Aibu to seek an ex-pat community as I want to move somewhere English speaking?

Yes. I moved from Manchester to London partly because of the weather. It’s hugely different. (Apart from the past rainy June..)

Also an immigrant to Spain from the UK is an emigrant from the UK - expat isn't the other side of the immigrant coin, it's become an elitist term for economic migrant worker (with the migrant worker connotations of impermanence but without the same racial/ class stigma). Incidentally lots of university educated Indian and SE Asian individuals call themselves expats and are fully integrated into expat English speaking circles, so it's more complex and class based than just skin colour IMO, though racism is certainly heavily involved!

The weather in London is so much better than the rest of the uk. I'm in Yorkshire but my laptop thinks I'm in London so gives me the weather for there. I always get a jolt of happy surprise until I realise it's the wrong location. It's consistently much warmer and drier.

Yes, this too

everyone knows that's not how the term is used and that poor migrants are never referred to as expats and rich ones are. Self styled expats also usually return "home" eventually, or send their kids to university in their country of origin.

I have always thought of an expat is being someone living temporarily in a country as an employee for a company or institution that has placed them there. I am an immigrant as I have moved permanently; in my case for lifestyle reasons.

Many U.K. and Irish people living in Spain and Portugal describe themselves as ex-pats when I would say they are immigrants but I think some people think immigrants are the brown ones who are to blame for everything going to the dogs so as white ubermensch they must be something else and alight upon the word “expat”.

I think the dictionary definition of expatriate is a person who lives outside their native country. So to the UK Brits who live abroad are expatriated citizens. Those same Brits are then immigrants in their adoptive country. Thats my understanding anyway !!

If you do decide to try it , if it was me Îd make sure I was in a village with a a couple of shops / restaurants / chemist/ a gp not too far away especially if you’re getting a bit older :) Also remember it can all go pretty quiet in the winter !

Would keep away from Spain anyway what with all the protests at tourists.

Yep, stay put in Liverpool or Sunderland. No danger of being squirted by a water pistol there. Or being shouted at for being foreign.

"Expat" is usually used as shorthand for a short to medium term economic migrant on an income significantly above the local average and also above the average income in their country of origin.

Economic migrants are usually planning to save money and return eventually to their country of origin or move on to opportunities in a new country at some point.

I think permanent (rest of your life, and the generations after you too) verus medium term (5-10 years, or maybe retirement but no expectations that your children and grandchildren will be taking citizenship) residency is the difference between economic migrants of whom expats are the rich subgroup, and immigrants.

Immigrants usually intend to stay permanently in their adopted country and seek citizenship, and largely expect their adopted country to be their children and grandchildren's country too.

Economic migrants are usually looked down on for taking on jobs the locals don't want to do for lower than the local average income and living in cheap areas where locals don't want to live (but put up with it because their income is higher than the average income in their country of origin), but expats see themselves as different solely because they (or the spouse or parent they are living with) can command a higher salary or have a higher passive income than the local average income and afford to live in expensive locations the locals can't afford to live in...

Dordogne sounds good then ( îd look south dordogne near Sarlat or bergerac for the hotter weather) . If you already speak a foreign language it’s easier to learn a new one or improve on it in my experience . Good luck !!

I think immigrant and expatriate mean different things and people can be both. They have left their country so they are expatriated (from their country of birth ) and are immigrants in the country they migrated to.

^^ that is if you have Irish nationality, which you may not now you have said you are an immigrant in Ireland.

Switzerland is not that easy to move to on a whim. Sonewhere in the EU would make more sense.

Portugal. Lisbon, Cascais or the Algarve. The Algarve has much better winter weather, Lisbon can be more like Northern Europe.

On the Algarve there is a good mix of immigrants and expats from the U.K., Ireland, Sweden, Finland, South Africa, the Netherlands, U.S. , Canada, France India with a few Germans and other nationalities and English is the língua franca. It isn’t a Little Britain and life isn’t centred around alcohol. English is very widely spoken by the Portuguese in the Algarve and Lisbon and many people have lived there happily for 30 years or more without knowing more than the most basic phrases of Portuguese. As someone who is learning Portuguese and currently has C1 level it can be frustrating trying to find someone who doesn’t immediately revert to English when you talk to them in Portuguese!

Despite the above I’d always recommend actively learning the language for reasons of manners and practicality. Not everyone speaks English in the state sector or outside tourist industries and my Portuguese has been very useful dealing with car issues; bureaucracy and when my husband was hospitalised in Porto; the doctors spoke English but not other staff.

Thousands of people manage comfortably without. Portugal is a wonderful place to live if you have an income or capital (wages are low) my only warning is that it is harder to become proficient in Portuguese than in French or Spanish because the phonology and phonemics are quite opaque and tricky. The grammar isn’t that bad but people struggle with aural comprehension and pronunciation. Brazilian Portuguese is easier for most people to understand and many Brazilians who have emigrated to the Algarve have told me they struggled to understand locals a bit at first and it is the same language (with a few lexical and grammar differences)!

Yes of course there are pitfalls but I like that each child can inherit 100 000 from each parent before they pay tax . I also like that it’s ‘only’ 20 percent tax for direct descendants after that. As a pp says it doesn’t all go to a surviving spouse , a share goes automatically to children ( but most people protect their spouse by giving them the use and fruit of the deceased’s share of a property) So yes it generally protects from second marriage ‘s getting the kids inheritance and perhaps also from that share being eaten up by fees for care of surviving parent.

Most people in Amsterdam speak English. Not sure about the weather there though but it's a great city.

YABU for using the word "expat" like it makes you special, when you're emigrating to another country for a better life and will be an "immigrant" (bad word I know) there like any other immigrant in any other country.

YANBU for seeking out your fellow immigrant countrypeople in the country you choose to emigrate to. That is what most immigrants do to help them navigate their new life. Hope it works out for you.