For families

Emigrating with children

With children you really emigrate twice: you move, and so do they. For them it means school, language and vaccinations, and sometimes there is a legal question that comes before everything. Below is what families need to know, per topic.

One question comes before everything: are you actually allowed to leave with your children? With joint custody you need the other parent's consent, or substitute consent from the court. Leaving without it is international child abduction under the Hague Convention. The parent who stays behind can then request the child's return. So settle this first, and only then the school.

Then the school. It differs more per country than you think. In Spain you choose between público (public), concertado (privately run, with government funding) and privado (fully private). In admission, your home address weighs most. How children without Spanish are supported depends on the region, and for teenagers the transition is hardest. In Australia school is free with permanent residency. If you go ahead on a temporary visa, you pay thousands of dollars in school fees per child per year in some states. Work that out before you go.

And the Dutch side. Childcare benefit and the child budget do not stop by themselves on the day you leave. Anything received in excess is always reclaimed. So stop them as of the right date, and keep the confirmation. Let your health insurance end on the day your new cover starts. The European health card is not cover for people who emigrate. Take medication with you for the first months. After that the family falls under the new country's system, with a local doctor and a local prescription.

Every destination has a step-by-step plan in which the whole family counts. School, healthcare and documents are in it per family member, and the plan keeps an eye on the timing.