When a couple moves countries for a job abroad, most of their conversations revolve around logistics. Paperwork that needs to be done before leaving, boxes to be packed etc. The deeper conversations, those about common goals, individual needs and how the couple will navigate the changes, usually get pushed aside. There just isn't enough time! Or these conversations feel too scary, too vulnerable. What if these conversations bring up unresolvable differences?

But when your lifestyle is globally mobile, these talks become essential. For couples who’ve been moving for work or personal ambitions, there’s a point where they must consider even bigger questions: Do we return to our home country? Should one of us move while the other stays? Should we swap roles, where the “accompanying spouse” becomes the main breadwinner? These are high-stakes choices, and they’re unique to couples on the move.

If you've been moving as a couple for work from one country to the next, you may be at a point where you are considering returning to your home country, or doing split location where one of you relocates without the other. Or it may be time for the lead worker to become the accompanying spouse as you swap who becomes the main breadwinner. All these scenarios are possibilities for couples when we move.

While resources abound for individual expats and families with children, we find that there’s comparatively less support for couples navigating the complexities of a mobile lifestyle. Globally mobile couples encounter unique pressures: distance from extended family, frequent career pivots, and the ever-present challenge of balancing two individual ambitions within a shared life. This lifestyle demands ongoing adjustments, and it’s easy to feel that one partner’s needs are overlooked or sacrificed.

Moving is a great opportunity to grow as a person, to further your career and to start fresh in a new place. But if you are going with a life partner, how will the move affect them? How will it change your couple dynamic? The certainty is that your couple relationship will change over the years, and more so if you are a globally mobile couple. Differences in cultures, language and opportunities will change you personally and change your relationship. So few people spend time discussing these changes, expressing their needs and aligning each other to these multiple changes. As a person expatriates, they experience so much more change and transitions that a person who does not move. It goes to reason that it is so for a couple.
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​Relationship care and effective communication becomes the catalyst to building the life you both want in the face of life changing decisions and when one of you is unhappy with the current lifestyle.