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

[Lose6pounds]

I live in Ireland and the weather gets me down. I want to move to somewhere with better weather but I would prefer if it was mostly English speaking. I would consider Cornwall or south England in general.
I think the weather in London is fantastic but I find it huge and exhausting and really expensive.
I would prefer somewhere mellower but also with a community that was a mix of nationalities. I was also considering France or Italy. I don’t like Spain. Does anyone have any ideas?

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

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

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.

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 !!

"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...

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.

Thank you. Yes I think this is a good idea. Having looked into it today I think other posters are right telling me Switzerland is not feasible. And Switzerland is also much more expensive than France.

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 !

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 !!

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”.

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.

Yes, this too

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.

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!

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