50 shades of expat... Which one are you?

[Salbertina]

So theres the overstayed the extended holiday/ sabbatical and could never leave version

Or the "Gone native" - moved overseas as married a local

Or the Expat queen packaged to the hilt (I seem to know lots and am jealous as hell)

The "worthy" aid worker type on contract

The "grass is always greener type" who just
keeps relocating in a relentless search for the perfect place to live

The retired seasonal "swallow" who lucked in with the pension and property market enough to be able to follow the sun

All slightly tongue-in-cheek at such stereotyping by the way... No offence meant...

Must be many more types... If anyone wants to play... Must be bored...

[Salbertina]

Think I'm partly grass is always greener, part overstayer.. Should anyone be interested

[CaliforniaLeaving]

I'm an old moved forever, birthed raised the kids abroad, but changed her mind and wants to go home now.

[NotMoreFootball]

I'm an Expat Queen but I think I've found the place for me where the grass is much much greener than anywhere else I've known. Slightly scared at the thought of 'going local' though and having to be responsible for my own life without the luxury of always having 'don't worry, the company will sort it out' for everything from kids school text books to needing a new house!!

[ripsishere]

I don't think I fit into any of those categories.
I'm a 'Oh, that's a new place and the traveling will be easy and cheap' sort of exprat.

[mortimersraven]

exprat!!!! I know a few of those!

[Longdistance]

I'm on my dh business visa, expat.

[TanteRose]

I'm a "gone native" expat, married with kids, and part of the local community.

almost all of my friends here are the same (something in common)

HOWEVER, I will never be seen as a proper local, however long I am here, however well I speak the language, and even if I took Japanese nationality (which I would never do, as it would mean giving up my British passport), I will never blend in, like I guess expats in Europe/US/Aus etc can do, to a certain extent.

After 21 years, I guess I'm used to it...

[vvviola]

I'm an "itchy feet" expat. I go away for up to 3 years at a time (often on assignment for work), come back home and say "that's it, I'm done travelling for now. It'll be nice to settle down at home and be permanent somewhere".

18 months later a job opportunity comes up somewhere and it's "ooh, wouldn't it be great to live there for a while"

Next move hone will be the last though. Really. Maybe

[Smorgs]

Exprat! Hilarious - think I'm one of those. Used to be an overstayer when I was in a different place about a decade ago. Now probably more expat queen, although our package isn't as lucrative as many I've heard of. Maybe I'll turn into a 'grass is always greener' type

[SavoyCabbage]

I'm an immigrant.

[Sibble]

Gone native!

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

I'm a new category- "Expat-lite". Only do postings where I can speak English, there are international schools and there is a clearly defined expat population to hang out with so I don't have to spend 2 years trying to infiltrate friendship groups that have existed from school whilst speaking German

Dubai- tick, Hong Kong- tick. Next stop Singapore??

[londonmoo]

I'm a fledgling, just hopped off the branch, not entirely sure I can fly but giving it a go, steering clear of mangy cats, trying hard to blend, enjoying tasting new kinds of seeds but aware that I'll probably always return north for winter. Or west.

[LeMousquetaireAnonyme]

Not really an expat, more of a migrant (the difference is in the package slight there).
Serial, gone local in the UK, but moved all again as a family. None of us is born in the same country. Still living where DD2 is born but probably not for long. It is not the grass is greener, it is more about sizing the oportunity.

[Labootin]

Expat lite :Dubai

I buy my groceries in waitrose FFS.

[FellatioNelson]

Well if I had to pick one from your list I'm afraid I only fit in to the Expat Queen category. Although I am reluctant to see it quite as you do! It is a nice life though - can't deny it.

[WhatSheSaid]

I'm in the overstayer category (arrived in 2001 for a year, never left) but think of myself more as an immigrant/migrant than an expat.

[amyboo]

I don't fit into any of those. I guess I'm a bit of an overstayer too, although I overstayed my student placement rather than a holiday. Came with DH (boyfriend at the time) for 12 months as a way to use my languages degree in 2002, to take up a graduate scheme place. I got offered an amazing job the following year, DH finally found a job, and we've never gone back. We're now in the "moved forever" category with kids in local schools, good jobs and a house to our name.

[legalalien]

Homing pigeon. My parents moved me 12000 miles away as a baby, 28 years later I moved myself back and have been living a few miles from my birthplace for the last decade and a bit despite not having family here.

[FeijoaVodkaAndCheezelsDude]

I'm a gone native expat, to the extent when funds allow I'll become a proper local with passport.

Part of me is still a grass is greener, want to rejoin the brain drain expat (like I was before meeting DH while in working holiday).

[pupsiecola]

I've only just lost my ex-pat virginity - am a first timer. Still feeling a tad delicate but can see what all the fuss is about ...

NotMoreFootball I am keen to know the place you speak of as being much greener!

[Sagelynodding]

Gone native! I couldn't imagine living anywhere else now :)

[Alligatorpie]

Grass is always greener - or maybe just have itchy feet!

[PetiteRaleuse]

Gone native...

[ProbablyJustGas]

Overstayed (well, got a job following student visa and then one of the old highly-skilled migrant visas to go with it). And then went native. Really, really, really hoping I can move the family back to the US someday, but that is a long way off for several big reasons. DSD goes to local school, and any future kiddos of ours will likely also go to the neighborhood school.

Also at the expat queens in town that can send their kids to the swish international school with its music programs in Primary and extra-curriculars galore. In another life...