April 2019 Emigrate News Archive
Archived Daily Emigrate UK News...
Mis sold SIPPs now spurring thousands of claims by British expat retirees
Badly performing SIPPs personal pensions mis-sold by unscrupulous IFAs to Brit retirees is Spain have spurred a huge number of claims. British pensioners in Spain who’ve been taken advantage of by dodgy IFAs are now worried about uncertainty caused by the Brexit effect on their savings. Of the at least 70,000 retired Brits living in...
Which employment sectors are best for would be expats in the GCC?
In spite of the many recent changes, the Gulf States are still a major attraction for expat professionals looking to progress their careers at the same time as earning high salaries and benefits. The most popular sectors for enhanced benefits and top salaries are education, oil and gas and healthcare, all of which offer far more than their...
Will the Western world’s retirement crisis result in expat poverty?
People are living longer and healthier than ever before and looking forward to an active retirement. Across the entire swathe of Western first-world countries, demographics show that humans are living far longer and staying healthy well into their retirement years. Unfortunately, their pension savings investments were never designed to...
Thailand cracks down on expats changing or leaving jobs
All expatriates living and working in Thailand must now inform the authorities if they change jobs or leave their present job. In an announcement today, the Thai Labour Ministry reiterated all foreigners working in the country who’ve either taken a new job or left a previous position must inform the Department of Employment within 15...
Expat pensioners in France under threat of being thrown out due to income reuirements
A warning about strict income tests has been issued to UK expats already living and working in France and those planning to do so in the near future. Despite the present uncertainty about Brexit and France’s previous request that all British expats get their cartes de sejour, it seems the French government is already forcing Brits whose...
Expat advice on healthcare challenges in Africa
The vast sub-continent of Africa is increasingly popular with ambitious expatriate professionals, but healthcare in the more remote areas can be a challenge. Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya are all popular destinations with reasonable rankings in various surveys, but even in the cities, healthcare can be something of a lottery. Financial...
Thailand no longer a bargain basement home for expat retirees
Bangkok is now a more expensive capital city than London, Madrid or Berlin. Buoyed up by its reputation for the good life at minimal cost, Thailand was a favourite with expatriates from Western countries for several decades. Retirees, expat professionals, those looking to teach English as a stopgap before moving on elsewhere in Southeast...
Visa free value of British passport affected by Brexit
Expat business travellers reliant on visa-free entries with a British passport may be stymied post-Brexit. The value of a passport is calculated by the number of countries which allow visa-free entry, an important issue for expats and business travellers looking to save time and money. Prior to the Brexit referendum, the British passport...
Improved Vietnamese healthcare services attracting expat patients
Vietnam is ramping up its reputation for excellent, affordable healthcare Southeast Asia’s reputation for affordable healthcare has been diminished recently by reports of a Thai government study which revealed the country’s private hospitals are hiking their charges for foreigners by up to 300 per cent. Vietnam seems to be stepping...
Shanghai leads the rest in popularity with expat professionals
Shanghai has held its top position as the Chinese city for expats for the seventh year running. The latest official survey of Chinese cities with expatriate communities has again placed Shanghai as the best of the rest as regards living, working and friendly official policies. The survey itself involved some 95,000 internet users as well...
Safety and eco-friendliness now as important as salaries for expat professionals
Until recently, salaries and career prospects mattered most to would-be expat professionals, but eco-conscious policies and personal safety are now taking over as the most important aspects of relocation. Of all the aspects of upping sticks and taking residence in an unfamiliar city and country, the focus for many would-be expats is...
New Pudong facility for work and residency permits delights expats
Expats living and working in Pudong now have their very own one-stop shop for residence and work permits. Much to their relief, expats in the Chinese city of Pudong can now complete their residency and work permits in just five days. The old way involved visits to various immigration departments scattered across the city, the filling in...
Tips on seeing the world as an expat digital nomad
The relatively new kids on the expat block are digital nomads, travelling wherever their fancy takes them and earning money online as they go. Due to the rise of world-wide internet access, digital nomads are now a major force in the international expat community, living a totally different lifestyle from that of traditional expat...
Expats choose Minato-Ku when relocating to Tokyo
If you’re lucky enough to be relocating to Tokyo, the magical city’s favourite district for foreign residents is Minato-Ku. A relocation to Tokyo can be the chance of a lifetime to take in one of the planet’s most fascinating cities. Steeped in history, mystery and with the ghosts of the past drifting along its streets, Tokyo can be...
To VPN or not to VPN?
The decision whether to install a VPN is mostly dependent on your destination of choice and its government’s restrictions on freedom of speech if any. For digital nomads and expat professionals for whom worldwide travel is a part of the job, it’s more or less essential as it gives the freedom to surf the net on any subject as well as...
Expat families and pensioners in one small corner of France
The northern, coastal region of Brittany is the real France, without the glitz of Paris and the Cote d’Azure but with a caring community based on family and friends. Over the past several decades, some 14,000 Brits have made the short trip across the English Channel to their new lives and haven’t regretted the move for a minute....
Is the growing trend towards mandatory expat private health insurance all it seems?
Not a day goes by but yet another expat destination rules that all arrivals for whatever purpose including tourism must have private health insurance. The 21st century seems to be setting itself up as the century of expatriation, as there are now some 66 million expats and the figure is expected to hit 87 million by 2020. People leave...
How to succeed as an expat freelancer
If you’re emigrating without a job to go to, proving work experience is easier if you freelance or volunteer before applying for a permanent position. For those desperate to live the expat life but without a convincing CV to offer, actually landing a job can be hard. Many job adverts require a degree of professional competence, whilst...
New concept international school delights expat parents in Amsterdam
One of the most challenging aspects of moving to the Netherlands as a family is finding the right international school for your kids. One of the most hated terms in the expat vernacular is ‘waiting list’ as applied to just about every international school in the Netherlands. It’s tricky enough getting used to a new job, a new...
Escaping the Brexit effect as an expat in Greece
If the mere thought of Brexit is giving you itchy feet, now’s the time to consider Greece as the perfect expat hideaway. With Brexit looming, disenchantment with the chaos in the British parliament and the possibility of a no-deal crash out of the EU is causing many UK citizens to think about leaving before it’s too late. Emigration...
Overseas retirement dreamers caught up in pensions tax grab
If you’re working and saving hard in the hope of retiring in upscale comfort overseas, you may be in for a very unpleasant shock via the UK taxman. More than a million workers are now at risk of falling foul of the ‘pensions lifetime allowance’ limit of £1.03 million, with another 1.3 million of those coming up to retirement in the...
