What is the hardest part about setting up residence abroad?

Jobs/work visas, where youre gonna live(apartment/flat etc), and banking accounts.

those 3 i think should be dealt with first. ive read a lot about people moving to UK and it taking about 3 months to get a bank account approved and stuff. so get on top of that .

I lived and worked in France, quite some time ago now. The administrative process was simplified for me because I met and married a French citizen while there (it hadn’t been my intention to actually move there, but we ended up staying). That automatically entitled me to apply for a “carte de séjour” (residency permit), and once that process was underway it became possible to sign a lease, open resident bank accounts, the works.

Still, I was unable to get hired until the actual permit came through (and with it, my work permit) and that took about a year and a half of frustrating wrangling with the authorities. I was even forced to restart the process three times because my file had been “lost”. I found out much later that I was actually legally entitled to work as soon as my original residency application had been submitted and accepted many months before, but even my prospective employers had been unaware of this. So I had spent over a year needlessly unemployed (there are certainly worse places than Paris for this to happen, but still…). Without the special status that having a French spouse afforded me, I don’t see how I could have managed any of this legally.

Gaining legal status in the country in question (the United States excepted).

Considering you will be fluent in the languages in question I presume you have already lived in countries where they speak French, Spanish or German? Thus getting info for you shouldn’t be any more difficult than for a native of those countries. Just go to their government websites and all info is available. Also, regarding the EU, all leagl issues regarding study/work visas are addressed on the EU website, of course available in English too.

Once you are accepted at a school in the EU getting a visa is not hard. And once in school you can get help with getting a work visa for when you are done studying.

As to banks and such- all US banks have offices or partners abroad and major US credit cards work abroad. There really isn’t much to prepare – just go.

Of course some countries, like France, are very particular about opening stuff such as gas, electricity and telephone accounts so there it is easier to just rent including everything and be done with it. But of course being fluent in the language minimizes problems as the French only tend to hang up on you if you don’t speak the language….