Start an Expat Settling-In Service

1. 1

   Define the service against coaching and concierge

   Relocation coaching (its own card here) advises and prepares people mentally and logistically for a move; a city-move concierge helps people relocating within a country. This is operational destination services for international expats: you physically help them find a home, navigate government paperwork, place children in schools, and set up banking, utilities, and daily life in a new country. Naming that hands-on, on-the-ground scope is what separates you from advisors who never leave the phone.

2. 2

   Choose your city and segment

   You sell local knowledge, so focus on a city you know deeply (the UAE cities, London, Singapore, and other expat hubs are classic markets) and a segment: corporate transferees, families with school-age children, entrepreneurs and investors, or students. Each segment weights the services differently (families need schools, executives need premium home search, entrepreneurs need business and visa navigation). Deep local expertise in one city beats shallow coverage of many.

3. 3

   Package the services and price them

   Build clear packages: a home-search service (shortlisting, viewings, lease negotiation), a paperwork-liaison service (guiding residency, ID, and registration processes and accompanying clients to appointments), school search and placement support, and arrival setup (bank account, utilities, phone, driving, area orientation). Price per package, per day, or as a bundled settling-in program. Be explicit that you guide and accompany clients through official processes; you are not their immigration lawyer or agent.

4. 4

   Draw the legal line clearly

   Immigration filings, visa sponsorship, and legal advice are regulated: in many countries only licensed agents, lawyers, or the employer sponsor can lodge or represent on those. Your service liaises, explains, translates, accompanies, and coordinates, and refers the actual filings to licensed immigration professionals (see the immigration-services card here) or the client's employer. Know your host country's rules on who may charge for immigration assistance, because crossing that line is a legal and reputational risk.

5. 5

   Build the local network that delivers

   Your value is a rolodex: trusted landlords and letting agents, school admissions contacts, bankers who onboard newcomers, utility and telecom setup, drivers and movers, and cross-cultural know-how. Cultivate these relationships so you can deliver fast, and consider referral arrangements where they are legal and disclosed. The network is what lets you settle a family in days instead of the weeks it would take them alone.

6. 6

   Sell to individuals and to the companies that move them

   Two buyer types: expats and families paying directly, and the employers, HR teams, and global relocation-management companies who move staff and outsource the local settling-in. Corporate and relocation-firm contracts give steady, higher-volume work; direct clients give higher-touch, higher-margin engagements. Build a professional site, get listed with relocation networks, and earn referrals from satisfied families and the local vendors you work with.

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Best for: Well-connected locals or seasoned expats who know a city's systems inside out

Not for: Not for anyone without genuine local knowledge; knowing housing, paperwork, and schools is the whole service. Not for people who ignore the employer channel that reliably pays.