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...

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...

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...

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 coup...

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 g...

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.

I f 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 wi...

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...

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 diffi...

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 f...

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 liv...

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 o...

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...

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 c...

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-Europ...

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...

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...

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 th...

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 coun...

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,...

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 y...

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 spec...

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 prope...

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 magaz...