice.
Jamie wants “life on gentle cycle” to be a story of enough rather than a search for more. His focus is on simplicity, quiet presence, low impact travel, and mostly on living gently. He also manages the technical aspects of GentleCycle.net
Susan writes about the things that make life meaningful for her. This includes places we’ve been and what we’ve experienced as nomads these last several years. And now, includes finding a place to call home.
As we come closer to a “settled” life, Susan will begin to emphasize aging gracefully with a plant based diet, plenty of yoga, and physical activity. She is certified to teach Hatha, Vinyasa, and Yin yoga. Adaptive and Senior yoga certification is coming soon.

Comments
I imagine will have to enroll along the same lines as well.
Thanks!
Hi Jaime,
As you moved to Spain last year, and you said this year would be your first as tax residents. Does Spain’s tax year mean a complete calendar year instead of a partial year? (Jan 1 – Dec 31 ‘18 vs your Jul – Dec ‘17?)
—Kim
Hi Kim,
Spain considers residents who spend more than 182 days in residence during a calendar year as tax residents. Susan and I arrived in Spain on 12 September last year so we weren’t considered tax residents. You might find these two sources useful for many basic tax questions you might have…
http://www.spainaccountants.com/rates.html
https://www.billdietrich.me/TaxesInSpain.html#SpanishBasics
Regards,
Jamie
We are studying Spanish served with a side of Català!
Susan and I are in the midst of intensive Spanish classes at the U de VLC.
Hi Susan and Jaime,
I just discovered your blog, thanks for the posts!
My wife and I and our 3 dogs retired to just north of Barcelona this April. We bought our apartment here in February this year. We just sold our house in Northern California to pay for it. So many of your posts have echoed and mirrored our thoughts about moving and traveling abroad. Also, your trials and challenges locally in Valencia have many many parallels with our experiences here near Barcelona.
Our visa application process was the same as yours. We used a transport service for our dogs, which was an awesome process. Local banking setup was pretty easy with Sabadell. Unlike you our Schwab experience went well, they transitioned our assets to their International account service and we still get “most” of the perks of the other account including a debit card and checks and no ATM and exchange fees.
Someday we should meet and compare notes over cheaper coffee!
Thanks again,
Kim
Hi Kim,
I’m glad you found us here on GentleCycle. Thanks for your kind comments. We seem get up to Catalonia to visit friends every few months. We will drop a line when we get near you. Or let us know if you come south.
Sounds as though you’re settling in quite well. Are you studying Catalan?
Kim, my husband and I are planning to move to Spain or Portugal next year. Could you tell me the transport company you used to move your animals,. I have never put any of our dogs on an airplane, and I am very nervous about it. Also, have you purchased private insurance? We recently read that it costs approximately $1000 per month which seems quite expensive. In addition, an article we read stated that private insurance expires between the ages of 81-84. I believe this was a NYT article. Thanks for any advice you can pass on.
Kit
Thank you, very useful info. Do you know an accountant or tax expert who specializes in US expats? Thanks!
Hi Lilly,
We still have not found anyone to help with taxes. That’s because 2018 is our first year as tax residents. I will definitely write about it as soon as I have some reliable information. Sorry to disappoint.
Superb blog, really reflective and thought-provoking – for anyone moving from work to retirement, not just overseas.
Thanks for the kind comment Kat.