The Best Ways to Meet People After Moving Abroad

Meeting people in a new country is a solvable problem. The methods that work are well-established, repeatable, and available regardless of where you have moved to. The key is choosing the right environments and being consistent enough to let connections develop over time.

Why Some Approaches Work Better Than Others

Not all social environments are equally useful for forming friendships. One-off events — a single party, a networking mixer, a conference — rarely lead to lasting connections because they do not provide the repeated contact that friendship requires. The most effective approaches are those that put you in the same space as the same people on a regular basis over weeks and months.

The Best Environments for Meeting People

• Regular classes and courses: Language classes, cooking courses, art workshops, fitness classes. You see the same people every week, share a common activity, and naturally have things to talk about. This is the single most reliable way to make friends as an adult immigrant.
• Sports teams and clubs: Team sports are particularly effective because they require cooperation, create shared emotional experiences (wins, losses, training together), and naturally extend to social time after matches or training sessions.
• Volunteer organisations: Volunteering puts you alongside people with shared values, which is one of the strongest foundations for friendship. It also gives you something meaningful to do while you are still building your social life.
• Coworking spaces: If you work remotely or freelance, a coworking space provides the workplace social contact that traditional employment offers. Many coworking spaces organise social events as well.
• Religious or community organisations: Places of worship and community centres often have strong existing social networks and are frequently welcoming to newcomers.
• Neighbourhood activities: Parent groups at schools, local sports facilities, neighbourhood association meetings — the people you live around are underrated as potential friends.

Using Apps and Online Communities as a Supplement

Apps like Meetup, Bumble BFF, and Internations can accelerate the process of meeting people by providing a structured format for making introductions. They work best as a way to find and attend regular events rather than as platforms for one-to-one messaging. Use them to discover where groups of like-minded people gather, then show up consistently.

What to Do When Nothing Seems to Work

If you have been making genuine efforts for several months and still feel socially isolated, try changing the types of environments you are trying rather than simply trying harder in the same ones. Some people connect better through shared intellectual interests; others through physical activity; others through service and volunteering. Experiment until you find the environment where connections form most naturally for you.