Overseas Exile

A Green Card for Africa?

2013-05-22T09:30:00.002+02:00

Africa. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1890
Public Domain Image

I've long wanted to post more information about jobs in Africa, but it's been hard to get solid information. Aside from a couple of classmates from the US who now live in Lilongwe, Malawi (who have a great blog, by the way), most people I know who are associated with Africa have come out of the continent, not gone to it.

Today, aside from some opportunities in Nigeria and South Africa, there doesn't appear to be much of a way to find permanent work in Africa aside from limited opportunities with NGOs. Believe it or not, some people would like to immigrate to Africa but African countries make this very hard to do.

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Best Country for Retirement?

2013-05-20T09:35:00.001+02:00

Quito, Ecuador
Photo by Marcio Ramalho

Thinking about retiring abroad? I've previously written about Ecuador being voted the best place in the world to retire and recently International Living readers again voted Ecuador to be the number one retirement spot in the world. With a three-bedroom apartment in a major city center costing $200 a month, you can imagine why it might be attractive to some. But maybe Ecuador's not your cup of tea? Here's a list of the top 22 retirement havens around the world, taking into consideration lifestyle, real estate costs, climate, and so on.

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Move to the UK on a "start up" visa

2013-05-17T08:14:00.000+02:00

Photo by Conor Ogle

For those of you who have thought about starting your own business, why not do it in the UK? Trying to become an expat and move to the UK is getting to be difficult (for non-EU citizens) as the UK is sharply curtailing immigration, but since June of 2011 they've had a Prospective Entrepreneur program, more commonly referred to as the Start Up Visa. It's surprisingly straight-forward.

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Teach English at a French University

2013-05-15T07:12:00.000+02:00

Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, France
Photo by Francisco Antunes

You do not need to have a university degree to live and work in other countries. However, having a university degree does make life so much easier for those planning on becoming expats, as I saw again with my latest research. While doing my usual work trying to find new opportunities for you to live abroad, I stumbled across a very interesting article about applying for a job as a lecteur d'anglais in a French university.

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Violent Crime In the US

2013-05-13T10:44:00.004+02:00

Photo by Chang Liu

Pardon today's divergence; I'm still in shock. Today I started with the news and saw that 19 people were injured in a Mother's Day parade shooting in the US. Described by the FBI as "strictly an act of street violence", as if somehow that is more reassuring than terrorism. You have to wonder just how bad things have to get in the US before someone does anything. Sadly, due to overwhelming evidence that gun crime in the US has plummeted sharply in the past two decades, many in the US are using this as an excuse for inaction.

What they're ignoring is that gun murders in the US are far higher than the rest of the industrialized world. Just because we've improved this statistic doesn't mean that it's suddenly "acceptable." There's also another little statistic that many would rather you didn't know.
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The End of FATCA?

2013-05-10T10:10:00.000+02:00

Rand Paul, US Senator for Kentucky

For those outside the US who do not know who Rand Paul is, he's the son of Ron Paul, a US politician who's perennial quest for the presidency was at first met with mockery but eventually garnered enough support that it's widely believed that the Republican party deliberately locked him out of contention for the Presidency.

So why would I talk about Rand Paul in an expat blog?
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Stateless Americans and Renunciants

2013-05-08T08:57:00.001+02:00

So close ...
Photo by وسام زقوت

On the subject of renouncing one's citizenship, I previously reported that I only knew of two individuals who've renounced US citizenship without having another citizenship, making them "stateless". Being stateless, in this context, means "not having a legal nationality." There are many ways in which one can become stateless, with Palestinians being the most prominent example. Other examples stem from people being forced out of their country due to war, or being denied recognition by their home country. Sadly, the problem of statelessness is widespread, with an estimated 12 million people stateless around the world.
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A Class for Integrating into France

2013-05-06T09:37:00.000+02:00

Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix

"A government of the people, by the people and for the people." Does that sound familiar to anyone? That's actually the fundamental principle of the French republic, as enshrined in their constitution. In fact, as an American reading about French history and culture, I note how strong the parallels are between the two. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, separation of church and state, freedom of association, and so on. Despite superficial differences, the US and France have more in common than than either side seems to think and this was reinforced last Saturday when I attended the convocation à la formation civique, or my "call to civic education".

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Belgian Blue Card

2013-05-03T10:27:00.002+02:00

Bruge, Belgium
Photo by Wolfgang Staudt

In September of 2012, Belgium finally introduced their version of the European Blue Card. As with every country in the EU, the Belgian implementation of the Blue Card is unique and many Web sites appear to be reporting incorrect information. I've gone out to the French language Belgian government web site for Service public fédéral Emploi, Travail, et Concertation sociale, or their "Employment, Labor, and Social Services" web site and found the Belgian government's detailed explanation of their Blue Card laws.

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The Face of Islam in Europe

2013-05-01T09:39:00.003+02:00

Kahina Zed: The terrifying face of Islam

A friend of ours here in Paris, Kahina Zed, was recently in Canada with her partner and she met a bunch of Americans. After getting to know her for a couple of days, they were shocked to discover the horrifying truth: she's Muslim. They were incredulous, first assuming she was pulling their leg. With a drink in one hand and a cigarette in another, Kahina, who speaks French, English, Spanish and Arabic, is very proud of being a Muslim and, more importantly, she's practically the poster child for Islam in Europe, but you'd never know it from the news reports.

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Austrian Blue Card

2013-04-29T13:25:00.002+02:00

St. Wolfgang, Austria
Photo by Richard Taylor

If I had to do my move to Europe all over again, I'd seriously consider Austria. I've been there several times, it's a lovely country, the people are very friendly, and despite the occasional gay neo-Nazis running around, it's awesome. Now, thanks to the Austrian Blue Card, you can go there, too.
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Official European Blue Card Information

2013-04-24T08:39:00.000+02:00

Photo by openDemocracy

Sigh. So I promised that regular postings would continue this week, but I didn't expect our child minder to become gravely ill, nor our car to break down, leading this week to be unexpectedly complex. C'est la vie.

While I'm doing my consulting gig and keeping up this blog, I also research the European Blue Card. Meanwhile, my wife is also working on our company and to better assist clients with recruiting opportunities, she turned to the EU's official Web site and read their information about Blue Cards. It turns out that they have a country-by-country breakdown of Blue Card laws, but it's woefully inadequate. My wife was rather frustrated by this, so she contacted them and this is part of their response:
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International Recruiting

2013-04-19T10:34:00.002+02:00

La Grosse Cloche in Bordeaux
Photo by Joancharmant

Regular expat postings should continue next week. Today is the last day on my current contract and my new contract (and the company I'm building with my wife) starts next month. If your company is looking to expand their candidate search to include the world market, drop me a line. International recruiting is only one area of interest for our company, but it's the one you're most likely curious about if you read Overseas Exile.
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France: Kiss or Shake Hands?

2013-04-17T09:32:00.000+02:00

Skyline of La Défense business district in Paris
Photo by Rosss

Today's guest post is from Géraldine Lepere, the creator of Comme une Française, a web site aimed primarily at expat women who are new in France, but nonetheless is chock full of interesting tips. Today, she writes about whether or not you should kiss or shake hands in the office.
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Who's Hiring H1B Visa Workers in the USA?

2013-04-15T09:48:00.000+02:00

Still a dream for many people.
Image courtesy Biersaufer

My sincerest apologies for not posting last week. Between wrapping up my current contract, starting a new company, a (very mild) flu, having guests, and time off from work for an OFII meeting, I was a bit swamped last week.

I haven't written anything previously about the US H1B visa program, though I know I have a decent non-US readership. Part of this is because I don't find that visa route as interesting, but the politics of it are fascinating.
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A list of high-demand international jobs

2013-04-05T10:04:00.001+02:00

This job is global
Photo by Vaya

If you search for the "STEM" on this Web site, you'll find I've referenced it several times before. It's an acronym which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine. While there are plenty of opportunities for unskilled or younger would-be expats, for people who already have an established career, are considering a university degree, or have a family, teaching English in Thailand, while exciting, might not pay as much (note: South Korea sometimes pays TEFL teachers reasonably well). So what jobs are in demand abroad?

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UK/US family on verge of being split apart?

2013-04-03T16:44:00.000+02:00

Justice
Public domain image

Thanks to a lovely combination of US and UK law, this family is about to be split apart. Their son will be forced to live with one parent or another, in either the US or the UK.

If anyone with knowledge of immigration laws or who has the ear of a politician has any ideas about what they can do to help them, please do so! Spouses shouldn't be torn apart, not their children taken away, just because the governments have the cash register open.

The Cyprus Banking Disaster

2013-04-03T07:15:00.000+02:00

The Cypriot banking industry
Photo by Jonathan Boeke

By now you may have heard of the infamous Cyprus "haircut", a tiny little euphemism which obscures the fact that there's a serious issue with the European economy and rather than fix the underlying problem — a common currency without a common economic policy — Europe thought it would be a good idea to fix Cyprus' economic woes by partially paying for the national debt by confiscating part of the money that people had kept in Cypriot banks. Northern Cyprus, a state recognized only by Turkey, was once upset that Cyprus joined the EU, but now they may be having the last laugh.

That's a gross oversimplification, but it tells you in a nutshell what is scaring the hell out of a lot of people in Europe, including me. You see, as I'm going freelance in a few weeks, my wife and I have been looking at other countries to see if we could find a better cost of living. In fact, Cyprus was one of the countries we looked at before the government-sanctioned bank robbery occurred.
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Why Should You Travel?

2013-03-29T10:35:00.000+01:00

I have to confess that I hadn't heard about Rick Steves before now, but I really enjoyed this talk he gave at a TEDx conference (as you may know, TEDx isn't TED and it's been subject to some quality issues).

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The Four Stages of Expat Life

2013-03-27T09:36:00.000+01:00

Le Dernier Bar avant la Fin du Monde
Photo ruthlessly ganked from their site.
Used under Fair Use

Today I'm am very pleased to be heading to Le Dernier Bar avant la Fin du Monde, a geek bar here in Paris. As you may know, I've been helping people get jobs in Amsterdam and a gentleman from South America was offered one of the positions. By coincidence, he's visiting Paris, so my wife and I will be meeting him.

I believe (I could be mistaken) that this will be his first expat experience and that got me to thinking about how to be a successful expat. I define "successful" as "an expat who adjusts successfully to his or her new country." To succeed, it helps to know the four stages of being an expat.

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Crime in Europe versus the US

2013-03-25T10:16:00.001+01:00

Burglar Relief
Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower
Photo by wetman

When decided to be an expat, you naturally have to decide where to move. There are many things involved in that decision (not the least of which is "where can I move"), but crime has to be one of the more important considerations. After all, with the Honduras having the highest murder rate in the world, it's probably not your first choice of destination, right?

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Are US renunciations five times higher than reported?

2013-03-20T09:00:00.000+01:00

Image by Chuck Coker

Back in February, the final quarterly figures for Americans giving up their citizenship were released. For 2012, 932 Americans were reported as giving up their citizenship, leading to one Web site claiming that there was a 48% Decrease in Number of Expatriates in 2012. Had the article referred to reported number of expatriates, it would be correct: the reported number of expatriates is indeed 48% lower than in 2011.

Germany's Blue Card law is working

2013-03-18T09:00:00.000+01:00

Photo by R/DV/RS

For would-be expats, there's some good news! In January I reported on the German news site heise.de's claims that not many skilled workers were being attracted by Germany's Blue Card law. At the time I wrote:

I can actually think of a few different issues causing the problem. First and foremost, it was reported after the law had been in effect only two months! I'm surprised that a brand new program taking time to get started is actually newsworthy, particularly when you consider that it can take months to find a new employee locally, much less internationally.

Note: Apparently that was published in November, about 3 months after the program started.

I thought it was idiocy to complain about a jobs program struggling when the program had been in place less time than it often takes to find a skilled worker. Couple that with reports I was getting about German government offices being confused over the implementation of the law and it was guaranteed that heise.de's reporting was a precipitous.

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US expat evacuations: not what people think

2013-03-15T09:00:00.000+01:00

We've turned your country into a parking
lot. The least we can do is evacuate you.

Over on Reddit, I asked people's opinions about why more Americans are planning on leaving the US. As is to be expected, when an expat pointed out that we're taxed by the US government and get nothing in return, there was the silly comment of "I wouldn't say you are paying taxes for nothing. If shit hits the fan in your country the US tax payers usually shell out to get your ass out of the country."

I hear this constantly. It seems like it's the last line of defense for those trying to justify the USA's unique worldwide taxation schema. However, Reddit user prezvdi replied to the above with a stunning response:

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Gay Expats

2013-03-13T09:46:00.000+01:00

I have no idea if these men are gay
Photo by Jakkaphan Sanitprem

Brandon Perlberg is an American who is reluctantly living in London. He lived in New York City and loved both the city and his country, but his country wouldn't let him apply for a visa for his male partner of seven years. Brandon's partner, Benn Storey, however, is British and Britain approved Brandon's visa within 48 hours. Brandon had to give up his law career in New York for a new live abroad in order to remain with the man he loved.

Even more interesting is the fact that Perlberg and Storey could have legally married in New York state, but under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), that marriage could not be used to apply for a visa for Storey.

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