With the recession in the UK now beginning to bite quite hard, it’s having a very interesting impact on the ebb and flow of British migrants. What’s more, some of those who were already living abroad are thinking about returning home, and some in the UK who would not have dreamed of leaving these shores before are now contemplating an escape. So, it’s time to review what makes an expat.
In our opinion, and from years of observing our fellow expat, there are five clear types of expatriate who you come across on your travels, no matter where in the world you decide to hang your hat!
If you’re living abroad already, or are thinking about heading out and making your fortunes elsewhere, which group do you fall into? In this little sojourn around the expatriate camp, we’ll introduce you to the five main groups of British émigré.
The expat retiree
There have always been Britons who have wanted to make their escape and who have waited until their latter years to head out and claim another part of the world as their own. Many years ago they were in the minority, but now, almost anywhere you head for in the Med you’ll find an enclave of sun baked and happy old Brits propping up the bar!
These Britons in recent years have cashed in on the rising equity in their British based property and made their escape to the sun on the back of a blip in the British economy. Today you’re more likely to hear many of them lamenting the fact that they’re trapped abroad by a weak exchange rate and falling house prices…
Of course, there are the exceptions who are still quite happily continuing to soak up the sun and the culture in their new adopted nation – you’ll find them tending their gardens, attending their bridge clubs, welcoming armies of family and friends on holiday and enjoying better health now that they live in a better climate and enjoy healthier, fresher local produce on a daily basis.
The runaway expat
These expatriates have decided that the one thing that would make their lives better is escaping abroad. Chances are these individuals had issues that were bothering them at home – from debt to relationship problems, work issues or familial disharmony. The only trouble with this group of expats is that they discover that running away from a country can’t help them as what they’re really running from is themselves!
You can’t escape who and what you are by moving abroad. You can change your life and then improve your prospects by changing your life, but you cannot fundamentally change who you are just by moving to another country. These types of expats are usually quite quick to give up on the ‘dream’ and relocate or repatriate.
However, there are a few who realise, after they have made the move, that the ‘problem’ they were running from is intrinsically related to they themselves, and they then look at changing - and as a result discover happiness. So their expatriate experience is a catalyst to them finding a happier life, but living abroad is not the actual reason that they do have a happier life.
The legitimate businessman abroad
If you move abroad to work – whether you relocate to take up a summer job, you’re relocated by a company for a fixed period or you’re headhunted by an international company for example, you fall in to this category. You’re abroad because you’re working. You might be working so that you can stay abroad, but the bottom line is you’re living a very real and a very realistic life overseas because you’re still doing the 9 – 5, even if it is in a different environment.
It’s this group of expatriate which seem to stick at it for longest. They have a far more realistic outlook on life, they get more out of their time abroad because they meet and integrate with local people at work, and because they are a part of the local economy and way of life by the very nature of their working life.
Therefore, if you want to succeed abroad, we suggest you get a job overseas and build a realistic life for yourself and your family - instead of trying to capture some elusive dream of a better life somewhere other than home.
The less than legitimate businessman abroad
These types of expats exist everywhere and come from all nations and walks of life! They are the ones who are engaged in less than legitimate pursuits and pastimes, who may appear professional on the surface, but who have an almost feral like danger to them. They are usually circumventing laws or engaged in industries and professions that just don’t go down to well back home. Avoid at all costs if you want to keep the shirt on your back and your nose clean!
The drifters
The final group of expatriates are those who end up in a country with no real plan…they are increasing in number as the UK becomes less and less appealing for more and more people.
These are the expats who are sure that they can have a better life somewhere abroad, but who aren’t sure where to go or what to do. They usually love the new life at least for the short term, with only those who then go on to build a structure to their new life continuing to champion their new found nation of residence.
Those who rock up overseas with a loose idea of how to make their new life work, who fail to put words into action and who spend a bit too long getting to know the new country from the comfort of a bar stool usually end up bankrupted, miserable, disillusioned and on their way back home.
Whether you loosely fall into any one of these categories, the one thing that you will have in common with all other expats is that to make your life abroad work you have to have realistic expectations. There is no such thing as heaven on earth, and there is no nation that’s perfect. We all thought that Dubai was as close to Nirvana as you could get on this planet, but now that the truth is emerging about the cracks in the emirate’s surface, it is clearer than ever that nowhere is without issue, and to make a new life abroad a happy and successful life, you have to be prepared to work at it and commit to it.
It is true that anyone can have a good life overseas – but you just have to have the right level of expectation and commitment to achieve that good life.
