Your expatriate experience

[Ganbare!]

An estimated 600 millions of people live in a different country than the one they were born in.

Whether temporary or permanent, becoming an expatriate has a deep impact on one's lifestyle in terms of national affiliation, friendships, work habits or perception of transcultural differences etc

I know that a sizable amount of the EAN community is in this position. How did it change your life ? Share your experience.

[jefe]

What is the difference between a permanent expatriate and an immigrant / emigrant?

[Ganbare!]

There is no clear cut definition of the two concepts but generally expats end up living overseas because of work assignements so they did not necessarily choose to leave nor their location. They do not assimilate in most cases and benefit from high social status. Immigrants on the other hand can have very similar characteristics but in general they do not have high status, tend to integrate themselves in their new home country and generally chose their new location. (although some refugees do not)

What do you consider yourself? How this experience has changed your outlook on life?

[FreckleFoot]

I'm British and have lived in Canada and now live in France.

I consider myself to be more of an immigrant to other countries because I wasn't sent there for my job, but my husband ended up choosing X country because of his job. Together we are not of a high social status and I would say we assimilated fairly well. Despite my listening issues when speaking other languages, I feel it is easier to 'click' with French people than Canadian people. Even though Canadians were always open and friendly, I never really got to the point that one of them truly considered me to be their friend. Here I have kind and generous friends.

It has definitely broadened my horizons and I feel I have a greater understanding of some cultural differences. I have also become more confident, which I don't think would have been possible had I stayed in my hometown. I find it a bit odd going back to my hometown and seeing my family and old friends. They have never left and although they may be well-travelled it is an entirely different thing from actually living abroad, settling in and getting used to the locals and their lifestyles. It's almost like travelling back in time when I go there. It's a very bizarre feeling indeed. As if I've gone off into space and seen unimaginable things then returned to Earth where no one will comprehend what I'm talking about and I've suddenly become an alien among my own people.

[betahat]

^An estimated 600 millions of people live in a different country than the one they were born in.

I'm one but it doesn't really count because I was born in Singapore but settled in Canada at age 4 (and never had Singaporean citizenship).

What about internal migrants? I know we tend to downplay it being the international lot that we are, but the cultural differences of going from a small town to a big city, of New York vs. LA or the Bay Area, and of different regions of diverse countries (like China, India, Brazil, etc.) can be just as big, no? A lot of my Euro friends from big cities find themselves quite at home in New York but find a lot of other American cities to be really different - and I suspect that they would find themselves more at home in New York or London than in a small town in Austria, Germany, France, etc.

I tend to think of the difference between expats and immigrants as intention to move permanently. Immigrants are usually on a path to nationalization, whereas expats are not. Though I admit that there are some expats (like my british grandmother who lives in Kuala Lumpur under the "Malaysia my second home" program) who do intend to live somewhere permanently but do not or cannot become nationals of the place they live.