Archive Page 6
December 2018
Best "low wages" - Australia high; Greece low
Dec 2018: Story at European Sting on minimum wages around the globe.
Turkey gets lauded for safety for retirees
Dec 2018: Story at Emigrate UK on the plus side of Turkey as a destination, with places that are English-language savvy detailed a bit, with emphasis on beach areas and cultural atmosphere.
Millionaire Expat: How To Build Wealth Living Overseas - Amazon
Tax Havens (as listed by the EU)
Nov 2018: In 2017 a "black list" was created of 17 countries that were deemed uncooperative in working with the EU regarding tax evasion, among other financial matters. That list now consists of only 5 countries (Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, American Samoa, Guam and the American Virgin Islands), though some other nations were moved to a "grey list" for lacking transparency. More on this at Reuters.
Singapore listed as "best for expats" again
October 2018: New survey from HSBC (survey here) listing the top thirty-one locations for expat success. Brazil is #31, and Singapore is (again) number one. United States comes in at #23. An analyzes of the results at Forbes discusses how the USA was ranked higher for earning power, but lower for the "long hours." South America and Africa placed poorly, and this is also mentioned in the Forbes piece.
Retiring to Greece
Oct 2018: Generally informative article which hits all the main points, especially what it takes to stay legally in Greece (i.e., a permanent visa). Has cost of living figures (significantly lower than USA or Britain for example) and other bits of information - Story at Smart Asset
That story from Smart Asset hints at the one of the main hurdles of staying on permanently in Greece, which is the bureaucracy. For an older article which covers this in more detail (and describes some of the pain that can be incurred from having to make every form perfect, and then some, see this 2007 article at livingingreece.GR)
Also see Athens Greece Now Resource Page
Spain and Brexit
Nov 2018: Bookings for holiday travel out of Britain into 2019 is down due to fears about what happens after Brexit - story at BBC.
This UK Mirror article describes general tourism was off for 2018, and expats were leaving out of BREXIT fears, too.
Expat terminations
August 2018
Expat Coach Katia Vlachos Provides Detailed Roadmap for Expat success - Broadway World
There are currently over 57 million expatriates worldwide and research shows that international assignee levels are expected to rise a further 50% by 2020. However, between 4 and 10% of expatriate assignments get terminated early. Such an alarmingly high failure rate begs the question: Why?
Denmark
August 2018
Living in an Expat World: What is Danish summer?
The three topics: temperatures, cycling and ice-cream.
Saudi Arabia
August 2018
More Than 1.6 Million Expat Violators Caught in Saudi Arabia - albawaba.com
"The Nation-Free of Violators campaign announced on Saturday that it has netted as many as 1,625,018 expatriate violators of the systems of residency, work and border security."
Bahrain
August 2018
Expat suicides toll rises to 23 - gdnonline
"...another expatriate employee took his life yesterday taking the toll of reported suicides among foreign workers in Bahrain to 23 this year."
A perusal of Bing or Google news over the last few years shows many news stories about expat suicide rates in Kuwait, UAE, and other countries. Family and money problems seems to lead the suspected causes.
Monster Liabilities in State Debt
Brief item which covers the enormous liabilities in the states of Connecticut, California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York
Link: These American states are drowning in ‘irretrievable’ debt - Fox Business
USA "Prettiest Towns" - in all 50 states
The Architectural Digest magazine rates towns in all of the fifty states according to tree coverage, coastline attributes, architecture (of course) and other features:
Link: The Prettiest Town in Every U.S. State
Apartment Living
The most expensive cities in the world to rent apartments - Protothema
"Hong Kong tops list - Deutsche Bank recently released their seventh annual survey of global prices and living standards, finding that rent for a 2-bedroom apartment can prove astronomical, depending on where you live."
Employment
How technology is changing the global development jobs landscape - DEVEX
Russia
The truth about relocating to Russia - emigrate.co.uk
"Moscow’s Hollywood-inspired persona still rests on freezing winters, lurking secret agents, gun fights, the Lublyanka dungeons and multi-billionaire oligarchs plotting the demise of Western civilisation. Luckily, reality rarely, if ever, follows spectacular misrepresentations, especially in this city with its wide, clean streets, cultural and artistic beauties, onion-shaped towers, musuems and endless historic sights. In other words, expats can enjoy Moscow as much as any other world city famous for its arts and culture."
USA
15 Population migration patterns: US cities Americans are abandoning - USA Today
"Fifty worst cities to live in"
"Each year, roughly 40 million Americans, or about 14% of the U.S. population, move at least once. Much of that movement includes younger people relocating within cities, but it is trends of Americans moving to warmer climates, more affordable areas, and better job opportunities that have largely determined migration patterns in recent decades."
The article lists Fairbanks, Alaska as #50, and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Illinois as #1
Cyprus
Confusion remains over expat status in Cyprus post-Brexit - cyprus-mail.com
"... British expats say they are being given different information depending on where they go. Some who have lived here for more than five years, which entitles them to permanent residency status through the MEU3 form, have been told they only need an MEU1, which is merely a registration formality for those who have been here more than three months. Confusingly, both documents are known as ‘yellow slips’."
Kuwait
Kuwait rescinds expat remittance tax - msn.com
Drunkest
USA
Green Bay named drunkest city in the US - 10 Wisconsin cities listed as top 20 drunkest - tmj4.com
The World
The 15 Drunkest Countries on the Planet - The Street
France / New Zealand
Expat tales: Running a B&B in the south of France - stuff.co.nz
2018 EXPAT costs
World's most expensive cities for expats in 2018 revealed - CNN
Costa Rica
3 attractive areas for expat living in Costa Rica - Ticotimes
Travel
How to Quit Your Job and Travel the World Worry-free - Travel and Leisure
United States Livability
Least livable: 50 worst US cities to reside in - USA Today
"...24/7 Wall St. created an index with measures in eight categories -- crime, economy, education, environment, health, housing, infrastructure, and leisure -- to identify the 50 worst cities to live in. Not confined to a single region, the worst cities span the country from the South to the Midwest and from New England to the Pacific coast."
UK Housing
UK housing market weakens favouring expat buyers - Relocate Magazine
Greece
Is It Really That Bad to Live in Greece As an Expat? - Medium.com
"...Daniel thinks that if you are an expat who doesn’t work here, life is pretty good. “If you come here and you are retired and have a pension, or you move and get married, or if you come with your own business, or if you have huge savings — so that you do not need to live sparingly, you are fine. But if you do need to spend conservatively, is very difficult.” His business operates in Britain and he works from home. And “home” for him is Athens."
Cost of Expat in 11 cities
How much it will cost you to live in 11 popular expat cities - Business Insider
The article measures these cities with a basic cost of living plus semi-essential extras:
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Sydney, Australia
- Hong Kong
- Dubai, UAE - United Arab Emirates
- Santiago de Chile, Chile
- Toronto, Canada
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Brussels, Belgium
- Geneva, Switzerland
How to avoid expat troubles
The 12 Things Every Expat Needs To Do Before Moving Abroad - Forbes
Good article which categorizes basic, obvious things that can get overlooked, things as simple as planning to use local area phone services instead of paying expensive roaming fees on a mobile; making sure you've informed your bank of what's happening; and then very basic things like acquiring a multi-country adapter.
Using the Expat experience
Expat Experience Turned Mom Into Multicultural-Toy Entrepreneur - Forbes
Exit Australia?
Australian pensioners retiring overseas because they can't afford Australia - ABC Net
Cyprus
Cyprus ranks low on work-life balance index for expats - Cyprus Mail
Greece
Young creative entrepreneurs head for the Athens experience
"The historic Greek capital is now home to a thriving expat community who view it as a city of possibilities, with young, foreign creatives flocking to join in with its remarkable quality of life."
Greece Residency
Greece Presents Ambitious Post-bailout Tourism Plan - GTP
"Greek PM Alexis Tsipras. The Greek government has made tourism a high priority with ambitious plans that include the creation of tourist villages set to host EU nationals for a six-month period, allowing them to transfer their tax residence to Greece."
Healthiest Community in America?
Falls Church Is America’s Healthiest Community - US News and World Report
"That community is Falls Church, a roughly 2-square-mile city nestled between the much larger counties of Arlington and Fairfax that holds the No. 1 spot in the inaugural U.S. News rankings of the Healthiest Communities in America."
Liveability
Vienna unbeatable as world's most liveable city, Baghdad still worst - yahoo.com
Article also mentions cities in the UK, Vancouver, Auckland, Zurich and: "Baghdad has been at the bottom of the list for a decade now. "
Expat Jobs
These are the top cities for expat job opportunities - CNBC
"The article covers job opportunity in places like Dublin, Birmingham, London etc. Based on survey responses form 27,587 people, the information cconatins a brief overview with a statistical results, for examples that the average expat earnings for a worker in New York City is $182,240..."
Expat and Families
Mi casa, su casa: The world’s 5 most family-friendly countries - MSN
Article discusses (briefly) Taiwan, Costa Rica, Thailnad, and particular mentions Greece:
"Family is the corner stone of life in Greece so its not surprising that families are welcomed with open arms. Meals out quickly turn into communal affairs. Long tables with benches are the norm and within minutes your kids will be running freely with new found friends, allowing you to kick back and enjoy a chilled retsina or two. It certainly makes a change from other parts of Europe where children are seen as a troublesome inconvenience. "
Top salary rates
HSBC Expat Explorer: Mumbai best for expats in search of biggest paycheques - Topactu
"Expatriates who work in Mumbai, India, are the highest-paid in the world, according to the survey conducted by HSBC Bank International, earning an average of US$217,165, more than double the world average of US$99,903, the survey found, according to multiple reports."
French expat taxes
Expat guide to the French annual tax return - emigrate.co.uk
"The initial forms can be easily downloaded from the French Government’s website, with the pink 2047 form used to declare income earned overseas and the blue 2042 form used to declare all income, included that already declared on the pink form. France’s tax year runs between January and December, with arrivals part-way through the year only having to declare their income from the date they arrived."
USA Foreign Debt
Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities Rise to Record $18 Trillion - Bloomberg
"Foreign holdings of U.S. equities climbed to $7.2 trillion as of June 30, from $6.2 trillion a year earlier. Short-term debt holdings increased to $954 billion from $909 billion, while long-term debt holdings rose to $10.3 trillion from $10 trillion, the data showed."
Britain NHS
"Paul Barnes, 33, and his fiancee Sophie Henley, 25, received a £40,000 NHS bill because they live abroad in Zambia so do they not get free NHS treatment..."
USA Murder Rates
Article from 2017 which compares the murder rates across the obvious places: Chicago, Baltimore, New York City, along with many more locations.
"Our analysis suggests that the national homicide rate is rising at its fastest pace since the early 1970s..."
Murder rates in 50 American cities - The Economist
Switzerland
This is a 2015 article but contains a good (American) look at the subject:
"There's really no need to have a car in Switzerland. The Swiss have their public transportation system down to a science. The trains are on time down to the second — trust me, I've missed enough to know — and you can get across the whole country with just one ticket that works for multiple kinds of transportation."
Expat Romance
The top romantic expat destinations in 2018 - Finglobal
Brief list discussing Philippines, Greece, Colombia, Brazil, more.
Hong Kong vs. Singapore
Hong Kong, SIngapore and Shanghai lead the list of expensive rentals:
Hong Kong Way Ahead of Singapore, Topping Asia Expat Rental List - Bloombergquint
The Worst
Florida: Worst State of the Union? - Miami Herald
The Best
America Slips - Switzerland remains the No. 1 country to live in - US News and World Report
AMAZON: The Expert Expat: Your Guide to Successful Relocation Abroad