A practical 90-day international moving checklist for paperwork, housing, shipping, insurance, banking, and first-month setup.
How to use this guide
Use this page as a planning framework before you request quotes, book travel, or sign housing. Replace the ranges with real numbers as soon as you receive them, and verify visa, residence, tax, insurance, pet, and shipping rules with official sources or qualified providers.
Last reviewed: 2026-06-15. Cost ranges are planning estimates, not guarantees.
Document buffer
$150-$800
Temporary housing
$900-$3,500
Shipping or extra bags
$250-$6,000
Emergency reserve
1-3 months expenses
Next planning steps
The easiest international moves are managed backwards from the arrival date. Once the landing date is real, you can place every task into a week: documents first, money second, housing third, and packing last.
This keeps the plan concrete. It also helps you avoid paying for rushed shipping, temporary housing extensions, replacement documents, and emergency travel changes.
At 90 days, focus on documents, tax questions, housing research, and rough budgeting. At 60 days, compare shipping options, decide what to sell, and build the first-month cash buffer. At 30 days, lock arrival logistics and keep your documents easy to access offline.
The final week should be boring: bags packed, scans saved, airport transfer booked, cards tested, phone roaming confirmed, and emergency contacts written down.
Most people remember flights and rent, then forget deposits, short-term accommodation, storage overlap, pet paperwork, local SIM setup, furniture, city registration, and transport from the airport.
Build a separate line for transition costs. It is usually the difference between a calm first month and a stressful one.