Expat Focus

It’s a major “achievement unlocked” as an expat when you start to understand how the locals tick - and how long that takes is different for everyone. American, Chelsea, lives with her Norwegian husband in the town of Henningsvær in Norway. They’ve been together for five years and in that time, she’s learnt a thing or two about the Norwegian approach to life - ten things in fact that she’s going to share in this episode.

It’s all happening in the UK at the moment; at the time of recording this the general election is just one week away, and the outcome could determine when, how and if Brexit will end up happening. The UK’s exit from the European Union and the tax and social security implications have been top of mind for British expats for a long time now. We're checking in on these issues with tax advisor Oliver Heslop on today’s show, he’s also going to explain why it could be well worth Brits abroad - and anyone who has worked in the UK - investigating their pension entitlements.

Has a beachfront holiday home in Mexico taken your fancy? Maybe you’ve spotted a place with a great rental return in Malta. Or perhaps you have your sights set on a house to retire to, in Panama. If you’ve never invested in property abroad before, it’s hard to know where to begin. So today’s guest is going to give you some pointers, talking through the current hotspots and the things that can trip up people who are new to the international investment scene. Lief Simon is the founding editor of Global Property Advisor. Over 20 years, he has bought more than 45 properties and invested in 26 different countries around the world. 

The logistics involved in expat life become even more complex when your partner is also a working expat. How do you successfully fuel each other’s professional ambitions, as well as personal? Is it inevitable that one half will need to sacrifice their career, or take a backseat in the relationship to support the other? INSEAD Associate Professor Jennifer Petriglieri has researched hundreds of couples juggling two careers. She’s just released a book about the challenges that face working couples, and in this chat, Jennifer shares her thoughts on how you can successfully combine love and work, with life abroad.

One of the fastest-growing EU economies, Poland is also rising in the rankings of popular destinations for expats. The country moved from 23rd to 13th in this year’s HSBC Expat League Table, and it’s among the five best countries in Europe for digital nomads, according to the Remote Workers Index by Plusnet. But before you pack your bags for Poland, there are some key things you should know. Our guest, American blogger and teacher Leah Morawiec, has lived in the country for almost a decade, and she’s going to share her top five tips.

Entrepreneur Alan La Rue is our guest in this episode of the Expat Focus podcast. A language school owner, he’s been living in the country for a long time, and is going to talk through the essentials: from where to live to what to bring with you; job opportunities in Peru; how to approach learning Spanish; and the Peruvian cultural norms that may take some getting used to.

If you’re planning to move to France and become a homeowner, you’re going to love today’s guest. Mark Sayers is the Head of the Pyrénées-Orientales team at Artaxa - a real estate agency in Perpignan. Buying property in a foreign country can be a pretty daunting task, with lots of unfamiliar processes. I know because, funnily enough, I’ve just been through it - and here in France. And I really wish I’d had this chat with Mark before we bought our home, because I would have had a much better understanding of what we were about to go through. From the best approach to house hunting in France, to making an offer - and knowing if there’s room to negotiate... what agency and notary fees to expect, and how long it typically takes before you get the keys. Mark is going to cover it all in this episode.

After her first child was born, and she decided she didn’t want to go back to full time work, British expat Melitta Campbell dived head-first into entrepreneurship. She set herself up as a freelancer in Montreux - a French-speaking part of Switzerland. She quickly picked up work, and then more work... and then, running a successful business and being a stay-at-home mum became a bigger challenge. Years later, Melitta is on to her third business and she passes on her lessons learnt about focus and balance and asking for help, as a coach to other women who are working for themselves. If you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur in Switzerland or elsewhere in the world, Melitta has some sage advice. 

Do you dream of moving to LA to chase your Hollywood ambitions? Today’s guest has done exactly that: Mia Stewart and her husband Dave packed up their life in Australia, including their pets, and moved to the USA on O-1 visas. These visas are for “Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement.”  So what qualifies as ‘extraordinary ability’? What does this visa allow you to do, and how difficult is it to get? How did Mia and Dave successfully set themselves up in Los Angeles in just two weeks? How have they got on with landing jobs? What about healthcare? And what culture shocks have they experienced? 

Welcome to another episode of the Expat Focus Podcast. I’m your host Carlie, and on today’s show we’re shining the spotlight on expat family life in Finland. Paola is our guest, an Italian mum of two through birth and international adoption, who has lived in Finland for nine years. She blogs about multicultural family life at TheElephantMum.com, and she's going to share her insights on raising a family in Finland. We’ll talk through some of the country’s very family-friendly policies; Paola’s experience in fostering multilingualism in her kids; the international adoption process in Finland; community integration; and how she and her husband go about blending three cultures into their everyday lives.

Today on the show, we’re talking about raising children abroad, specifically as Third Culture Kids. 'TCKs' are people raised in a culture different to that of their parents, and the country named on their passport. My guest, American Rachel Jones, is a mum of three TCKS. She left the USA with her husband and their young twins to work in northern Somaliland, and later Djibouti, where she still lives. So what’s it like raising your kids in a country that’s so different to your own? How does the experience influence their development, and shape them as adults? And what challenges are you likely to encounter along the way? Rachel’s going to share her insights, which she hopes will help other parents create a thriving family culture while living internationally.

On today’s show we’re going to be talking to a Virtual Midwife.   It’s information overload when you’re pregnant, and if you’re having a baby while living in another country, there can be even more layers of complexity -  not just potentially in language, but in birth practices too. Your expectations versus the local reality might be quite different. Of course, you can find out almost anything online these days, but Googling stuff about pregnancy and childbirth... well, it’s a bit of a minefield. And that's where Midwife Karen Wilmot https://www.thevirtualmidwife.com/ comes in.

If you could start your life abroad all over again, what would you do differently? What would you prepare better for, and what mistakes would you avoid making? Trainer and stand-up comedian Carmine Rodi moved from a small town in southern Italy to Prague in the Czech Republic four years ago, for love. And about one year in to his expat life, he published a blog post that went viral, entitled ‘10 things I wish someone told me before I moved to Prague.’ Carmine joins me on the show to talk through his very popular - and slightly controversial - list, which he hopes has helped others to more easily navigate the cultural nuances in the country he calls home.

When you’re looking for a job in another country, it’s important to know how to make your applications stand out - or in the case of Denmark, fit in. Karey Anne Duevang, the CEO and Founder of Welcome Group Consulting, knows exactly how to do this. A long-time expat in the country, she faced her own career challenges when she first moved to Denmark, and has since worked in operations for Danish companies, including in the area of recruitment. On the show today, Karey Anne is going to go through five must-dos to really help with your local job search. In this chat, she also has some really useful insights into Danish work habits.

Cat Gaa was pretty good at Spanish when she was at school in the USA. She first went to Spain on a study abroad program, and soon found her way back there, this time teaching English. Cat worked out how to stay on in Spain, she started a blog at Sunshine and Siestas, and that blog turned into a side hustle with a fellow expat.    Their business, Como Consulting Spain, helps fellow non-Europeans navigate the red tape around moving to the country and staying there long term.   So how can you move to Spain and become a long-term resident as a non-European? And what else is important to know about life and culture in the different regions of Spain? Listen to find out.  

Our guest today is based in Thailand - a country that is well known for attracting expats wanting good living on the cheap, but just how good, and just how cheap? Brett Debritz is an Australian freelance journalist, currently on a ‘trial retirement’ in Thailand, and blogging at Expattaya. If a move to the country is on your bucket list, you might want to take some notes during this chat, because Brett’s going to talk us through what you get for your money: from housing, to bills, groceries, and other expenses that some expats moving to Thailand may not necessarily anticipate.

Welcome to another episode of the Expat Focus Podcast!   What challenges have you faced in trying to settle into your new home abroad? Did you find the integration process easy, or, was it quite difficult? How do you go about “fitting in” as an expat in a country like Switzerland - with four official languages, a bunch of unwritten social rules, and locals who have a reputation for being a little bit reserved?   British expat Catherine Nelson-Pollard lives in the Swiss town of Nyon where she runs the website Living In Nyon. She’s got some great tips to share that will help make your new Swiss life just a little bit easier. And most of them apply to life in other countries as well. 

Welcome to another episode of the Expat Focus Podcast. Today’s topic concerns US expat investors who are living in Europe, and new regulations known as 'PRIIPS'. Our guest is Tom Zachystal from Individual Asset Management. He’s here to explain what the new regulation means, and highlight some other investment issues that Americans living abroad should be aware of.

Costa Rica is well-known as a haven for expat retirees, but what’s it like to move to this tropical paradise in Central America if you’re at not at that stage of life yet? American Samantha moved to Costa Rica more than six years ago, for love. And she’s come a long way since first arriving with little knowledge of the country - needing to learn Spanish, find a job, make friends, understand how the local community - and systems - tick. She’s come so far in fact, that she and her husband Yeison were even named Tourism Ambassadors for their work on their very successful Costa Rica travel blog, mytanfeet.com. Samantha’s going to share her story of settling into life in Costa Rica, and how she navigated the integration bumps along the way.

In the latest episode of the Expat Focus podcast we’re talking about the way Brexit has altered the lives of EU citizens - including Brits - who have chosen to live in other member states.   Elena Remigi is one of them. As an Italian living in the UK, the years since the 2016 Brexit vote have been filled with uncertainty over whether she’ll be able to stay - or is even still welcome - in the country she calls home.    Elena founded a project called ‘In Limbo’. It started with a Facebook Group that she created for people to share their Brexit experiences. And these personal accounts from EU citizens in the UK were compiled for a book. That book - called ‘In Limbo’ was quickly followed by a second, entitled ‘In Limbo Too’ – which shares the stories of UK citizens living elsewhere in Europe.   As the political stoush over a Brexit agreement continues, and the 29th of March comes ever closer, In Limbo is a reminder for all of us, of just how deeply this issue is affecting people’s lives.