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 under...
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...
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 wee...
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 ex...
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 ex...
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. A...
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 throu...
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...
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 ...
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...
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 th...
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 w...
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 sh...
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...
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 W...
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 ...
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 thro...
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, Scotla...
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, bei...
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 thre...
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. S...
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.
