WTF - everybody hates Paperwork

What you want:
You need to wrap up your local country affairs and get started on what you need in the new country.

What you think:
It's not much, I'll tackle it later...

What they DON'T tell you:
Start NOW! We worked from May 07 to October 07 for about 2 hours each evening/day to finalise all the 'small' things, like the Visa requirements - see 'WTF - which Visa?' and more...

This included the English Language Test,
the recognition of prior learning,
original copies of your qualifications from the University, Tech, etc,
recent work experience,
letters of reference for the last few jobs,
health checks (a rip-off),
character references,
unabridged birth certificate and marriage certificate (good luck if you're doing this in South Africa), police clearance certificates which required fingerprints (take these to Pretoria yourself, don't rely on the post to get them there - when you collect the certificate you'll understand why),
certified copies of every document you have such as all the above-mentioned (hours long wait at the police station),
wrap up insurance policies,
health policies,
health insurance,
sell your cars,
reduce your cellphone account to the lowest balance so you can buy yourself out (there's no way out of these contracts),
cancel your satellite tracking on your cars (also no way out of the contract, so sell the car with the tracking),
cancel your telephone and internet accounts,
cancel your TV Licence,
decide on how much furniture you're taking with you,
sell the rest while trying not to get conned through the JunkMail,
finalise your tax,
get a tax clearance certificate for money you want to take out the country,
sell the house,
sell any toys - Jetski, boat, etc,
fix up any little things in the house you're selling,
get rid of your pets to a decent home,
say goodbye to everyone,
attend 100 farewell parties,
get to know who your real friends are,
arrange temporary accommodation for the time before you leave,
throw/give away clothes,
extra appliances, etc,
book furniture removal,
micromanage furniture removal,
book flights,
try to pack 2 months worth of stuff (that's how long the furniture and household takes to arrive ) into 40 kg's,
get on the plane,
and .....whew!

Arrive!

and then this all starts all over again, but in reverse... but that's for another post.

I'll go into some detail about the above and the little things I learned along the way
in future posts - stay tuned!