Expat Focus

Welcome to another episode of the Expat Focus podcast. Today on the show we’re talking about a country where the expat population is slowly but steadily on the rise: Estonia. My guest is Alina Akk from expatinestonia.com. She’s Romanian, and this is her third year living and working in Estonia. Alina’s going to give us the lowdown on three essentials: finding somewhere to live, learning Estonian, and finding a job in the country.

Welcome to another episode of the Expat Focus podcast. Our guest this week is Steve Spriggs - the Head of Education at William Clarence Education. They advise and consult with families from around the world on British schools and universities. So which schools are right for your children, factoring in not just their interests and your needs as a family... but also where you all might be in five years' time? Listen on to find out, and if you have any questions for Steve, you can post them in the Expat Focus UK Forum or Facebook Group.

Moving abroad often means losing that ‘insider’ status that you held in your home country. The advantage of just ‘knowing’ how a system or local industry works, where to find the tools or resources you need to get something done.   Remco recognised this, and that his public workshop in Amsterdam could act as an entrance, not just for locals needing somewhere to knock up a coffee table or use specific machinery… but also for expat carpenters, designers, artists and D-I-Y enthusiasts.   The Openbare Werkplaats is providing foreigners in Amsterdam with an entry point - and community - that they may not otherwise find. 

Welcome to another episode of the Expat Focus Podcast, I’m your host Carlie, and my guest today is a UK expat, based in beautiful South West France, where he runs a guest house along with his partner.  Their home is called Maison Mûrier, and on their website, Phill and Kev call it their ‘little bit of heaven’ in the French countryside.   Looking at the stunning photos, their acre-and-a-half property has a pool, incredible views over sunflower fields, their house has seven bedrooms and there are a number of barns on the land as well.   So how did they choose their dream French property? How was the renovation process and, what sort of qualities do you need to run a guest house in France? I spoke to Phill about his experiences, in November of 2018, at the end of his very first year as a host. 

Visas can be an unwelcome, overwhelming necessity when you fall in love with someone from another country. This was the case for Australian Emma O’Neill-Sandham and her English partner Rich, when they decided they wanted to move from the UK to continue their life together back in Australia.   Emma wrote about the intricate and intrusive process of applying for an Australian Partner Visa in a magazine piece entitled ‘The (Statutory) Declaration of Love’.    In this episode, Emma’s going to talk through the difficulty of needing to legally prove and define your love for a visa, and she’s also going to offer some advice to other couples looking to do the same thing.

If you’re a member of one of the Expat Focus forums or Facebook groups, or in any international community group for that matter, you’ve likely seen a discussion around the term ‘expat’ and how it’s used.   What makes one group of people ‘expats’, and another group ‘foreigners’, or ‘immigrants’? Why does the terminology matter, and how does it shape our views of different groups of people who move abroad?   Our guest today is Gabby, the co-founder of Milk Café – a social enterprise in Glasgow, Scotland. Milk aims to empower and support refugee and migrant women, whom they take on as volunteers.    But the café’s not just providing these women with an opportunity to gain new skills and experience; it’s also promoting greater community acceptance and understanding. 

We’re diving into the Danish healthcare system today with a returning guest – expat blogger and expert, Melanie Haynes of Dejlige Days.    She gave us some great insights into the Danish way of life in our first chat – so be sure to take a listen to our ‘Life in Denmark’ episode.    This time, Melanie is going to go through everything you need to know about signing up with a doctor in Denmark, visiting the hospital, getting prescriptions, even having a baby in the country. 

Is your dream to live, or continue living, in France? It is possible as a non-EU citizen, without needing to get married or become a student to make it happen.   American Allison Lounes lives in France. She runs the website Paris Unraveled, and she helps people to navigate French administration - like visa applications - in a way that’s much less stressful than going it alone.   Allison’s going to talk through the main options for non-Europeans; from getting PACSed to moving off a student visa, being sponsored by a company or going it alone as self-employed. And she’s going to explain what you need to put into your application to make your French dream a reality.

Bec Holmes moved to a village in the Austrian mountains, where she fell in love with a Dutchman and relocated to the Netherlands. After a few years, marriage happened, and then she became pregnant. The first pregnancy is daunting for any woman, but add a foreign country and language into the mix, and there are a lot of unknowns. Bec has navigated pregnancy in the Netherlands twice now, and she has some great insights to share.

Did you know that the country you choose to divorce in can directly impact what assets you’re left with? Or that being an unmarried expat couple is a legal issue in some countries? Do you know how the laws of the country you’re living in apply to your children, if you’re having custody issues?   Our guest in this episode of the Expat Focus podcast is Alexandra Tribe - a lawyer, and the owner of Expatriate Law, who specialise in family law advice for British expats. She’s going to talk though three common legal situations that expats can find themselves in. 

If you’re a Brit in Europe, or a European citizen living in the UK, the issue of Brexit will be high on your radar. At the time of recording this, there are just six months to go until the UK leaves the European Union, and there’s still no deal. European leaders at a summit in Salzburg just shot down the UK Prime Minister’s latest plan, so everyone’s gone back to the drawing board. There have been ‘no deal’ planning papers released, and right now, that prospect is looking like a scary reality. So where does Brexit leave citizens’ rights, on both sides of the Channel? And what can expats in the UK and Europe be doing now, to best prepare? Today’s guest is Daniel Tetlow, Co-founder of the organisation British in Germany, and a member of British in Europe. And - spoiler alert - he doesn’t have definitive answers, no one does right now, but he does explain why he and others are working so hard to get them. You’re going to hear Daniel mention the name ‘Michel Barnier' a few times in this interview - he’s the EU

When it comes to taking your career to Luxembourg – where do you begin? What are the main industries for expat workers in the country and, what sort of salaries can you expect? Do you need to speak one of the key languages, or can you get by with English? You’re going to learn all about the Luxembourg job market in this episode. Our guest is Amy Amann, a local coach, trainer and consultant. So keep listening for some great insights and advice, on looking for work in Luxembourg.

Going it alone as self employed and setting up your own business is always a big step – and it’s an even bigger one to take, when you’re doing it in a foreign country.    British expat Michelle Purse Sweeney did it in Germany 9 years ago, starting her own marketing business, and in this episode she shares her 5 key tips to help make your German business journey, a little bit easier.

When you move abroad, there are inevitably things you find out that you wish someone had told you about earlier.    In this episode we're joined by James Cave from Portugalist, who is here to help if you're considering a move to Portugal.   

When it came time to think about retiring, Ben Zabulis and his partner Hillary quickly realised that the typical European expat retiree destinations, like Spain, weren’t quite right for them.   Instead, they sold up in the UK and moved to Hong Kong; a place that had captured their hearts years before.   Ben’s a regular columnist for Expat Focus, and he joins us in this episode to talk about how he’s settled back into expat life.

In this episode we're focusing on tax issues for South African expats. Did you know they’re on track to break their own emigration record this year?   And the biggest mistake expats can make, according to today’s guest, is thinking they’re not a big enough 'fish' for the South African Revenue Office to bother coming after. You won’t just disappear off their radar once you leave the country.   Attorney and Financial Emigration Legal Specialist Jonty Leon is going to explain why sorting out your South African tax situation is just as important as deciding what comes with you when you move abroad.

In this week's podcast, Expat Focus talks to John Siskar about his experience of teaching in Germany. Having moved from being a kindergarten teacher all the way through to secondary school, John has a wealth of experience to share!  What can you expect as a foreign teacher working in Germany? And what do you do when your school goes bankrupt? American expat John Siskar wasn’t planning to dive into an international teaching career when he went travelling six years ago. And he certainly wasn’t expecting to later find himself with an almost empty bank account. Today on the show, John shares his insights into teaching in Germany, and explains how he navigated a really difficult situation.

Tony Elliott's job as an interest rate trader has seen him live in the some of the most exciting cities in the world. Meantime, as a dad, he's busy raising seven kids - in two countries.   So what's expat life like when you've got a big family in different locations, and a job that means you need to move around, often at short notice? Listen to our latest episode to find out. 

What was your biggest struggle when you moved to your new country? For Melanie Aronson, an American in Sweden, it was overcoming this unexpectedly deep sense of loneliness. She felt it so strongly, she decided to make a friend-finding app called Panion to help others who were feeling the same way she was. Keep listening to hear all about Panion, and Melanie’s experiences in Sweden.

Remote working has definitely hit the mainstream … and around the world, more and more people are taking the opportunity to be ‘temporary locals.’ Combining their jobs with longer-term travel, staying in one country for a month, or a few months at a time. Longer than the typical annual holiday allowance. But how do longer stints abroad – when you’re working – impact your tax situation? Today on the show, Oliver Heslop joins me again. He’s the owner of GETS – Global Expatriate Tax Services,based in the UK. But he works with tax experts all over the world. He’s going to talk through some things to consider if you’re living the digital nomad life. I should point out, Oliver’s not giving any specific advice in this episode, but you can ask him directly if you have a burning question; just go to the ‘financial’ tab at expatfocus.com and then click to ‘UK tax advice.’