Leave and living abroad?

What type of expat or emigrant?

Expats and emigrants are no longer just the farmers of the past: also self-employed people, hairdressers, nurses, physiotherapists, ict experts, pensionados, etc. nowadays leave for long stays abroad, or emigrate. Aside from the question of whether "emigration" may always be permanent or also temporary, there are several types of "long-in-the-foreign-stayers" or emigrants, such as:

• the expat (sent out for work); think also of diplomats, journalists, professors, soccer players.
• the frontier worker.
• the second-home owner.
• the young senior wintering resident.
• the seasonal worker.
• a special group are the "world" travelers: there is actually emigration without permanent residence in one specific country. A passport full of contiguous visas, foreign ATM withdrawals, temporary import/export proofs, doctor and dentist visits abroad, long-term stays in countries with friendly visa policies: it makes it possible to be away for years at a time. Daily life takes place outside your home country and only a bank account, a passport and travel/health insurance provide ties to your home country.
• An additional group that is not officially registered by CBS as emigrants is also called the "semigrant."  People who live partly abroad and partly in their home country. Again, think, for example, of winter visitors, those who have a second home abroad and the self-employed who carry out part of their assignments abroad.

What is the non-expat/emigrant: 'the commuter'?

• One type of "non-expat/emigrant" that is growing in number and is increasingly being named as such: 'the commuter': the employee who frequently crosses the border to supervise a project, but keeps their home country as his or her home base and usually does not take his or her family abroad. Companies respond to this type by offering more short-term assignments (usually 3 to 18 months abroad), or working with virtual assignments (exchange of knowledge and experience via ICT combined with short business trips).
• Yet, in practice, commuting often leads to premature termination of assignments; adapting and effectively doing business or achieving project results in the foreign environment proves difficult if you return to your home country during weekends, vacations, etc. Leaving your partner and children behind also often causes (too) much stress.

More and more attention is also being paid to issues experienced by the 'remigrant': someone who has lived abroad for some time, but has returned to the home country.

What distinctions do you encounter when applying for visas?

Particularly when applying for visas, you also encounter the following distinctions:

• family migrants: when you demonstrably have an enduring relationship with someone from the emigration country, who can sponsor you.
• skilled migrants: when you have a professional education, specific skills, knowledge and work experience (often supplemented by local family, a substantial capital and sufficient work opportunities locally).
• business migrants: when you have demonstrably and successfully run your own business and will also start your own business in your country of emigration and have sufficient capital or want to invest in government projects.
• humanitarian migrants: if you are a refugee and have had to leave your own country because of war, ethnic conflicts or human rights violations.
• youth migrants: if you are a young person and want to work and travel in the country concerned.
• retirement migrants: if you wish to settle as a pensioner in the country concerned. Often with additional requirements regarding assets, investments and health.

What are the main 12 reasons for not choosing for a long stay abroad or emigrating yet?

Motivations are, of course, personal. To get you started with your personal list: in general, many emigrants give the following disadvantages

1. you get relational problems.
2. your partner or children get bored.
3. your children cannot catch up at their new school.
4. you have to deal with illnesses or divorces in the family.
5. you will lose relationships with family or friends, because 'at a distance it is different anyway'.
6. you will not be able to adapt to local circumstances.
7. wherever you are, you take yourself, your problems, your routine with you.
8. you are always on your own, no family or good friends nearby.
9. abroad you will end up either in a gigantic city or somewhere isolated in the background.
10. abroad it is just hard work, or even harder.
11. a very strong bond with your children or grandchildren, family or friends and already dreading the lack of contact can certainly factor into your decision whether to emigrate, and if so where to.
12. A low-cost airline ticket for a 2-3 hour Europe flight offers more opportunities for regular (mutual) visits than an expensive intercontinental flight with multiple transfers and long travel times.
13. Some emigrants like the idea that "Homeland" is within a foreseeable number of car hours from their new place of residence, so that they are not dependent on (sometimes uncertain) flights, for example.

Quotes

"Anonymous persons at offices without addresses with unreachable phone numbers who make all kinds of demands on your emigration through incomprehensible forms. And this at considerable cost with the risk of land deportation or detention. The motivation to persevere in spite of everything sometimes had to come from our toes. It did not make us feel welcome, but now, once settled, it is wonderful to live and do business. The Canadian people welcomed us with open arms."

Emigrant in Spain

Additional points of interest

Once you have created a good overview of core purpose and motivations for leaving or not leaving abroad, also check the following points of interest:

• do you share enough overlapping reasons with partner and children? Are there no (suitable) alternatives to emigration to still achieve what you want?
• give a value to all your motives for leaving and rank your motives according to those values: what is most important to you, what is also important but less essential. Keep those motives in mind when orienting yourself on where to live and where to live, and compromise on less important aspects.
• save the list you make somewhere online so that you can look at it again in later moments of doubt or phases of homesickness.
•  above all, make that list your own, personal list. Do not base it too much on what you have heard from other emigrants, fans of a particular country or vacationers who always go to the same location. Reeds emigrants will generally name the downsides or setbacks less, stories are colored, going on vacation is not the same as emigrating.
•  it is always good to make yourself aware of the pitfalls surrounding emigration. But at the same time, don't let yourself get too discouraged. Realize that on blog sites, on emigration forums and in TV programs it is mainly the "failures" that get attention.
• some returnees indicate that they have not or not sufficiently realized that the problems they encountered before leaving in the Netherlands were caused by their own character, dissatisfaction with themselves. You don't solve that by emigrating, your own personality naturally moves with you and doesn't change that quickly.
• if you get the idea that the decision will be in the direction of "doing it", start keeping an emigration diary; write down as much as possible: the tips and practicalities, but also the considerations, the choices, the doubts, the emotions, the successes, the arguments. With your diary, also collect the articles, blogs, lists, tips, advertisements, etc. that give you inspiration.
•  if the regulatory burden in your country of residence is one of your motives for wanting to emigrate, try to familiarize yourself in advance as much as possible with the written and unwritten rules in your intended new country of residence. Watch documentaries, read books or delve into background articles that zoom in on that topic. And ask yourself if you are comfortable with those "different" rules, in your new daily life.

Quote

"Emigration creates a new starting position, you are freer to tackle new things, to explore. You are not stuck in your current profession, waiting to retire."

France emigrant

The ideal emigrant

The ideal expat or emigrant...there is obviously no such thing. The competencies of a doctor who is the only non-African working in a small hospital in Eastern Kenya are obviously different from those of a start-up entrepreneur who wants to set up a joint venture in the booming Chinese market.

A list can be compiled of skills and competencies it is nice to have as an expat or emigrant:

• being authentic; staying true to yourself with an open mind towards others and other cultures, awareness of one's own strengths and shortcomings.
• being involved; taking responsibility, being loyal, stimulating the involvement of others.
• be able to communicate; intercultural communication skills: be open to other cultures without prejudice.
• being creative; thinking in terms of solutions, coming up with ideas.
• flexible, willing to adapt; 1) adapt to daily life and general living conditions in other culture 2) adapt to other forms of interaction with people from the host culture 3) adapt to other working conditions.
• empathy; being able to empathize with others, putting oneself aside at appropriate times, dealing with differences, pushing one's own traditions and opinions into the background.
• integrity; being honest, showing respect for others, acting in accordance with generally accepted norms and values of new home and work environment, being discreet.
• be willing and able to learn; be open to new things and experiences.
• to have courage; to dare to take risks, to have charisma.
• be able to network; build up new contacts, take time for meetings or when arranging things, take social initiative.
• to be environmentally aware.
• be able to make balanced judgments; be able to put things into perspective, choose different points of view, stimulate interaction.
• being able to plan and organize.
• be stress resistant; able to deal with setbacks, handle disappointments, put things in perspective and set priorities.
• be result-oriented; have perseverance, be flexible, be able to see the long term.
• can cooperate; be able to work in a team, stop being impatient.
• have self-confidence.

Research shows that the "critical success factors" for many expats and emigrants are concentrated around:

•     local language skills.
•     belief in own competences.
•     interpersonal skills.
•     sociability.
•     degree of extroversion.
•     flexibility.
•     emotional stability.
•     friendliness.

Previous international (work) experience is not a predictor of successful (work) performance in a new long stay abroad; especially in expats who have moved repeatedly, a degree of "adjustment fatigue" may also occur.  

Quotes

"I had no foreign experience whatsoever. In order to advance with my employer, a multinational corporation, I noticed that foreign experience-unless it was pronounced-was a requirement. Through this employer I wanted to work abroad on my languages, cultural insight, management skills. Get a broader view. With the intention of returning to the Netherlands after a few years."

USA expat

    "The most important skill, besides your online work abilities, that a global nomad needs to have is to be able to refocus. Every airport brings a new home and every seaport new faces and friends, and every town new workspace. You are in constant movement and constant adjusting."

Global nomad worker

If you have plans to do business abroad, consider new competencies, or deeper levels of the above competencies:

•     the ability to communicate in the business language of your new country of residence.
•     entrepreneurial competencies: identifying and seizing opportunities, anticipating, developing a vision, strategic thinking, administrative skills, persistence.
•     analysis; making connections, complex analyses.
•     creativity; innovating, solution-oriented.
•     customer orientation; service orientation, stimulating others to optimize services.
•     leadership; coordinating, stimulating, motivating, connecting.
•     persuading; predominance, conflict management, negotiating, weighing interests.
•     acting professionally; professionalism, showing initiative, excelling.

In addition to the extent to which you possess the above competencies and skills, the following factors, among others, also influence how successful you will be as an emigrant:

•     How did you deal with moving earlier in life; did it go relatively easy for you or was it accompanied by many (mental) bumps?
•     Have you ever changed jobs and how did that make you feel?
•     Have you had setbacks in your life and how did you deal with them?
•     Do you generally like change, or do you always avoid it?
•     To what extent did you know the country, language and culture beforehand?
•     To what extent have you prepared yourself sufficiently for practical and emotional matters?
•     To what extent does your partner and/or children have a shared desire to leave?  To what extent can your partner also find a job ("dual career")? a survey among 270 multinationals showed that the dual career desire in particular was an obstacle to the continuation of the posting of an employee abroad.