Bringing back villagers (Updated answer!)

[Damniel]

Hey guys! From trying the process out myself, I have an answer to this!

For this trial, I moved out my starter jock, Bam. He moved into another island where I met him before he was put in boxes:

then, he was put in boxes (I was on the next day he moved out and his old plot was open). After talking to him he seems to have remembered me still:

so then he moved in! and the next day he gave the standard move in dialogue while he was unpacking. He didn't mention he had lived here before. Isabelle also gave the standard new move in dialogue and didn't acknowledge that he lived here before. The next day he was unpacked and out about my island, his dialogue was normal. But I noticed i was able to give him gifts right away, while I usually have to wait a bit with new villagers. This implies to me that our friendship is the same or something similar.

So yea that's it! He didn't give me a nickname before he moved, so I can't say if that would've stayed or reset. He also kept the same shirt I gave him before he moved out (college cardigan). So it seems to me I have the same old Bam, but with his standard house!

 

[Damniel]

oh. i should also mention that the order of Bam on my map/nintendo online app is now different. He used to be first on my list but now he's gone to 7th (idk how the list is ordered). but that’s minor

 

[Rubombee]

@Damniel Tysm for completely confirming this!! I'll be able to do this with Cherry now :3

 

[Damniel]

did the same thing with phoebe, same experience as with Bam! Her house is much cooler than her old DIY one now lol

 

[Sefyre]

Hey there!

I know that this is an older thread, but I'm new and I really need some help.

@Damniel or anyone else who is familiar with the process:

Can you please explain the process in more detail?

My partner and I are thinking of swapping out our villagers to each other - we haven't got all 10 yet so we're in a good place to do this, but we're both new to this game and are unfamiliar with the mechanics.

How (and when) did you evict your old villagers / get them to move to another person's island?

How (and when) did you get them back from the other island?

How long does this process take?

Sorry for all the questions and thank you in advance!

We both love our villagers and since neither of us have the amiibos, this is our only "guaranteed" way to get them back with their houses.

 

[Damniel]

@Sefyre Hey there! Here's answers to your questions:

- I was at 10 villagers when I moved out Bam and Phoebe, but as long as you have 8 at least 8 villagers I think they'll start to move out. I time traveled day by day until my specific villagers asked to move (they'll be walking around with thought bubbles above their head if they want to move). when they tell you they're thinking about moving, you have the option of telling them to stay or that they can leave. If you tell them to stay, they stay and won't bother you about it again for a while. If you tell them they can leave, they will be ready to move the next day. That next day, they'll be all packed up ("in boxes" most people call it) and that's where others can invite them. as long as the visitor has a vacant plot in their island, they can come to yours and talk to the villager "in boxes" to invite them to live. the next day, their house will be gone and the plot will be vacant. For the other visitor, the villager will move in that day (the day after talking to the packed up villager).

If you time travel, it can take a while to move forward days to see if anyone wants to move, but if you don't it'll take at least a couple of weeks.

the person with your old villager can now do the same thing and time travel until they want to move. as long as you have a vacant plot, you can talk to their old villager to invite them back. This could be as early as the next day. For me I time traveled until Bam wanted to move, I gave him to the trader and only moved ahead one day so I had a free plot. On the trader's side she also time traveled until bam wanted to move and then I came to invite him back. So on my island, Bam moved out on day and was invited back the very next day

hope this helps

 

[Sefyre]

@Damniel

Thank you so much! That explained it perfectly! I'll share this with my partner and we'll see about working it out.

After I got my 6th villager (first one from the campsite), one of my favorite residents wanted to move out and I freaked out and said no.

If I had known at the time, I guess I could have taken advantage of it, but I didn't, so...

Do you know if friendship levels matter when it comes to how long you have to wait / TT to get them to move?

 

[Damniel]

@Damniel

Thank you so much! That explained it perfectly! I'll share this with my partner and we'll see about working it out.

After I got my 6th villager (first one from the campsite), one of my favorite residents wanted to move out and I freaked out and said no.

If I had known at the time, I guess I could have taken advantage of it, but I didn't, so...

Do you know if friendship levels matter when it comes to how long you have to wait / TT to get them to move?

its not confirmed if it does or not, but from many people's experience it seems to just be random for move out requests

 

[Sefyre]

its not confirmed if it does or not, but from many people's experience it seems to just be random for move out requests

Gotcha! Thanks a bunch!