If you’re a British expat living abroad, or an expat from abroad living in Britain…

[Coffeeandbourbons]

Can I ask where you now live/moved from, whether you would move back, and what you like/dislike?

I’ve only lived in the U.K. but for about 2 years have been increasingly thinking about leaving, for what are probably obvious reasons (weather, expensive housing, general quality of life in decline).

We have to stay put for another 3 years at least so I can finish my professional qualification (currently on mat leave, with 2 years left to go when I return to work) so want to use that time to do some homework on what might suit our family.

TIA

I’m probably not so far from you - a bit further east.

I left the Uk 20 years ago. Lived in three different places in the Middle East. Had a great time in the 12 years we were there but it never felt like home.
We were only ever expats there, not immigrants.
eight years in western Canada an I’m truly “Home”. Married to a Canadian which helped with getting residency and then citizenship.

I will never return to the UK to live because I could never have the quality of live there that I have here.
The downside is that my youngest who left the UK at a few months old doesn’t feel like they have a national,identity and are now living on the other side of the world at 18 years old (ok, it’s not a downside, it’s a wonderful opportunity but I’m their mum… 😂)

No you’re not. An immigrant is someone who moves to another country permanently to live there permanently. A person who moves to a country for a finite amount of time is an expat.
Many countries may give you residency (Middle Eastern countries being a classic example) but it’s not permanent and won’t lead to citizenship

@JoeLovesGina as others have pointed out, expats move abroad for work, not to settle for the rest of their lives. In fact, in Thailand, foreigners living there explicitly have to get a 'non-immigrant' visa. If you want permanent residency (in which case you could start calling yourself an immigrant) it's a multi-year process open only to certain categories of people and restricted in numbers.

I have lived and worked in Africa, USA, several South American and several European countries. I am English but can honestly say that apart from Nigeria I was happy wherever I was. I love exploring new cultures, food, customs etc. I have retired to France (Brittany) and love it here too despite the bureaucracy and wet winters. My French is poor but I have made some great French friends and they are very encouraging, supportive and appreciative of my efforts.
My home county is glorious Dorset but the price of a detached property with a bit of land was out of my reach but affordable here. Now, even if I won the lottery I doubt I would move back to UK as friends and family all seem very unhappy with the way things are going.

Curious, can you share your experience in Nigeria?

I think there are a few things to consider when moving internationally (and I’ve lived in 4 countries so far, currently in the US), generally speaking.
First of all, you will come across cultural differences and a culture shock almost everywhere. You might miss the UK because it’s home. It’s where your family is, your friends, you will miss the humor, the food, the TV shows…
Secondly it can get tough when missing the family and friends, depending on the distance you will see them maybe once a year? International flights are expensive (especially when booking for a whole family) and you will spend a chunk of your annual leave just going home to visit.
Thirdly there isn’t any better or worse country, every country has some good points and some bad points. It’s also very individual - someone can absolutely love living in Italy and another person could absolutely hate it there. (I did my study exchange year in Italy and absolutely loved that experience but wouldn’t probably want to live there permanently) And different places/cities/towns in different countries have different vibes too.
All that being said, I am glad I got to live in different countries and value that experience, one also learns to appreciate things at home more after being away for a bit. But at the same time I’ve been missing family and friends more and more lately and will probably move back home in a couple of years.

I’m British but since adulthood I’ve lived in Russia, New York, Florida, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Dubai, Monaco and now I’m in Australia. Out of those places, the only ones I probably wouldn’t ever consider living in again is England and Russia. I feel where I am suits my needs the most, right now.

I left the UK when I was 16. Have returned briefly for a couple of years but never settled.
Have lived in Switzerland for most of my adult life, although I did spend a couple of years in France and Italy as well.

I won't be able to retire in Switzerland and had planned on France or Italy. Brexit ruined that, but we are planning to take Swiss nationality. I don't know what will happen now.

My kids are bilingual, it's clean, breathtakingly beautiful, we have a lot of opportunities here and a great life.

Things I miss about the UK (NE especially), Asda and Sainsburys trousers, (yes, really!) malt vinegar, prawn cocktail crisps and the people. That's it really! The people are incredibly kind, with a great sense of humor. The Swiss lack that...

But nothing else. Since Brexit, the UK has really become undesirable. I have zero desire to go back.

You can't just stay though, can you without buying a property?
All of the UAE is not clean.
You or your company are paying for your health insurance so of course you can see a doctor or get an MRI in days.
You're not comparing like with like.
I lived in the UAE for over 20 years. I relish that I now live in the UK in a country where I am "free".
It's interesting to see how many people love to live elsewhere but are "not ready to give up their UK citizenship"!

Why would you give up citizenship unless you had to though? I have triple citizenship (UK/ Ireland/Australia) and would happily sell my spare passports if it were legal, but its nice to keep your options open.

@Cantstandbullshitanymore Hi, it was in the late 70s so likely it is very different now.
There were still public executions on the beach (televised) and traumatic to see prisoners trying to claw their way out of cattle trucks going past my door.
My driver was beaten up by the police for changing lanes (safely and no disruption to traffic) and received a broken arm.
There were frequent power cuts so refrigerated food had to be thrown away.
Telephones didn't work most of the time.
I was racially abused and stoned in a carpark by a bunch of young men. I dodged the stones, luckily.
Final straw I too k my friend 's dog (friend had malaria) to the Vet for an injection. Poor dog was nervous and instead of reassuring him the assistant kicked him in the head. Some teeth were loosened and his.nose bled.
However, the people I worked with were delightful which helped to mitigate things.

I’m a Brit living in prairie Canada - we have been here for less than a year so there’s still a lot of homesickness and comparing my “old life” to the new one going on! To be clear all my comments are based of prairie Canada - it’s a big country and life in Vancouver or Halifax won’t resemble life here.

I loved England and had no intention of leaving but my husband had always dreamed of life in Canada so we decided to give it a shot.
I miss the greenery of home and personally think the UK is more beautiful than Canada though I suspect most people would disagree. I also miss the food and the beautiful architecture and of course my family and old friends.

Prairie Canada has been a surprise to me, I thought id hate it but actually life is great here! My husband makes at least 50% more than he did back home and houses are much cheaper which means our quality of life is fantastic now.
The best bit is the lack of a class system - no one cares what clothes you wear or which car you drive and everything feels much more relaxed and less of a competition. The summers are gorgeous and even in the depths of winter it rarely rains and is sunny almost every single day so you don’t get that dreary feeling you get back home.
The people have been very welcoming and everyone seems keen for us to stay and make a home here, people will literally bend over backwards to help you out in a jam. In fairness we have the huge advantage of being white and English speaking, I don’t know if we would have had the same welcome if we weren’t.
Theres a strong culture of “do it yourself” here and I think people are broadly more capable than in the more metropolitan areas.

The worst bits are small things really, we’re in a small city but the services and amenities are patchy, lots of fairly major companies won’t deliver to us or charge a fortune and things like next day Amazon delivery doesn’t exist for us. Internet/mobile services cost a fortune as does insurance as there isn’t any competition. Used cars (especially trucks) are staggeringly expensive.

Whilst I wouldn’t rule out moving home eventually I think we would probably struggle with the high house prices and lower wages. You do have to remember that the longer you’re “away” the bigger the gap is likely to be and the harder it is to just go back both financially and emotionally. I suspect I would find all the unspoken rules of English society a bit stifling now too!

I have lived in lots of different countries and they all have their ups and downs. One great thing about being an expat is you never have to commit to a country, so you can be more detached. Issues with the country feel like someone else’s problem. The downside of moving to different countries is that it doesn’t suit children. They hate moving schools and leaving friends. It isn’t great for their education either.

Can I ask whereabouts you moved to, sounds amazing?

I’m British but have lived in China for close to a decade now. I love it here and have permanent residency, but I will definitely move home when my parents/PILs get older and need more help, or when DC reaches secondary school age.

Things I miss about the UK: beautiful countryside, dark humour, relative lack of crowds, pubs, air quality, love of animals, the average person knows about and takes action about climate change.

Things I love about China: feeling incredibly safe everywhere at any time; the kind, friendly people; the food, mostly; the weather, mostly; good quality of life (infrastructure, education, healthcare etc., although partly that’s because I live in a city; none of these are as good in the countryside); the feeling of optimism in society, and like many aspects of life are improving fast (which I guess is the feeling in most developing countries, but I certainly feel it more here than in the UK).

Sorry that was to happyhappyday!

Sorry for the late reply, busy social schedule this week..
I'm in Denmark, west coast.

People coming to this country are immigrants for whatever reason they come. It is their country and fellow countryman who would consider them expats.

You would have an expat community of Russians, Syrians, Argentinians, Nigerians, Vietnamese etc etc.

This expat is a white Brit trope annoys me that people don't know what words mean.

Immigrant
Emigrant
Expat
Refer to different views of human migration and none of them are derogatory.

Every immigrant is both an immigrant and an emigrant.

I agree about immigrants and emigrants, but see ex-pats as a different, temporary category, for those who are 'abroad' only temporarily, rather than as a permanent move.

Often associated with a work move within an international organisation, expats expect their period 'abroad' to come to an end at some point and they then expect the return 'home'.

Interestingly, one of the largest groups of 'ex-pats' are missionaries of the Mormon / church of latter day saints, who are sent abroad as part of their training.

Don’t you watch the news in zFrance ?😂

It's typical weekly look how terrible the UK,is compared to entire world thread isn't it ,and lets,just ignore any problems in the rest of he world because the "Uk is so much worse"🙄

I moved from the UK to France 17 years ago, when I was 22 to be with ExH. I don’t think I’ll ever move home now, I’ve never lived in the UK as a proper adult and I wouldn’t know how to go about getting anything done!

I miss British food, but mostly my friends - it seems like everyone else here has people they’ve known since school and I don’t have that but I guess that’s the same for anyone who moves away from where they grew up even within the same country.

In the UK I was always known by a shortened version of my name, which is usually a male name (like Roberta being called Bobby or something) but here they always use the full version and I don’t like it.

Over the past couple of years I’ve felt like I’ve started to lose my English a bit and have found that quite sad.

I’ve found things quite rigid here, and people often think I’m a bit crazy for not sticking to what they see as ‘normal’ for a middle aged woman, like I’m going to learn to ride a motorbike and it was the same a few years ago when I wanted to learn to sail. I think in the UK people would be more ‘yay, go for it!’

Good things: I’ve met lots of nice people, easy access to gorgeous countryside, beaches and mountains, the weather.

@BeenThereTooo

There are 10 year visas now unattached to work, and also we have bought property here. You are right that health insurance is attached to work, but that is the case in many places and unless you are here illegally you have health insurance. I'm friends with many non-emiratis here who grew up here, and are now raising their children here. It is a place you can work out a way to stay if you want. The country has changed a lot in recent years. When did you leave? And where did you live? One of the most interesting aspects for me has been how different all the emirates are culturally. Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah feel like different countries!

Also 'you're not comparing like with like' is interesting. People move to where life will be best for them, where suits their circumstances, skill sets and even legal requirements. It doesn't matter how it's 'fair' to vet countries, everyone considers the benefits to themselves personally. It's naive to think that lifestyle isn't a consideration - who would move somewhere anticipating they'd be worse off?

I can access better healthcare in the UAE for the same as it would cost me in the U.K. (ie nothing). I understand from a wider perspective I'm not 'comparing like with like', but who makes personal decisions that way? We choose what seems best for us.

We are so lucky in the U.K. to be able to go pretty much anywhere we want, and work out ways to live there. Every day in the UAE I meet people who were desperate to get here but someone else in their family can't get visas, or they'd love to go to the U.K./Canada/wherever but would never be able to get a visa due to their nationality.

@GretaGood you asked me don't I watch the news in France? (Sorry can't do a link) yeah, of course I bloody do, what kind of question is that? France too has it's problems, there are strikes against the rise in pension age from 62 to 64, and I didn't say racism doesn't exist, but I've never experienced it like I did from the UK during Brexit.

I also watch British news too, so I do know that my 40 euro a month electric bill is currently unheard of in the UK, or when I phoned for an ambulance last month one arrived in 15 minutes, or that my son is currently at university and it's free but on top of that his is given a 520 euro a month grant to help him financially, or that I called the doctor's surgery for for a non-urgent appointment this morning and that I'm going in at 4.00 pm this afternoon, or that my equivalent of council tax is 400 euros a year. I watch British news and continue to have relationships with people in the UK, expats, immigrants, British people living abroad, don't necessarily live in rose coloured bubbles. However, all of the above combined with the life, friendships and relationships I have in France are the reasons I would not return to the UK while it is in its current state under the current government.

So actually I don't really understand the point of your question. - Yes I do read the news in France.

The question asked was if I was living abroad why, and whether I would return to the UK, both answered.