The questions everyone asks, answered.

Almost always before. Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Italy each require a residency permit tied to a specific visa route (D7, digital nomad, golden, family), and most demand a consulate appointment in your home country. Arriving on a tourist stamp and converting is rarely possible and frequently refused.

You can keep it, but you'll likely need a local account for rent, utilities, and salary. Many UK banks restrict residency changes, and US brokerages can freeze accounts with a foreign address on file. Plan for a transition period where both run in parallel.

It depends on residency status, not citizenship (the US is the notable exception). The UK and USA both have tax treaties with Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Italy that prevent most double taxation, but timing of the move and the 183-day rule decide which country claims you first. A local accountant in year one is money well spent.

Beyond flights and deposits, expect shipping (€3,000–€8,000 for a small household), first-month rent plus one or two months' deposit, translation and notary fees (€300–€900), and a buffer for the unexpected. The cost-of-living worksheet in the toolkit models this against your actual numbers.

Generally yes, but with caveats. UK pensions can be drawn abroad with tax implications; US citizens remain taxed on worldwide income regardless of residence. QROPS and cross-border wrappers exist but need specialist advice — this is one area where DIY costs more than the advisor.

Once registered as a resident you'll usually join the public system (SNS in Portugal, SNS in Spain, etc.), which is free or near-free. Until then, and for anything time-sensitive, private insurance bridges the gap — budget €40–€120 a month per adult depending on age and cover.

State schools are free and immersive — the fastest route to language fluency for younger children, but a shock for teenagers. International schools run €8,000–€20,000 a year. Applications open the January before the September intake and the best ones fill by March.

EU pet passports, microchips, and rabies titres (with a three-month wait in some cases) are non-negotiable. The UK's rules differ from the EU's post-Brexit, so a pet leaving the UK for Portugal crosses two sets of paperwork. Start the process six months out.

Yes — four printable worksheets, free with the Sunday subscription. No card, no trial, no upsell. It's the starter kit we wish we'd had on day one.

Every Sunday, one new dispatch is filed — a field note from a specific origin-to-destination route. The archive is searchable and indexed by country.

For specific questions and consulting, the contact page routes to a short intake form. The free toolkit and the weekly archive cover the common ground for everyone else.