Ready
From the book: Chapter 12: Timing Your Exit
Checklists & Timelines
Key dates and links that go with Chapter 12, plus a free printable moving timeline.
In the book: Chapter 12
The chapter is the book's master countdown:
- How to pick your moving month, and what decides it
- Which steps take longest, and the order to start them
- Shipping first and selling an empty house later, including closing from El Salvador
- Shutting down your US life without cutting the wrong end of the branch you're sitting on
- The deadlines that start the day you land, with the family's own timeline
Free checklist
Get The 25 Things to Do Before You Leave the United States and a month-by-month moving timeline, both free by email:
Calendars (as of October 2026)
- School calendar, Ministry of Education (in Spanish): check this page for the current year's calendar. The 2026 school year ran February 2 to November 13.
- Government office closures: Holy Week (Semana Santa), August 1 to 6, and December 24 to January 2. Source: Ley de Asuetos, Vacaciones y Licencias de los Empleados Públicos, Art. 1 (in Spanish; legal database copy).
- Paid holidays: January 1; Holy Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; May 1; May 10; August 6; September 15; November 2; December 25 (plus August 3 and 5 in San Salvador). Source: Labor Code (Código de Trabajo), Art. 190 (PDF, in Spanish; Supreme Court consolidated text).
US-side links (as of October 2026)
Last checked: October 2026
The book behind these resources
Moving to El Salvador
One family's real move, turned into a clear, step-by-step roadmap.
Paperwork and residency. Banking and taxes. Shipping a household, finding a home, schools, health care, and getting around. Written for those returning home and those arriving for the first time.