Questions to Ask an Employer Before Relocating for Work
For anyone offered a job or a transfer that means moving house: 54 questions to ask an employer before relocating for work, in the order the decision goes. They open with why the role has to be there, then cover the questions to ask about a relocation package, housing and family, pay and local costs, and what to ask an employer when moving abroad. The last group is for what happens if plans change after you arrive.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The move
Why does this role have to be there rather than remote?
Why ask it
The reason shapes everything else. A role that needs you on a factory floor is different from one that needs you in an office because a senior leader prefers it, and the second reason can evaporate with one reorganisation.
Is the move a condition of the offer, or a preference?
Why ask it
Ask before you negotiate anything else, because it sets the leverage. If it is a preference, a delayed start, a hybrid arrangement, or a trial period are all on the table, and none of them are if it is a condition.
When would I need to be living there, and can I start remotely before the move?
Why ask it
A start date and a moving date are two separate things, and the gap between them is often easier to negotiate than the salary. Working from where you are for the first month or two lets you finish a school term or a lease without paying for two homes.
How long do I have to decide, and can I read the relocation policy before I answer?
Why ask it
Uprooting a household is a bigger decision than a job offer on its own, and the deadline should reflect that. Wanting to read the policy is a fair reason to ask for extra time, since you cannot weigh an offer whose largest cost is still undescribed.
How many people have relocated for this company recently, and are they still here?
Why ask it
This is the closest thing to a reference check on the move itself. A company that relocates people regularly has a process, and one that does not will be working it out as it goes, with your money and your time.
Once I am there, how many days a week would I be in the office?
Why ask it
Moving a household for a desk you use two days a week is a different trade from a job that is on site every day. Ask what the team does in practice as well as what the policy says, and whether that pattern has changed in the past year.
Can I speak with someone who made the same move?
Why ask it
The most useful conversation available to you, and refusing it is informative in itself. Ask them what surprised them, what the package missed, and how long it took to feel settled.
The package
What exactly does the relocation package cover, in writing?
Why ask it
A package described on a call tends to sound more generous than the policy document reads. Ask for the document itself, then look for the list of exclusions and for who counts as family, since a partner you are not married to or an adult child may not.
Is it a lump sum or reimbursed expenses, and is it grossed up for tax?
Why ask it
Relocation money is often treated as taxable income, though the rules differ by country, so a headline figure can arrive materially smaller. Grossed up means the company covers that tax. If nobody in the conversation knows the answer, ask for it from payroll in writing.
If expenses are reimbursed, do I pay first, and how long does the claim take?
Why ask it
Fronting the movers, the flights and a rental deposit on your own card can tie up a large sum for weeks. Ask whether the company can pay vendors directly or advance the money, and which receipts the claim form insists on before you throw any away.
What is the deadline to use it, and what happens to anything unspent?
Why ask it
A package can carry a use-by date, often counted from your first day, and whether unspent money is paid out or simply lapses is up to the policy. The deadline changes the order you do things in, particularly if you plan to rent first and buy later.
Who is my contact for the move itself: HR, a relocation firm, or my new manager?
Why ask it
A named coordinator at a relocation firm means bookings, invoices and deadlines are somebody's job. If the answer is your future manager, expect to run the project yourself in the evenings and plan your time off around it.
Do I choose the movers or do you book them, and is packing included?
Why ask it
A company contract with a mover usually means direct billing and someone to complain to when a crate goes missing. If you pick your own, ask how many quotes the policy wants and whether packing, unpacking and transit insurance sit inside the allowance or on top of it.
Is there a limit on how much I can ship, and what about a car, pets, or storage?
Why ask it
Limits are written as a weight, a volume or a container size, and a household with a piano or a workshop passes them quickly. Cars, pets and storage are easy to leave out of the wording, so ask about each one by name.
Does the package pay for my family's travel on moving day, and for hotels and meals on the way?
Why ask it
The final journey is a real bill for a family: flights or fuel, a night or two in a hotel, food while the kitchen is in a truck. Some policies pay a daily allowance for it and some stop at the employee's own ticket.
Do I get paid time off to move, or does it come out of my leave?
Why ask it
Packing, the journey and waiting in for deliveries take days that have to come from somewhere. A few paid days at each end cost an employer little, and the answer shows whether they picture the move as part of the job or as your weekend.
Is the package fixed for my level, or can one benefit be swapped for another?
Why ask it
Where packages are set in tiers by grade, the total is hard to move and the contents are easier. A renter with no house to sell can reasonably ask for that unused line to become extra weeks of temporary housing or a larger lump sum.
Home and family
Will you pay for a house hunting trip before I have to decide?
Why ask it
One weekend in the actual neighbourhoods answers questions no relocation brochure will. A company unwilling to fund a trip before you commit is telling you something about how the rest of the move will be supported.
How many weeks of temporary housing do you cover, and what kind of place is it?
Why ask it
Whatever the number is, it goes quickly if you are selling a home or waiting on a school place. Ask about the size as well, since a studio for a family of four technically satisfies the policy.
Can temporary housing be extended if my purchase or lease falls through?
Why ask it
Sales collapse and landlords change their minds, often late in the process. Find out now who approves an extension and at what rate, because the alternative is negotiating from a serviced apartment with your checkout date already set.
Do you help with selling my house or breaking my lease?
Why ask it
Estate agent fees, a lease break penalty and a loss on a quick sale can be the largest costs of the whole move. Help with them exists in some policies and tends to go unmentioned, so raise it yourself and say which of the three applies to you.
If I buy there, are any purchase costs covered: legal fees, taxes, a survey?
Why ask it
Buying costs differ a great deal by country and state, and can be a meaningful share of the price. Reimbursement is sometimes limited to people who owned their previous home, so check the conditions as well as the amount.
If I rent, will you cover the deposit and agent fees, or act as my guarantor?
Why ask it
A newcomer with no local credit history or rental references can be asked for several months of rent upfront. A letter from the employer confirming your salary, or the company signing as guarantor, sometimes solves what money alone does not.
If I am paying for two homes at once for a while, does the package cover the overlap?
Why ask it
The expensive weeks are the ones where the old mortgage or lease is still running and the new rent has started. Ask whether the company would carry one side of that overlap, and for how many weeks, because it is an easy line to leave out of a summary.
If my family stays behind at first, do you pay for trips home, and how many?
Why ask it
A household that moves in two stages, with a partner finishing a job or children finishing a school year, turns the journey home into a monthly bill. Where a policy funds those trips it tends to be a set number over a set period, so get both figures.
Does my partner get any support finding work?
Why ask it
Support ranges from a funded job search service and introductions to nothing at all. Ask early, because a second income that stops can outweigh the whole package, and a move is hard to settle into when one of you has no work and no friends there.
Is there help finding schools or childcare, and does it pay application fees or deposits?
Why ask it
School places and nursery waiting lists run on their own calendar, which rarely matches a start date. Ask when applications close for the coming year and where your future colleagues' children go, since that date may matter more than your first day at work.
Pay and costs
How does the salary compare to local pay for this role, not to what I earn now?
Why ask it
A raise that is smaller than the cost of living difference is a pay cut in every way that matters. Ask what the internal band is for the destination location and where the offer sits inside it.
What would my take home pay actually be there?
Why ask it
Income tax varies by state, province, or country, and some cities levy their own. Social contributions and mandatory insurance differ too. Get an estimate in writing rather than doing the arithmetic on the offer letter alone.
What do people at my level pay for housing and childcare there?
Why ask it
Ask for specifics rather than a cost of living index, which averages across things you will not buy. If the answer is that colleagues commute an hour to afford a house, you have learned the real shape of the salary.
Is there a cost of living allowance, and is it permanent or does it taper off?
Why ask it
An allowance that steps down over two or three years is a temporary cushion, and your rent will not step down with it. Ask whether it counts as salary for bonus and pension purposes, since money paid outside base pay often does not.
Do my bonus, benefits or leave change with the new location?
Why ask it
A move can put you under a different legal entity, a different health plan or a different holiday calendar without the job title changing at all. Ask for the benefits summary for that office and set it beside the one you have now, line by line.
Is there a gap in health cover between leaving my current plan and joining the new one?
Why ask it
Waiting periods and plan start dates depend on the employer and the country, and a move is exactly when a family is between doctors. If there is a gap, ask whether the company bridges it or whether arranging cover for those weeks falls to you.
What does the commute cost from the areas where people on the team actually live?
Why ask it
Parking, a rail season ticket or a second car are monthly bills that no offer letter mentions. Ask whether the office subsidises transport, and treat the answer about where colleagues live as a map of what the salary buys.
When is my first pay review, and is the relocation money kept separate from it?
Why ask it
A manager can quietly treat a large package as this year's increase. Agreeing a review date now, with the package named as a separate budget, keeps one from being spent against the other.
Moving abroad
Would I be on a local contract there, or on an assignment from my home office?
Why ask it
This is the fork that most of the other answers hang on. An assignment usually keeps your home pension, an end date and a ticket back, while a local contract means local pay, local employment law and no promised return.
Who sponsors and pays for the visa or work permit, and can my partner work on theirs?
Why ask it
Ask how long it takes and whether your start date moves if it runs late. Then ask what happens to your right to stay if you resign or are let go, because in some countries a permit ends soon after the job does, and those rules are the destination's, not the company's.
Who pays for tax advice in both countries during the year I move?
Why ask it
The year of an international move can leave you filing in two places, under residence rules that turn on dates and days counted. An employer that sends people abroad regularly may pay an accounting firm for the first year or two, and that is far easier to ask for now than to need in the spring.
If I pay more tax abroad than I would at home, does the company make up the difference?
Why ask it
The arrangement is usually called tax equalisation, and it belongs to assignments far more than to local contracts. Ask to see the policy itself, because how it treats a partner's income, savings or a house sale varies between employers.
Which currency would I be paid in, and what happens if the exchange rate moves against me?
Why ask it
If your mortgage, student loan or family support stays in your home currency, a swing in the rate is a pay change nobody announced. Pay split between two currencies, or a rate that is reviewed at set intervals, are both reasonable things to ask for.
What happens to my pension and social security contributions while I am away?
Why ask it
Whether you keep paying into your home system, switch to the host country's or pay into both depends on the two countries and any agreement between them. Ask HR which certificate or form covers your case, and have a specialist confirm it.
Would we use the public health system there or a company plan, and are we covered on visits home?
Why ask it
Public systems can have a registration wait and private plans can exclude existing conditions, and both differ from country to country. Ask for the plan document and read what it says about conditions you already have and about treatment outside the host country.
How will my belongings be shipped, and what do we live with until they arrive?
Why ask it
Sea freight is slow and customs adds its own delay, so a household can live out of suitcases for longer than anyone planned. Ask about a small air shipment for essentials, furniture rental, and who fills in the customs paperwork.
Do you pay for language lessons or settling-in help for me and my partner?
Why ask it
Opening a bank account, registering an address and reading a lease are slow in a language you do not speak. Lessons matter most for the partner who has no colleagues to translate, so ask whether partners are included and for how many hours.
If the local schools teach in a language my children do not speak, do you pay international school fees?
Why ask it
Fee-paying international schools can be one of the largest bills a family abroad has, and a policy that covers them may cap the amount or stop at a certain age. Ask which schools colleagues' children attend and whether a place is likely in the year you arrive.
If there is a family emergency at home, is there emergency leave or a paid flight?
Why ask it
A parent in hospital several time zones away is the call people living abroad dread. Where an assignment policy includes an emergency flight and extra leave, knowing it beforehand spares you asking for a favour in the worst week of the year.
When the assignment ends, is there a job for me at home, and who pays for the move back?
Why ask it
The return often gets less planning than any other part of a posting: by then the home team may have filled your seat and nobody owns your next role. Ask for the move back to be in the contract, and for a named person at home who is responsible for where you land.
If plans change
If I leave within a year or two, do I owe any of this back?
Why ask it
Repayment clauses, often called clawbacks, are common in relocation agreements. What varies is the length, whether the amount shrinks month by month, and whether it still applies if the company makes you redundant, so ask to see that agreement before you accept anything.
Which costs count toward what I would repay: the lump sum only, or the movers, flights and visa fees too?
Why ask it
A repayment clause can reach past the cash you received to every invoice the company paid on your behalf. Ask for a running statement of what has been spent in your name, so the figure is never a surprise on the day you resign.
Is there a probation period, and what happens to the package if I do not pass it?
Why ask it
Failing probation after moving a household is the hardest version of this, and policies are often silent on it. Ask whether repayment is waived in that case, and whether your temporary housing would end on the same day as the job.
If the role is eliminated after I move, what happens?
Why ask it
You will have relocated your household for a job that no longer exists. Ask whether severance would include a return move, and whether the company has ever done that for anyone, which is a different question.
If the office closes or the team moves again, would you relocate me a second time?
Why ask it
Sites get consolidated, and the people who moved most recently have the least appetite to move again. Whether a second package or a severance option would be on offer tells you how the company weighs what it is asking of you now.
If I want to move back or go remote in two years, is that possible?
Why ask it
Nobody can promise this, so listen instead for whether there is precedent. A manager who names two people who did it is giving you real information. Enthusiastic reassurance with no example behind it is not.
Can everything we have discussed be written into the offer letter?
Why ask it
Save this one for last. A promise made by a hiring manager who may not be your manager in a year is hard to rely on unless it is in the letter. Ask politely and expect it to be routine.
Working out whether the move is worth it
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Getting the numbers straight
Compare net to net, not gross to gross
Take the new offer down to monthly take home after tax, then subtract housing, childcare, commuting, and health cover at destination prices. The comparison people regret skipping is the one they did on the headline salary.
Price the move itself
Movers, deposits, a car, new furniture, duplicate rent, a lease break, school fees, and the weeks where you are paying for two places at once. Total it, then compare it with the package rather than assuming the package is generous.
Put a number on what you are giving up
A partner's income, free childcare from a grandparent, a rent controlled apartment, a short commute. These do not appear in any offer comparison and they are often larger than the raise.
Ask payroll, not the recruiter, about tax
A recruiter can describe a package in good faith and still be wrong about how it is taxed. Anything about gross up, taxable benefits, or cross border withholding should come from someone who actually processes payroll.
If the move is abroad
Find out which kind of contract it is first
An international assignment and a local hire are different deals that share a destination. Before comparing anything else, get the employer to say which one this is, which country's entity will employ you, and whether there is an end date. Tax support, pension, flights home and the route back all follow from that answer.
Treat immigration and tax answers as things to verify
Rules on work permits, a dependant's right to work, tax residence and social security differ by country and they change. Ask who the employer's immigration and tax advisers are, ask for their answers in writing, and check anything that would alter your decision with a qualified adviser in the destination country.
Budget for the first three months, not the first week
Deposits, a car, school uniforms, appliances that do not suit the local sockets, and a first salary that may be late while a bank account is opened. Ask whether a settling-in allowance or an advance on pay is available, and how fast it reaches you.
Agree the way home before you leave
The return is cheapest to settle while the company still wants you to go. Ask who pays for the move back, what triggers it, and who at the home office is responsible for your next role, then have all three written into the assignment letter.
Before you accept
- Get the written relocation policy and the repayment agreement, and read both in full rather than a summary of them.
- Visit at the worst time of year for the weather, not the best, and at rush hour rather than on a Sunday.
- Talk to at least one person who moved for this employer, and one who moved to that city for anyone at all.
- Check what happens to any equity, pension, or benefits vesting if you leave the country or change entity.
- Confirm the start date leaves time for a lease, a school place, and a visa, which routinely take longer than anyone quotes.
- If you are moving with a partner, agree in advance what would count as this not working and what you would do about it.
Warning signs
- Reluctance to put the relocation terms in the offer letter, with reassurance that this is all standard.
- Nobody can tell you whether the package is grossed up, and nobody offers to find out.
- A clawback that runs longer than two years, does not prorate, or applies even if they terminate you.
- Pressure to accept before you have seen the destination or the written policy.
- Several previous relocations to this office who have already left, and vagueness about why.
- The role exists because one executive wants people nearby, and that executive is new.