Why it Doesn’t Pay to Be An Expat in the UK

Not only do Britons want to escape the sinking ship that is the UK, it seems that almost half of all expatriates living in the UK want to leave as well!  This country really is not doing too well at the moment is it – some might even suggest it’s doomed and that the rate at which people are planning to leave is akin to those rats scurrying off that sinking ship and abandoning it to its fate!

Of course, comparing expats and would-be expats to rats is not favourable – but comparing great Britain to a sinking ship is about right!  We now have statistical and factual proof about why it doesn’t even pay to be an expat in the UK – and we’re the publication that goes on about expats always having an advantage.  Well, it seems that if you’re relocated to work in the UK your advantage is significantly less than that which most other expatriates enjoy!

Not only do expatriates resident in the UK earn less than many other expats around the world, they are taxed more, they earn in a weak currency, they are able to save far less money than their expat peers and 44% of them want to get out or go home!  It seems that the UK can’t even attract foreigners to remain onshore!

Thanks again to the findings of HSBC International’s Expat Explorer Survey, we have some fascinating insight into life in great Britain for foreign residents.  You might think that these individuals can come here, earn a decent wage, legitimately dodge tax on their worldwide income and bask in the glorious sunshine that is the British climate.  However, to have such an assumption is actually quite wrong! 

Expatriates who live in the UK have to pay the British government a hefty fee of £30,000 if they want to remain in Britain long-term and avoid taxation on non-remitted funds.  Now you might think this is fair – but trust us, other nations don’t demand such a ridiculous, greedy and offensive sum from expats living in their country.  This erodes the benefit of being an expat in the UK.  Further eroding any potential advantages is the fact that the pound has been devalued which, according to one expat, has been the equivalent for him losing 30% of his income.

These facts stack up particularly unfavourably against the further news that expatriates resident in the UK generally have far smaller disposable incomes than their peers elsewhere in the world.  Their money is eaten up by far higher accommodation and transportation costs.  Over three quarters of those surveyed by HSBC who were expats in the UK stated that as a result of the recession they have had to scale back all spending and that they are able to save far less now.  Unsurprisingly therefore, the picture of expat life in the UK is so bleak when compared with that enjoyed by expats everywhere else in the world, that almost half of those questioned in the UK want to return home.  And who can blame them!