Moving Internationally from San Francisco

San Francisco is undoubtedly a very special place to live and work, but sometimes our plans and paths change in new and unexpected directions. Whether it’s a relationship, the next big job opportunity, a strategic maneuver for your business, or something else entirely, moving to a new home somewhere else in the world can be an exciting change.

International moving is particularly challenging when it’s from San Francisco. With the Pacific Ocean wrapping the coast to the East and over 2,500 miles of land stretching out to the West, you need the right mindset, a solid strategy, and the best professional moving company you can find to pull off a successful relocation to somewhere else in the world.

At NOR-CAL Moving Services, we provide the professional help you need to start a brand-new life abroad. To help you make sure that your international move is as successful as possible from start to finish, here are our most useful tips that we’ve learned during our time as the Bay Area’s most trusted experts in international relocation.

TAKE STOCK AND GET THE NECESSARY PAPERWORK

Moving out of one country and into another takes plenty of time, planning, and paperwork. Whether you’re conducting a personal or commercial relocation, you should begin applying for appropriate work visas, passports, change-of-address forms, and any other important documents you’ll need to move with, as soon as possible. Tracking down the correct paperwork can be tough, and you’ll want to make sure that it’s the last thing you have to worry about when it’s time to relocate.

If you don’t know what paperwork you’ll need to move, check the internet for help or ask our friendly team of movers at NOR-CAL Moving Services for advice. We’ve moved countless professionals to new cities all over the globe throughout the years, and we can help you determine everything you’ll need to make a smooth and organized transition—with all of your documents in order.

ELIMINATE UNWANTED ITEMS AND PACK LIGHT

When moving internationally, every pound of weight counts. In other words, the more you take, the more it’s going to cost to get it there, so keep things as simple and light as possible. Consider what you really need to take with you, and store, sell or donate the rest.

For easy selling, use popular garage sale apps like OfferUp, LetGo, and PoshMart to advertise your used items to local buyers. You can also take boxes to local charities, like the Salvation Army, Goodwill, or local clothing drives to donate to others in need.

If you need storage options to hold your items in the Bay Area, NOR-CAL Moving Services offers short-term and long-term storage solutions for commercial and residential needs, with state-of-the-art features like real-time, online tracking and more to ensure you stay in touch with your items as closely as possible, even from your new home overseas.

PACK STRATEGICALLY AND ON A TIMELINE

Once you have a better idea of the size of the home that you’re moving into, take some time to plan out exactly where your packed belongings are going to be. Consider packing everything together thematically according to where they are going to eventually end up, and labeling the boxes according to the room the items belong in. This will make packing a breeze and greatly help to make a potentially stressful situation that little bit easier.

It’s also incredibly important to stick to a solid moving timeline, to avoid a stressful, last-minute packing experience. Your professional moving team at NOR-CAL Moving Services can help you create a relocation timeline that’s personalized to suit your moving itinerary, with appropriate and strategic deadlines that will keep you moving along.

CONSIDER THE APPROPRIATE SAN FRANCISCO PARKING PERMITS

Parking in San Francisco is limited, so make sure that you are aware of the appropriate space you have available on the street for the moving trucks of your Bay Area movers. If you need to apply for parking permits for your movers outside your residence, or if you’ll need to plan to purchase time at parking meters, be sure to have those prepared in advance to avoid citations on the day of your move.

Hiring local experts like NOR-CAL Moving Services will ensure that this step is taken care of. Our team of experts are knowledgeable about the rules and regulations regarding San Francisco street parking and can make sure to abide by any important parking rules during your relocation.

PICK AN INTERNATIONAL MOVING COMPANY TO WORK WITH

The right international movers can mean the difference between a smooth, successful moving experience, and a complicated ordeal that can stretch on indefinitely, costing you both time and money.

At NOR-CAL Moving Services, we are very proud to be an affiliate agent of Allied International in San Francisco, which grants our customers access to one of the world’s largest agency networks in the moving industry. This means that your belongings can get wherever they need to go, safely transported by over 900 potential agents that all adhere to the strict standards established by Allied International.

If you’re planning an international move from the Bay Area, our trusted moving experts at NOR-CAL Moving Services can help you achieve a positive, well-organized relocation. Since 1982, we have helped more than half a million customers with their local, national, and international moving needs, and received excellent reviews while also maintaining our A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

For more information about our top-rated international moving company, or to discuss your move with one of our expert representatives, feel free to give us a call today, or fill out our simple online form to let us know more about your project.