How to Get Villagers to Move in Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Last Updated: July 6, 2020

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, your population will change naturally over time as animals move out of your town and new animals move in. A natural occurring process, just as in any game, but sometimes you just want to get rid of a particular villager for whatever reason. There are strategies you can attempt to achieve that, but be aware that your attempts may not promise guaranteed results and that the overall process can be very random. Some of the time, you might have luck ignoring a villager, other times you’re better off talking to them a lot. However, there are ways to try to speed things up a little bit if you’re really raring for a particular villager to move out, or to move in for that matter.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Getting a Villager to Move Out

1
Time travel in the game. Time travel involves abusing the time cycle by traveling forward two days, and then rewinding two days, thus speeding up the natural process. This way, you hit the natural cycle of animals moving out.
- Be careful, time travel has other consequences. It is possible that using this method will result in you losing a villager that you don’t want to move out, especially if you are not vigilant in checking with all of the villagers to see if anyone is moving.
- To check with all of the villagers, simply talk to each one, preferably multiple times, by pressing “A” to see if there’s any new gossip or someone brings up moving out. If a villager looks at you in disbelief, then walks up to you, speak to them, as they might say they plan to leave.
- Remember, before attempting to get any villagers to move out, you must have at least eight villagers already moved in. All this really means is that if you just started the game, you’ll need to wait a few days for the population to naturally increase before you can convince anyone to move out.
2
Ignore them. This is a very easy method to achieve. Simply ignore the villagers who you want to move out. Don’t talk to them, but continue playing the game and letting time progress. Hopefully, another villager will tell you that the villager you’ve been ignoring is thinking of moving out soon, and you’ll know it worked.
- Be careful: If you talk to the ignored villager after hearing they're going to move out, no matter what you say, the villager will then decide to stay instead of leave.
- For example, if you’ve been particularly mean to a villager lately and ignoring them, the option “Good luck!” might be replaced with “Who are you?!” which then prompts that animal to stay.
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3
Talk to them a lot. Playing favorites, although the opposite of ignoring villagers, seems to also produce results in terms of getting residents to move out. To accomplish this, simply talk to the villager multiple times a day, more than any other villagers, by pressing “A.” After some time, they will appear uneasy and say they have spoken to you too much.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Getting a Villager to Move In

1
Recruit. As mentioned before, if you have fewer than or equal to eight villagers, other villagers will naturally want to move in. This happens naturally. However, you can recruit specific characters by participating in villager trade or making use of the campsite public works project.
2
Build the campsite. If you do, animals will visit your town on occasion, and they can often be convinced to move in.
- The campsite is available in your list of public works. Just sit in your mayor chair and choose it from the list of public works to build.
- After the campsite is built, it can't be demolished, so choose its location carefully!
- The campsite takes 59,800 bells to build but it doesn't have to be payed in one go.
- Don't confuse the campsite with the campground, the campground is an addition from the Welcome Amiibo update which allows you to buy exclusive items AMD get villagers through amiibo cards.
3
Time travel. If you want a specific villager, you can again make use of time travel. This requires that you check your town every day when you think someone should be moving in.
- What you want to be looking for is a post that designates a new villager is moving in. It will have their name on it. If it’s a villager you want, rejoice and move forward. If not, travel back in time, reload the game, and you should have a different villager’s name.

Community Q&A

Question

How can I get Hopper the Penguin to move in? I have been time traveling using the camp site for 2 real life days, but cant seem to find him. Does it need to be a certain season?

ClarieCat

Community Answer

No, the seasons shouldn't matter. You may need to make certain that you have no more than 9 villagers, because there are slots; otherwise, no villagers will be able to move in until one moves out.
Question

How do you get Ankha?

CamelHey73

Top Answerer

Ankha is just like any other villager. She will move in if she is invited, and sometimes even if she isn't.
Question

How do I invite villagers?

ClarieCat

Community Answer

In "Animal Crossing: New Leaf Welcome Amiibo," you can find Wisp, the lamp spirit, and talk to him. If you have an NFC reader/ writer and Amiibo cards, you can scan them and get a villager from their RV. The other way is through the campsite PWP.