How to Move Overseas Cheaply in 2024 | Practical Guide & Tips

• Ocean freight can be 10–15 times cheaper than air freight
• You should start contacting shipping companies three to four months before your move
• Arrange your travel and arrival with plenty of time to spare

Planning on moving abroad? However you do it, you’ll be spending money to make this possible, but with a smart strategy, you can save a good deal of cash.

Formulating this strategy takes planning though – just when you think you’ve dealt with one part, something else crops up. If you’re not careful, things like shipping container costs, visas, and flights can start to rocket upwards.

And that’s before you’ve even got to your destination.

So we’ve put together this guide to walk you through our favourite ways to save money on moving overseas. We’ve covered cost-effective shipping options, what you can do to save money on key steps, and handy tools to make the whole process simpler.

If you’re ready to start your move, we can help you move abroad cheaply. All you have to do is fill in a few details about your trip in our simple form, and we’ll connect you with our expert suppliers. They’ll contact you with obligation-free quotes tailored to your move.

Select the size of your move to get free quotes

How to plan your international move to be as cheap as possible

When you make the big move abroad, you want to save as much money as you can, so we’ve created a step-by-step guide on how you can make your move as cheap as possible:

Step 1: Declutter and get rid of belongings you don’t use anymore

Decluttering is not only a satisfying process, but it’s also a great way to reduce your shipping costs. Simply put, getting rid of the stuff you don’t need anymore will reduce the amount of things you need to ship.

Here’s our top tips on decluttering before your big move:

• Make a list: Identify essential items first, as in, those items you know you just won’t be able to live without (whether practical or sentimental). Sometimes you’ll need to be brutal – if you haven’t used an item in six months, seriously consider whether you should spend money shipping it.
• Sell valuable items: Once you have a list of items you’re going to leave behind, why not see if you can make some money from them? Platforms such as eBay and Vinted are great tools for making some extra cash from the items you don’t need or want anymore. You can also choose to donate some items to charity.
• Digitise documents: Instead of packing up boxes filled with paperwork, you could always scan them and store them digitally in the cloud or on a computer.
• Consider storage: If you really can’t part with your belongings, you could hire long-term storage space so that if you choose to return home, your items will be waiting for you.

Step 2: Choose the right shipping method

Choosing the right shipping method is an important step in reducing the cost of moving abroad. If you choose the wrong shipping method for your needs, you could be paying a lot more than you actually need to!

There are two main ways of shipping your belongings – FCL (Full Container Load) and LCL (Less than Container Load). FCL is where you hire an entire container for your items and is cost-effective if you can reliably fill the whole container.

LCL (sometimes called grouped shipment), on the other hand, is where you hire a portion of a container for your household goods. This is the best option if you can’t fill an FCL, or if the total space taken up by your items is less than 15 cubic metres.

The table below shows a typical cost difference between ocean and air freight, based on shipping 2,000 lbs of cargo from China to Los Angeles (Freightos, 2024).

This is just an example, but generally speaking it’s an accurate one – air freight will almost always cost more on average than ocean freight. The rare times it’s worth shipping via air freight are when speed is of the essence, or the weight of your goods is less than 500 kg.

Sea freight (Most affordable option)

Sea freight is the best option for keeping costs down when moving, though it adds on a lot of time waiting for your belongings to arrive. Depending on where you’re shipping too, you could be waiting anywhere between 10 and 80 days!

Compared to air freight, sea freight is five to six times cheaper, and the savings only improve the more you choose to ship.

This means sea freight is best for large shipments that don’t need to arrive quickly.

It costs around $2,550 to ship a 20ft FCL from New York to London (October 2024).

Air freight (For urgent or small shipments)

Air freight is the best option for smaller packages or items that need to arrive at your new home as soon as possible. Where it’d take ocean freight weeks to deliver your belongings, air freight can get them to your (new) front door in a matter of days.

Naturally, this added speed and convenience comes with a significant cost increase, so it’s usually best to stick with ocean freight if keeping costs down is important.

However, if you’re shipping small amounts, air freight can actually be more worth it. As long as you keep below 500 kg, air freight won’t be much more expensive than shipping the same amount via ocean freight.

As of October 2024, it costs $1.85 per kilogram for air freight.

Step 3: Get multiple quotes from shipping providers

Every sensible customer shops around a bit before committing to a major purchase. This might be excessive behaviour when you’re buying a coffee, but it’s sound practice when it comes to moving overseas.

There are multiple shipping companies operating on almost every route around the world, which means you’ve got a choice to make. It’s important that you consider your options before going with the first freight forwarder you find, so you should get multiple quotes first.

Also, book as early as possible! This way you get the best chance of securing the cheapest rates you can. Booking late, or during peak moving seasons (which differ depending on where you’re moving too) can increase the cost by quite a bit.

This is where we come in. We can make this part of the process a million times easier with our custom-built quote tool. All you need to do is provide a few short details about your trip, and our trusted suppliers will get back to you with free quotes to compare.

You could also check out our comparison reviews of the best international shipping companies before getting quotes – this way you’ll get a better idea of which one you’ll be most comfortable using.

Step 4: Pack efficiently and securely

The first thing you should do is ask your shipping company about their packing requirements, as some can charge extra if items aren’t packed to their specifications.

In general though, even if a shipping company doesn’t have specific requirements, packing efficiently is still a great idea. Doing so reduces how much space you need for shipping and can help avoid additional costs from damage, or oversized packages.

Here’s a few helpful tips for packing more efficiently:

• Use space-saving methods: Vacuum-sealed bags can do wonders for space, and compact boxes make packing a lot easier.
• Clear labels: This is really important for customs. Label each box with its contents and approximate value to avoid unnecessary delays.
• Protect fragile items: You should properly protect your precious items to help prevent costly damage.
• Consider packing yourself: Taking the time to pack your own belongings can save money, but if you have fragile or high-value items, hiring a professional to pack might be worth the investment to avoid damage fees.

Step 5: Organise customs paperwork

It’s really important to organise the proper paperwork for customs – otherwise you could have customs delays, misplaced items, and high fees!

Regardless, getting your belongings through customs is never a simple process, but you can certainly take steps to ensure that it goes as smoothly as possible.

Pretty much every country in the world will require you to complete a detailed, itemised inventory of every belonging you want to bring in. This sounds nosey, but it helps border officials calculate customs duty, as well as keep an eye on anything untoward.

Here’s some tips to keep in mind when preparing to get your belongings through customs:

Inventory list: The majority of countries will need a detailed inventory of shipped items, including their approximate value.

Research country-specific rules: Check the customs website for your destination country to understand what items might be restricted and what items require extra duty fees.

Get the necessary permits: Certain items might need special permits or documentation to get through customs. You don’t want to forget this and find that some of your belongings have been blocked, or worse, destroyed.

Step 6: Consider insurance

One way to avoid unexpected costs if something goes wrong is by putting that risk onto an entity that’s totally separate – plus it can give you peace of mind during the often stressful moving process.

Consider getting health insurance, life insurance, travel insurance, home insurance, and removals insurance sorted as early as possible.

In the event that anything goes wrong, you’ll thank yourself. Just make sure you get a few quotes for each one.

Step 7: Make travel and arrival arrangements

This might sound obvious, but make sure you coordinate your travel and arrival arrangements! You don’t want to ship your belongings too early and find they’re stuck waiting outside your new home before you’ve arrived.

Conversely, you don’t want to find your shipment lagging far behind your arrival, leaving you without your belongings for weeks or even months.

So you should book your flights with plenty of time to spare. As a rule of thumb:

• Buy tickets seven weeks in advance for short-haul flights
• Buy tickets 18 weeks in advance for long-haul flights

It’s also a good idea to prepare some essentials in your luggage, just in case your shipment is delayed. These include clothes and toiletries, and anything else you think is essential. Shipments can be delayed for all sorts of reasons (remember the Ever Given blocking the Suez Canal?).

Checklist and timeline

Moving abroad is challenging, make no mistake, but we’re here to make it a little easier. This free, downloadable checklist has all the information you’ll need to move abroad smoothly.

You can print it off for reference, or keep it as a tickable PDF if you have a PDF editor!

Here’s a brief overview of a typical moving timeline to help you further:

• Three-five months before moving: Start decluttering, gather quotes, and book your shipping.
• Two months before moving: Finalise shipping details, confirm insurance, and complete customs paperwork.
• One-two months before moving: Begin packing, label all boxes, and make any last-minute travel arrangements.
• One week before moving: Double-check documents, confirm your arrival logistics, and ensure your essentials are ready.

Our expert tips to planning your move abroad

Our moving experts have shared their top tips on planning your move abroad. Check them out in the video below:

Here’s a few bonus tips to consider before you get on that plane:

• Prepare for overseas finance: You’ll want to sort out your overseas money soon. We’ve written a helpful guide on where to exchange currency without paying high fees that has lots of useful tips!
• Get your pet vaccinated: You definitely want to get your four-legged friend vaccinated. If you don’t, there’s a high chance they won’t be allowed to join you in your move abroad. Here’s our tips on how to move your pet overseas for more information.
• Sort out your taxes: Once you know you’re moving abroad, make sure you notify your current government about it. People can often end up paying income tax twice, and only reaping the benefits in the country they’ve moved to.

Next steps

If you already know where and when you’re moving abroad, you’ve got things to be getting on with.

Firstly, you should make a list, and prioritise the most important stuff – or just borrow our checklist.

Some things are fairly quick (e.g. buying flights), while other things can take a bit longer, such as telling your dog that he can’t come with you.

As long as you’re prepared, you can make sure every aspect of your international move is as cheap as possible. No pressure.

Remember, when it comes to shipping things abroad, a key part of keeping the price down is shopping around. If you want to make this easier, join the thousands of expats that have used our custom-built quote tool to help them with their move.

Simply pop a few details about your move abroad in this short form, and our expert shipping suppliers will be in touch shortly with their best deals.

Ways to move overseas cheaply: FAQs

Here are the answers to some of our most popular queries about moving abroad without breaking the bank.

Can you move abroad with no money?

You should have money to cover at least your flights, any visa applications you might need, and a few weeks of accommodation fees. You don’t need a huge amount of savings, but it’s a good idea to save what you can in the months or weeks leading up to your move to cover these costs.

In an ideal scenario though, you’ll want as much saved as you can without impacting your life too much in the country you’re currently living in.

How much will it cost to move abroad?

It typically costs between £7,000 and £11,000 to move all your belongings from the UK to most places in Asia and North America.

Moving everything in your life to Oceania or Africa usually costs £6,000-£7,000, while a relocation to Europe will typically set you back £3,000-£6,000.

Other expenses will heavily depend on your situation, but can include the cost of your accommodation, visa, insurance, and travel.