They Went Abroad to Save Money. Moving Back Seems Unaffordable

ttoomanyrichies 6 days ago 18 commentsRead Article on nytimes.com

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trick-or-treat•6 days ago

20+ year US expat in Asia here, I'm just shocked when I hear stories about $50 fast food prices.

Needless to say I'm happy with my choices, although I do see a future where the value of my skills approach zero because of AI.

I'm confident I can adapt to that future.

momocowcow•6 days ago

The reverse is also true. It's not uncommon to hear of former eastern-block immigrants returning to their country of origin. The cost and quality of living is at last much better back home.

classified•6 days ago

A good reason to learn more languages. Then go somewhere with affordable cost of living and work remotely. Sounds like a plan. Why would anyone want to move back?

yetihehe•6 days ago

It was pretty much always like that in Europe since late 80's. At least for those that could land a similar job for some kind of foreigners. For locals, it was rarely like that.

fittingopposite•6 days ago

Paywalled unfortunately...

ilya_m•6 days ago

How come a person living abroad is an expat only if they are white and an immigrant if they are not? I would expect better from the NYT... How about "undocumented Mexican expats" for a change?

rupi•6 days ago

I keep seeing this question often. It used to be simpler when there were only immigrants and expats but now other categories exist so everyone is confused.

An expat is typically someone who is being moved by their employer, to a country other than their own, for a limited amount of time. Being white has nothing to do with it. I have known expats of every color and national origin. This term is still used by companies that send ‘expatriates’ out to other locations. Think someone going from SF to London for 3 years to set up a new office.

If you are moving somewhere on your own volition, you are an immigrant. You can also be a temporary immigrant, an undocumented immigrant etc.

If you are moving from country to country for short periods and working, you are a digital nomad. If you are moving countries but not working, you are a tourist. If you choose to stay forever in a country, you turn into an immigrant even if you were an expat, a digital nomad or a tourist before.

I guess what you are called comes down to your intent.

Source: personal experience of being an expat, an immigrant, and a digital nomad at different points of my life.

adjejmxbdjdn•6 days ago

> An expat is typically someone who is being moved by their employer, to a country other than their own, for a limited amount of time.

You would be right if this is what expat was used for.

But now every immigrant from the UK, for example, refers to themselves as an expat, even if they’re working for a company local to the country they moved to.

cvwright•6 days ago

Because the Brits will never be accepted by the locals as a Thai or Vietnamese or whatever, and they know it.

Whereas in western countries we have “new Germans” or “new British” from all over the world.

rupi•6 days ago

That is one of those grey areas.

They would argue that they don’t intend to stay forever in their new country so that makes them expats.

But like the post I replied to pointed out, someone from Bangladesh would not be called an expat but migrant worker. This is where class and social status gets mixed up in this as well.

I think they are both temporary immigrants.

To make it even more confusing, I know a few people who are ‘expats’ in their country of origin because they immigrated and then their employer moved them temporarily to their original country.

classified•6 days ago

Expats are going away from your country, while immigrants come into it, I guess? It depends on the observer's location, obviously.

fnoff•6 days ago

The opposite of an immigrant is an emigrant (though that does depends on the observer's location). I think expat assumes a temporary stay outside the country, where immigration/emigration is maybe considered permanent? I also think expat generally indicate a higher educated job, so do feel like it is a way to distinguish themselves from other forms of migration.

CaninoDev•6 days ago

I have always thought that expat refers to those who maintain their citizenship of country of origin (an American citizen living in Spain) and an immigrant is someone who is either a citizen of the destination country or on the path to become one.

ilya_m•6 days ago

Your definition of an expat matches undocumented immigrants from Latin America to the US perfectly, and yet somehow the word is never used in that context.

Ekaros•6 days ago

Or why not use traditional term of settler.

Qem•6 days ago

Because they don't want to displace and dispossess the indigenous people. They don't steal houses from the local population like Israel does to the palestinians.

lifestyleguru•6 days ago

Okay but how do you rent "cheap" housing during these travels? Prices on Booking are uniform everywhere from Australia, through Thailand, to Europe. Airbnb has some weird accommodations in a trailer or an old boat. Long term rentals require local employment, deposits, insurances, and generally you'll be scammed thoroughly by an agent.

herbst•6 days ago

Depends on where you are. In Thailand and SEA generally you can just walk around and ask for short term rentals and get highly different prices offered compared to booking. In Europe it's more complicated I guess.