What Is an Expatriate and What Type Will You Be?

The word “expatriate” or the shorter “expat” can mean a lot of different things depending on who it is applied to. Before the internet came along, most expatriates were stationed abroad for their job or they were retired. Remote work and online entrepreneurs have drastically increased the ranks of people living outside their birth country.

In many cases these people are digital nomads and could be living anywhere, but in others they are where they are because of someone important in their life, a partner, spouse, or family. Some people don’t like the word “expatriate” and think each person abroad should just be called an immigrant, that the former is pretentious or emotes privilege. In my mind, they’re not really interchangeable though.

The differences are in choice and permanence. An expat is choosing to live abroad plus one will usually retain ties to their original country. An immigrant is generally moving abroad because of problems driving them out of their birth country or to earn more money in a place with better economic opportunities. Immigrants usually have no intention of coming back.

Obviously there are exceptions in both cases, so in a Venn Diagram there is definitely some overlap. I probably won’t ever move back to the USA, so call me an immigrant if you’d like. A Mexican coming to do construction in Texas for a year to save money, with no intention of sticking around, is an expat.

Here are a few expat categories that can have a big impact on where you end up and what your life is like. There are three main factors that go into choosing a destination for moving abroad, but in all three the priorities are going to change depending on your situation.

The Digital Nomad Expatriate

If you’re working from a laptop and can travel light, you can live the digital nomad life and not be all that concerned about pesky visa rules and long-term housing options. Assuming you’re childless, you don’t have to think about schooling so most of the world can be on your list of potentials.

As a digital nomad you can spend three months or more in a whole lot of countries on just a tourist visa. These days a lot of countries offer a digital nomad visa option to stay for a year or two temporarily.

One of the hosts of the Tropical MBA podcast estimated he could live anywhere in the world for $2,500 a month or less if he just took out a few outliers off the list, like New York, Tokyo, and Zurich. Based on my own experiences living in four countries, I would agree. In many countries, you could do it for less than half that. Just find an apartment (or long-term hotel rental) with decent internet, eat like a local would eat, and shop where they do for groceries. When you hit the tourist visa limit that’s in place locally, pack up the bag and go.

The Expat Family Abroad

I have done a few articles and have gotten quoted in the media a good bit about living abroad for less as a family. We lived as a family in Mexico for a total of three years before my daughter headed off to college. (Now I’m in the “empty nester couple who is not yet retired” bucket.)

There are plenty of families doing this, on every continent, but it’s not always as easy as for a single person. Start first with what you’ll do about education, especially if they’re beyond elementary school level where it doesn’t matter much and there aren’t so many testing requirements back home. Think about how you’ll deal with language options too. (Full immersion? International school in English? Home schooling?) Then narrow the potential list down to places where you’re going to feel both safe and stimulated.

Some parents choose to home school their kid(s), which is much easier now because of all the online materials available. Others have formed alternate education options in their community if there are enough parents who can chip in.

Because you’ve got schooling and social activities to think about for the kid(s), expat families have fewer choices than the the retirees in the next category and a lot fewer than the nomads, especially if not home schooling.

The Expatriate Retiree

If you’re putting the old life in storage and moving abroad to retire, your key factors are probably going to be a bit different. You want a place where you can stretch your fixed income/savings—a place where you can easily get a better life for half the price. If you want to retire by a beach for cheap, follow that link for a few places to put on your short list.

You also have to be more concerned about health care though, probably picking a place that’s not more than a few hours from a major hospital or medical facility. You’ll likely want warm or spring-like as opposed to a place requiring a parka and a snow shovel. You’ll find plenty of great candidates in my book.

Despite all the media attention on nomads, expat retirees are actually the largest category by far. From Mexico to Ecuador, Portugal to the Philippines, retirees are the ones putting down some roots. The retirees are the ones most likely to get legal residency in their adopted country too since they’re making a long-term decision.

The Overseas Employee

Often a person living abroad is doing it for job reasons, either because they took an opportunity abroad or their spouse did. Often this is a beautiful thing because it means a higher standard of living from getting a good salary in a country where it goes a long way. There may even be a housing allowance built into the deal.

For this situation you don’t have many decisions under your control, so you’re mainly going to go with the flow. If you have a choice in where you’ll be posted or choose to apply for jobs, however, you’ll get much more of an advantage out of it living in a place where you can easily afford a maid, gardener, driver, masseuse, and tutor than you will scraping by in London or Oslo.

Some occupations lead to this kind of life easier than others: diplomatic corps workers, oil industry execs, airplane repair people, professors, scientists, or manufacturing facility managers, for instance. Plus there are some occupations that are naturally meant for foreigners, such as teachers of English as a second language.

The Online Business Builder

If you’re an entrepreneur trying to build a location independent business, cost is going to be a big factor. So is community too though, unless you’re fine having just virtual support and no physical support. Someone with an established business doesn’t have to worry much about finding a supportive community, where one who’s just starting out can get a lot of real support and moral support if surrounded by people in similar situations.

If you do want a local tech labor pool and people or your kind to collaborate with, that can have a big impact on your choice of location. Great cities for this right now include Saigon, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Cebu City, Medellin, Buenos Aires, Panama City, Mexcico City, Barcelona, Berlin, and Bansko to name a few. There are pockets of people elsewhere too of course, and if you start looking at where those tribes hang out online, you’ll see lots of other locations popping up.

For the online entrepreneur, the need for staffing might be a factor, so Colombia, Vietnam, or the Philippines might be the best choice. If everyone is remote though, it won’t matter.

The Expat Tagalong Spouse

Many people end up expatriated because of love—or a least companionship. A Canadian woman with a Mexican husband, an American man with an Argentine wife, a Kiwi woman with a Czech husband, a German man with a Thai wife. Often it’s better for both parties to live in the cheaper country where one side of the family is than to try to go through years of paperwork on the more difficult and expensive side of that equation. It’s often better for the current or eventual kids as well, with a bigger local support system.

I profiled a few couples and families in my book that are in this situation, from India to Portugal to Cambodia. In this case the place is usually the choice of A or B, but choose the living situation carefully if you want to retain a bit of the privacy you’re used to!

The Escapee

Many expats fit the stereotype of the escapee, someone trying to get away from a situation they found too painful or too boring to keep enduring. Divorcees and life crisis types fall into this category, as do overworked execs who barely escaped a nervous breakdown. Some are escaping a country where a convicted felon who wants to be a dictator can be elected president.

If this is you at you’re at the end of your rope, go somewhere temporarily where you can take a deep breath. Often people in this situation aren’t thinking clearly and they stop in the first place they land and call it their new home. A year or two later, they’re disgruntled again because it wasn’t really a good match in the clear light of later.

You can move between these categories of expatriate of course. When I was younger I had a real job teaching English abroad, later I moved abroad with my 10-year-old daughter and wife, now I’m kind of a “hub and spoke nomad,” going abroad for months at a time but then returning to my home base in Mexico.

For guidance on the best places to live for a good price and what to consider when moving, see the Cheap Living Abroad site for package options. Or sign up for my newsletter to get monthly updates.