we take a look at expat related news this week

 

Expats living the good life say there is less crime and more respect in France

It has less to do with that certain je ne sais quoi - and more to do with lower crime rates and better food.
Britons who have moved to France have no trouble defining the allure of their new home.As per the stereotype, they find the French to be sexier and better dressed than the British.
But they also claim France has much higher standards of behaviour, with stronger family values.
Read more from DalyMail

Expat’s Departure cake from cakedesigner57

Retirees make a cheaper life in Mexico

What kind of person sells all her possessions, hops in a car with a fistful of cash and drives south of the border to make a new life?
Meet Barbara Swartz: She’s done it twice. “It takes a sense of adventure,” said the 78- year-old, whose roots are in California. “I’ve come here twice, once 25 years ago, and once five years ago after my husband died, and each time I sold everything I owned and left.”
Or meet Gordon White, a retired software executive who left the snow and ice of Michigan 12 years ago and has never looked back.
“The transition was nice,” White said. “No more cold, no more snow, no more ice. The only ice I see is in my drinks now. I love it.”
Read more: from CentralDaily

Part of the ExpatFinder.com team is now back in Singapore ending a month long trip to Europe working on the new features of your search engine. We take a look this week at fresh news of expat entrepreneurs accross the world!

 

Expats not necessarily first to go in recession

When companies in Asia are forced to reduce headcount, whether an affected employee is local or expatriate has little relevance in deciding which one should be retrenched, according to human resource executives.

William L. Ayers Jr., vice president and business unit leader of career management firm The Ayers Group, said it is the nature of their employment that makes many expatriates in Asia at greater risk of losing their jobs.

Read more from ZDNet Asia

The Secrets of an Expatriate Belgian Waffle-Maker

Waffles originate from Western Europe. Belgian waffles in particular have become renowned since they were first showcased in the world food exposition held in New York in 1964. Their soaring popularity in Korea in recent years has seen a Belgian-run place frequented by many waffle lovers. “Didi’s Gaufres” near Hongik University is run by Belgian Didier Balistaire and his Korean wife Park Se-mi.

Photo: Chosun

The name of the shop means Didi’s waffles, as ‘gaufres’ means waffles in French. There are two kinds of Belgian waffle — Liege waffles of sweet taste and chewy texture, and Brussels waffles of a lighter and crisp texture, explained Balistaire.

Read more from Chosun

Dubai’s first ice cream van

A pair of enterprising British brothers believe they have found a niche in Dubai’s burgeoning market – by importing the concept of the ice cream van to the Middle East.
Dan and Nathen Furlong launched their business venture after visiting their expatriate parents in the emirate and wondering why nobody was offering refreshments in the sweltering desert heat.

Read more from Dubai Life

Expats’ excellent Valley ventures

In days gone by, bright-eyed young Aussies would grab their savings and a backpack and take off to London, where they found jobs in pubs and hunkered down in overcrowded and underheated flats.
Today, another kind of migration is occurring. But this time it is bright-eyed Aussie technology entrepreneurs, who are packing their notebook computers and start-up tech companies to take up residence in the San Francisco headquarters of the global advertising agency Euro RSCG. Located there is the Hot House. The idea of expatriate Australian technology and marketing entrepreneur David Cannington, the Hot House provides start-up companies with a desk, broadband access, telephone line and basic office services for $US600 ($628) a month - a bargain in one of the world’s tightest property markets.
“The challenge for early-stage companies that have moved to the US and want to build a business here is to find an environment in which they can grow,” Mr Cannington says.

Read more from Watoday

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we take a look at expat related news this week
 

Expats pushed to switch to cheaper contracts

“Multinational companies operating in the Asia-Pacific region are responding to the economic downturn by pushing foreign employees working in the region to switch to cheaper local work contracts more aggressively than in other parts of the world, according to Mercer, the consultancy. In a worldwide survey of 700 companies conducted in February, Mercer found 57 per cent of Asia-Pacific respondents were looking to switch expatriate employees to local contracts to cut costs and help counter the economic slowdown, compared with 36 per cent in Latin America, 32 per cent in Europe and 29 per cent in North America.” Read more from Financial Times  

What’s the secret to an endless vacation?

 ”Nine tips for becoming a ‘new’ nomad in 2009.  Gary Arndt didn’t want to wait until he was old to see the world. So two years ago, at the ripe age of age of 37, he sold his house, put everything he owned in storage, and hit the road. Arndt, a consultant-turned-photographer, never looked back. He’s visited some of the prettiest destinations on the planet since, including French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands, Fiji and Samoa. (You can see photos on his blog) “I don’t regret it in the slightest,” he says.” Read more from MSNBC  

Picture: Mariann Johansen Ellis  

International schools

“A recent global survey by the Academy of International Schools Heads found that 42 percent of 120 schools expected enrolment in the next school year to remain the same, while only a fifth said enrolments, including schools in China, Thailand and Japan, would fall. The fairly robust findings are in accord with the experience of some new expats who’ve still struggled to find schools. “We inquired with four or five schools, and all of them had waiting lists,” said Lucy Wilkinson, who arrived in Hong Kong this year with her kids and husband Craig, a senior private equity banker. It took nearly half a year before a place was nailed down for her son, Archie.” Read more from The Standard

We take a look at expat news this week:
 

It’s China, or the Job

  “Spouses face difficult decisions when their partners are offered an overseas assignment My work life was one of the many areas in which I was extremely fortunate during my China venture. I was able to maintain relationships with the two magazines I primarily worked for before moving — Guitar World and Slam — while also greatly expanding the scope of my work, as evidenced by the column you are now reading.” Read more from Alan Paul   

Foreign firms trim housing budgets

  Foreigners working with multinational companies in China will soon find their good old days of staying in high-end, full-service apartments gone as a survey showed that the weakening economy has forced a rising number of multinational companies to review their housing budgets. Over 50 percent of multinational companies in Beijing are considering reducing their housing budgets, according to a research released yesterday by UK-based real estate advisor Savills. The 2009 China Corporate Expatriate Housing Budget Report interviewed more than 400 multinational companies from different industries currently operating in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It highlighted the expatriate housing budget trend in China.  Read more from: China Daily    

Picture by designhutt  

American expat in Singapore in top 16 for “best job in the world”

  SINGAPORE: An American expat in Singapore is one step closer to clinch what is touted as the “best job in the world”. Grey Reynen, 31, has made the final shortlist of 16 candidates. The physical education teacher was clearly overjoyed when he received the news on Friday morning. He said: “I had like a good feeling about it, I thought I was going to get it. So I was waiting and waiting… I was getting nervous, and finally the phone rang with a plus 61 country code. I think (from) Australia! “(The caller) went, ‘Hi Greg, this is Minister from Queensland Tourism Board. Congratulations!’ I said yes! Whoo!” The contest is organised by Tourism Queensland, Australia. The six-month job involves being the caretaker of the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Leong Pik Yin, marketing communications manager, Tourism Queensland, said: “They’ll get to experience and explore the island in the Great Barrier Reef. They will do various types of activities, maybe like sailing, hiking, snorkling the Great Barrier Reef. “And then they are supposed to write about it in blogs, take photos and videos, we will see how they perform in those tasks. We will also see how they interact with the locals.” Read more from Channel News Asia  

We take a look at expat news this week:

 

Overseas American Week: representing your interests

For over thirty years, AARO has been representing the interests of overseas Americans on such issues as voting, taxation and citizenship. Each year, AARO organizes a lobbying trip to Washington called “Overseas Americans Week” to press for change on all of these issues and more. This year’s OAW will take place the week of March 30. To follow OAW as it happens, sign up for the weeklong OAW blog emails by writing to aaro[@]aaro.org.

You can follow this week in Washington on www.aaro-oaw.org.

Andy Coyne, Executive Vice President and Kathleen de Carbuccia, founding member and president of AARO. 

Smile and Copenhagen smiles with you

“Expats get a sweet welcome and some helpful hints from high places during the city’s official welcome

City Hall pancakes are normally reserved for heads of state, visiting dignitaries and world champion sports teams.

But on Monday afternoon the sugary sweet capital crêpes were dished up for another group the city is looking to make feel at home here – expatriates.

Jakob Hougaard, Deputy Mayor for Integration, welcomed the crowd of about two hundred foreign residents to the ‘Welcome to Denmark’ event and to their new city.

‘You’re part of the story of Copenhagen,’ he said. ‘I know that not every day is going to be a fairy tale here, but the story you are going to participate in is about the city of today.’
Statistically, Denmark is good at attracting highly qualified professionals that are in high demand, according to Katia Østergaard of the Expat in Denmark network, who also spoke during the welcome. The challenge, she said, is retaining them. Some 60 percent choose to leave after only a short stay.

Read more from The Copenhagen Post

Expats hit by recession blues

‘There are still more opportunities here in Asia than in New York or London, and even more so when the economy picks up,’ said Mr Maes, who holds an Employment Pass Eligibility Certificate which allows skilled foreigners to stay in Singapore for up to one year to look for a job. He is in the process of applying for an employment pass.
Foreigners who have previously worked here can apply for a Personalised Employment Pass, which is not tied to a specific employer and allows former work pass holders to stay for up to six months between jobs to seek new employment.
Foreigners who start legally registered entrepreneurial businesses can apply for the EntrePass, which lets them stay for up to two years and can be renewed.
Though the Ministry of Manpower has no official figures on the number of work permits being applied for or cancelled, recruitment firms here say that they have seen a slight increase in laid-off expats in the last three to six months.”
Read more from the Straits time

Can’t Find Work? Look Abroad

“As the economic crisis deepens and Americans everywhere are facing the prospect of unemployment, a steady source of income would seem hard to come by. Employers are pessimistic, competition for new jobs is tough and small businesses are struggling to turn a profit. Meanwhile the rent is still high, the bills are coming in and the banks are in no mood to talk about loans.”

So why not just leave?

More from Consummer Affairs

 We take a look at expat related news this week:

Laid Off in Singapore: Ex-Pats Have to Downsize

 
“On the northern fringe of Singapore, overlooking the slate gray waters of the Johore Strait, the public-housing project where Anthony Fulwood lives is so far from the city’s affluent expatriate enclaves that cabdrivers are stunned when he announces his address. ” ‘For God’s sake, why do you live there?’ they regularly ask me,” says Fulwood. ” ‘You’re white!’ ”
Fulwood isn’t the only Western expatriate to take up residence in the cheaper peripheries of this Southeast Asian city. An English teacher and community volunteer whose duties include helping integrate Westerners into the Bukit Panjang neighborhood, the 30-year-old Englishman sees a small but steadily growing number of Americans, Australians and Europeans in the fluorescent-lit coffee shop where locals often gather after work around cold pitchers of beer. These foreigners are economic refugees of a sort. Because of the global recession, expat bankers, traders and corporate managers have lost their high-paying jobs with multinational corporations. But instead of returning to their home countries, they’ve decided to stay in Asia, even though that means moving into cheaper housing and giving up privileges that once set them apart from ordinary Singaporeans”

Read more from Time.com

In Dubai, riches or recession?

 
“How heavy a toll is the global downturn taking on Dubai? It’s hard to know.
Not long after my arrival here a year and a half ago, I heard a woman in front of me in a bank tell the manager that she needed to withdraw enough cash to buy a Bentley. More recently I saw a Jeep Wrangler painted entirely in the Gucci logo design as well as a completely-gold plated Mercedes.
It is hard to reconcile the gloomy picture of Dubai that I read about in the foreign media — and hear from my fellow expatriates — with the sunny, bustling area I live in. Because of government controls on what kind of information can be disseminated, there is little transparency. In a city with such allure and mystery beneath its surface, it is natural that residents make a hobby out of speculation, so to me Dubai’s situation seems just a patchwork of rumors.”

Read more from Boston.com

Finding the American Dream - In Mexico

For One Million Americans, Mexico is Home
“MERIDA, Mex. – At some point last fall, the one millionth American established residency here in Mexico. That makes Mexico the host nation for the largest American expatriate community in the world. There are now more Americans living in Mexico than there are in the U.K. or Canada.

This trend is accelerating as the U.S. recession deepens and job losses across the United States accelerate. “We’ve seen an increase of almost 40 percent in the number of American citizens making inquiries about the requirements for moving to Mexico,” said an official at the Mexican Consulate in New York. “There are definitely more Americans emigrating to Mexico than this time last year.”

This is confirmed by recruiters and global relocation firms. “Mexico is supposed to be gearing up for a great year right now,” Annie Levy Sandin, of Emerging Globe Group, a recruiting firm.

That Americans are moving to Mexico is nothing new, but the kinds of Americans who are establishing themselves have changed.”

Read more from NAM

picture by IFSAbuttler

 We take a look at expat related news this week:

10,000+ Find Jobs, Network on Linkedin Expat Network

This week the Linkedin Expat Network has broken the 10,000 members landmark! The group has grown a professional member base of active expatriates, expatriation specialists and recruiting managers. The dynamic professional networking environment has proven to help people working in expat-related jobs, working abroad, willing to relocate or to find a job abroad. Join us!

Singapore renamed top expatriate city in Asia

“Singapore has retained its status as the best location for expatriates in Asia while Hong Kong has fallen behind Tokyo because of bad air pollution, an annual survey released on Wednesday shows.
Singapore was ranked the best location for the 10th straight year, followed by the Japanese cities Kobe, Yokohama and Tokyo, according to the survey by the London-based company ECA, which ranks cities by climate, air quality, health services, housing and personal safety, among other categories.
“Good infrastructure and health care facilities, low crime and health risks, and decent air quality contribute to Singapore providing the best quality of living for Asian assignees,” said Lee Quane, Asian director of ECA International, which advises on expatriate packages and allowances.”
Read more from IHT

Expats feeling squeeze overseas

“Expats are feeling the effects of the credit crunch abroad yet 60% believe their economic situation is better than in the UK, according to Halifax International. The firm’s Expat Mood Monitor research found over half of expats have noticed a drop in their disposable income since January 2008, with almost 45% observing a 10% decrease or more.Nearly two thirds of the 1,153 expats surveyed globally have also seen their overall investment portfolios plunge.” Read more from IFAonline

picture from Dicovg

 We take a look at expat related news this week.

Expats like living here - but not the spitting

“MOST expats in Shanghai’s Jing’an district think the city is a good place to live, a survey has found.The Jing’an District Women’s Federation handed out questionnaires to 275 expat families and carried out face to face interviews. The families were from 28 countries.

Of the total, 64 percent had lived in Shanghai for more than three years, 55.3 percent hoped to live in the city for a long time and 12.7 percent planned to live here permanently.Asked why they would consider living here in the long term, many said they considered Shanghai a safe city with good public security.

Some respondents used the words “amazing” and “wonderful” to describe their first impressions of the city.”

Read more from Shanghaidaily

Abruptly, Expatriate Bankers Are Cut Loose

“Losing your job anywhere is disorienting, but imagine being laid off when you work in a foreign country. Not only is your source of income, and perhaps a good part of your identity, suddenly yanked away, but often you lose your right to remain in the country.

Add to that urgent disruption the calamity of a collapsing industry and you have the life more or less of thousands of American expatriates in banking and finance.”

Read more from the New York Times

Move abroad to beat the recession blues

“Times are tough, so is it worth emigrating? Kate Hughes looks at possible exit strategies

The interest on your savings is minuscule, your pension pot has been hammered, and the value of your house is plunging. You might be made redundant – and, to cap it all, we’ve had the coldest winter in 30 years. In short, life in Britain isn’t looking great. This may be a worldwide wipeout, too, but there could be a few safer, if not entirely safe, havens to run to with what’s left of your wealth.”
Brazil, New Zealand, China & Malaysia Abu Dhabi & Qatar and more from the Independent

Expat kids play on Doha’s ’singing dunes’ by Laika slips the lead

We take a look at expat related news this week.

Air travel, the bane of expat life

“The contrast between the style and elegance of shipboard travel enjoyed by Noel Coward in the 1930s and today’s cattle truck air liners is stark. Long-haul flights are a drawback of expat life and hauls don’t come much longer than England to Australia. The contrast between Coward’s descriptions of 1930s shipboard life, with its concerts, intrigues and dressing for dinner at the captain’s table, and the cattle truck reality of modern travel made it far from ideal reading for someone who had just heaved their luggage off the carousel.” Read more from Jon Dixon, Telegraph

Canada the ‘new holy grail’ for Irish

“As Ireland slides deeper into a recession, its workers are returning to the emigration trail that blighted the nation for 150 years until the Celtic Tiger economic boom of the 1990s. With the Dublin-based Economic and Social Research Institute forecasting that 50,000 people will leave in search of work, the country is facing what former Prime Minister Bertie Ahern calls the “dark days” of mass exodus again.” Read more from Financial Post

                       photo roberthuffstutter

Doha: Mums-only expatriate group holds gathering

“A new community forum made up of expatriate mothers who have children in Qatar or are awaiting the arrival of their first baby, “Doha Expat Mums and Kids”, held a playgroup for its members yesterday.
Doha Expat Mums and Kids (DEMK), formed in November by an American mother of two, Roxanne Davis, already has nearly 170 families from 40 different countries, including the US, Australia, Algeria, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, France, England, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya and Italy”. Read more from Gulf Times

Doha Expat Mums & Kids is a community of expatriate moms who have children in Qatar or are awaiting the arrival of their first baby.

Yesterday was organized at the Tanglin club in Singapore a talk with “expat expert” Robin Pascoe. She is the author of five well known books in the expat world that cover topics such as marriage overseas, raising kids abroad, repatriation and more.

Robin is finishing a tour of presentations in major Asian cities that took her to Manila, Jakarta, Singapore and next will be in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.  

Robin Pascoe: Successful living abroad presentation

It was an interesting presentation and a chance for us all to have her coming to Singapore as there are not so many writers around the world with expertise in helping families, couples and children make the most of there challenging life abroad.

Robin has been for some time now “saying out loud” the difficulties expat couples face when living abroad. “Money, sex and intimacy” are the large part of the subject. As she says so well “ Marriages don’t pack up like furnitures “ and many challenges arises when relocating the relationship such as a shift of power, being financial dependant, the isolation, the loss of career and more.

But there are also positive aspects that the Canadian writer pointed out with real life experiences she had over the numerous relocations her family went through. It is an “opportunity to reinvent yourself” and spending more time with the kid or starting a new carreer are just some of the examples.

After covering the expat marriage, Robin turned to the expat kids and differentiated the global nomads (on which she wrote an entire book) from the Third culture kids. The new generations of global nomads are not ordinary children and hold a world view. Finally, to an audience of Singapore expatriates, Robin advised to take advantage of this great opportunity that life abroad can represent and not to worry too much about going back home. She shared with us also that her next subject to be covered might be the baby boomers and retirement overseas so stay tuned for her upcoming books and presentation, you can follow her news on the expat expert blog.  

Robin Pascoe ExpatExpert.com and Sebastien Deschamps co-founder ExpatFinder.com