Relocating a family: the order of operations

Almost every expensive mistake in a family relocation is a sequencing error rather than a decision error. Individually the steps are ordinary. Several of them cannot be done out of order, and a few cannot be done at all once you have left.

Before you leave the country you are in

1. Legalise the documents. Marriage certificate, every child's birth certificate, degrees. This can only be done properly where they were issued, and it is the single most common cause of delay later.
2. Take tax advice in the country you are leaving. Exit charges, the date residence ceases, what to do before rather than after. This is the step with the largest number attached to it and the one most often skipped.
3. Assemble the source of wealth file. Old company sale documents, tax returns, investment history — while you can still reach the people who hold them.
4. Deal with pensions and insurance. Addresses updated, providers told, questions asked in writing.
5. Decide what happens to the home. Sold or let, and if let, understand that a home kept available to you is a fact your former country's tax test will weigh.
6. Leave a power of attorney with someone who can act for you there.

The first weeks after arrival

1. Entry permit, medical, biometrics, insurance, stamping, identity card — in that order and no other.
2. Tenancy, registered, then utilities. Both need the card.
3. Bank account, which needs the card and the tenancy.
4. Sponsor the family, once your own status is complete.
5. Schools — applications typically require the child's attested birth certificate, transfer certificate from the previous school, and immunisation records. The transfer certificate has to be obtained from the old school before leaving.
6. Driving licence, which needs the card.

The mistakes that cost the most

• Arriving without attested documents. A family in temporary accommodation waiting on an envelope from another continent.
• Leaving school places until arrival. Popular schools have waiting lists and admissions calendars that do not accommodate an unplanned move.
• Shipping belongings before there is an address. Storage at the destination is expensive and the shipment cannot clear customs without a resident consignee.
• Closing the old bank account too early. You will need it for months — for the deposit refund, the final utility bills, the tax return.
• Assuming the tax residence changed because the family did. It changes when the facts and the filings say so.

The one rule

Anything that can only be done in the country you are leaving gets done before you leave. Everything else can wait, and most of it will have to.