A Boring Dystopia

They study Nazis, not grammar nazis

I'm moving to Sweden, results will vary depending where you're looking.

Step one is to get a passport. Can't do fuck all without a passport and I'd highly advise visiting at least nearish where you're interested in moving to.

Then figure out how you're going to stay there. Generally speaking this can be done in one of these ways: Finding a job, going to school, being rich, or getting married. I was originally going to look for a job but then I ran some math and determined I could afford to go to school on savings so I went with that (it's easier to convince someone to let you pay them than it is to convince them to pay and sponsor you). If you're trying to find a job then be good at something in demand. This varies by country but in general that means know how to program or know a trade that's in short supply at the target country.

Compile a list of requirements and their timeline. For me getting a residency permit as a student I need: Passport, acceptance letter, insurance, proof of finances. The timeline for this is a lot messier. Proof of finances is just a day trip to the bank so I can functionally ignore it until I'm ready to send the application. Insurance is in a similar boat. The acceptance letter has been trickier. The way it works for me is I got accepted to a university, I accepted their acceptance, they've billed me, and now that I paid the bill I have to wait for their official acceptance letter I can use for the residency permit. Other requirements for moving but not necessarily applying for residency are things like I need a personnummer. At first I thought I needed this as part of the application but it actually turns out I can't even apply for one until I'm living in Sweden. So for the timeline it gets shoved back to 'in the future' so I can focus on other stuff. There are a lot of moving parts and most of it is 'turn something in and wait for a month' so you want to make sure you're multitasking on the right things at the right time which is where the timeline comes in handy.

Figure out a solution for two factor that isn't texting your US number because good luck getting into your bank account when it's trying to ping a sim card that doesn't work in Sweden lol. Things you find out when you're traveling that's good to know before moving.

Learn about the housing market. Housing in Sweden is fucked and I am late to the game getting into a place so now I'm fucked too. Likely I will not be able to bring my cat because of it and I may not ever be able to bring him if I can't line things up properly. Part of what messed me up is I didn't know where I was going to university until recently and I didn't have the capacity to be applying to housing across half of Sweden.

Have a good support system. Go online and ask for someone living in your target country to do you a favor and marry you. Failing that ask them to just generally help with things like "translate keeps butchering this page what the hell does it say". A buddy willing to get back to you within a day or two can help dramatically with all this. It's stressful as hell so try having a good support system in place locally too. Part of why I'm moving is most my support system fell out from under me and I was like 'fuckit I'm moving' and let me tell you I spend a lot of my free time crying uncontrollably because I don't have people to console me in person. It's not fun 0/10 try to have some good friends.

Look at everything you own and accept the fact that none of it is worth bringing with you. What do I mean by everything? I mean if it isn't your identification paperwork or the waterproof backpack to hold the paperwork, it is secondary. Whatever you use to access the modern world, phone/laptop/etc, is also really important but with some elbow grease you can start that from scratch in a new place. Literally everything else I would consider to be icing. Make peace with this.

Be ready to lose a lot of money. In order for me to get the residency permit I need accepted to a college which means application fees and a deposit. In order to not be homeless I need a home which means a deposit and probably a contract. To bring my cat over I need to set up vet stuff and have a lot of difficult to time things arranged. I don't know if I have a residency permit yet. So in theory I could pay the college deposit, pay a rental deposit, and set in motion moving my cat, and a month from now Sweden could tell me tough titties. Hope you can find a place to live in the US with a week's notice now that you've left your job and didn't renew your old lease.

Be born with Irish grandparents.

Straight up if I find a place with enough space and I can afford the rent, I'm going to try and bring in another person and give them free or greatly reduced rent. I can't help with the residency permit stuff but helping someone land is the least I can do