The internet is not the same abroad
Please note that some of the information on the page might not be compliant with the law or policies of certain banks and other institutions. Proceed at your own risk. The information on this website is by no means intended to be legal or accounting advice. Consult with your own attorney, accountant or financial advisors before doing any of this!
Start preparations at least 6 months in advance
If pushed a minimum of 3 months is needed to put things in place so you have time to test and verify or have to rely on family members or friends to maneuver trough some sensitive information and decision making.
The internet is not the same abroad
Some (important) websites cannot be accessed from outside the USA and long term accessing certain online accounts might flag you as no longer living in the US. The most common method to pretend to be in the USA is to use a VPN service.
VPN (Virtual Private Network)
A VPN service will help you pretend to be inside the US and makes internet browsing more private. However not all VPN services are equal! A specially the once with large advertising budgets might not live up to the expectations when you take a closer look at their privacy policies.
Also websites are recognizing that you are using a VPN and will refuse access to their website.
Private Internet Access (PIA) not only keeps your internet truly private, but more importantly the offer a dedicated IP address, this will prevent the bank or other websites from blocking you from accessing because it’s not a known VPN address inside the USA.
Remote computer access
Rather than using a VPN service you could setup remote access to a computer located at a trusted location inside the US with a friend or family member.
The easiest way is that a trusted friend or family member allows you to remotely take over their screen using services like:
More complicated ways to keep a digital footprint back home
Leave a computer behind with a permanent remote access this can be a Mac, PC, or a small headless computer like a Raspberry Pi. I highly recommend to use a battery power back up that can last a few hours to prevent having to ask someone to restart the computer etc.
Setup a virtual computer on using a cloud based service.
Your long time trusted email account is an important part of your digital ID.
If you are using the email address provided by your ISP (Internet Service Provider)
You will loose this email address once you cancel there service with Comcast, Xfinity, Cox, At&T etc. If this is the case you need to create a new email account with a good email host like Apple iCloud, Gmail or if you are privacy conscious consider Protonmail. Make sure you use an excellent password and use the 2 factor authentication offered by the service provider to secure your account.
Update your email address with all important online accounts, friends and family. This is also a great opportunity to leave al the spammers behind with your old digital garbage filled email account and keep your new account close to your chest.
Contact me if you need help migrating your old emails, contacts, calendars and notes to your new email host.
Entertainment
On the Apple TV I recommend to use the above mentioned Private Internet Access VPN service with the Private IP address option enabled.