What You Absolutely HAVE To Do After Getting Your Passport

Credit to: Sineta George

"Ok... I did a GREAT POST this morning about what you absolutely HAVE
to do (after getting a passport) before moving outside of the US. Then
my computer locked up, I had to reboot and lost it! It must have been
too long! Now I will do the short version cuz I gotta get up outta
here 2day!
#1 (and please just take my word for it!) PAYPAL PAYPAL PAYPAL!
3 accounts if you can work it out like that, all connected to bank
accounts WITH AN ATM CARD... open what's called a 'BUSINESS ACCOUNT'
so you get the Visa/Mastercard as well. This is crucial. Even if it's
only connected to a savings account with $20 bucks, it doesn't matter.
What matters is you have to have ACCESS to money, online, 24/7 at
every atm machine in the world at a low price. $1.50 per withdrawal,
zero for bank charges for grocery stores & restaurants. If something
happens and paypal shuts down your account you will have 2 more to
fall back on. Western Union and wire transfers are expensive and with
PayPal you can send money to other people or get money from other
people, in seconds, then WALK to the atm machine in your neighborhood
(if you are in Senegal - we have them on every block!) and withdraw.
Also, at some point you may want to sell stuff on eBay (and you will),
or buy stuff off Amazon (and you will), PayPal accounts that are set
up in the US are REQUIRED.
Credit cards from black banks, Chase Manhattan, Citibank, all that
stuff is GREAT! Bring what you've got but the most important card you
can have is your paypal card. Trust me - I've been here 16 years and
it has saved my life many times whereas other banks you have to call,
they put you on hold, take forever, lose the call, costs you money etc
etc etc.
#2 as a follow up to #1, open an eBay and Amazon account and be sure
you have SELLERS ACCOUNTS so you have the option of doing online
commerce if your whiz bang business plan isn't as whiz bang as you
thought it was. Again, trying to open or convert accounts while
sitting in Africa is not allowed or impossible.
#3 find and appoint a close friend or family member (with a paypal
account) that you can trust 100% to take care of shipping and
financial matters for you. This person should be able to accept money
for you, send it to you thru paypal, accept packages that you order on
eBay, and ship to you. If you don't have someone to take care of your
shipping, open a private PO box where there is a forwarding service.
This will allow you to have a US address and you can order Twizzlers
or whatever when you get a craving and they will hold it for you until
you are ready to get many items shipped at once. Pay for 1 or 2 years
in advance so you don't have any problems.
#4 get an international driver's license from AAA or wherever they
come from. Make sure it's an internationallyaccepted international
card. There are probably scams out there so be careful.
#5 get duplicate original copies of important documents (insurance
policies, medical records if they are necessary, birth certificates,
etc) and your children and give them to the trusted friend/family
member and also if you have children, bring 3 original birth
certificates for school. They require original documents for the
testing centers to cut down on cheating. It's a long story but anyway,
it's a good system and it works. All students have to turn in an
original birth certificate to take the tests and if you don't have one
and have to wait on it your child will not be able to sit for exams.
They are done all at once, during one week, at different testing
centers/schools (they switch schools so teachers, class monitors and
students don't know each other) all around the country period. No
exceptions. Having extras will insure that if something happens to one
(water damage for example) then you have another somewhere else.
These 5 things are of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE but the easiest things to
take care of. Don't wait, do it now so you can check it off your
list!".