Email group

Even long time members of the Expat Focus website are sometimes unaware that in addition to the forums there is also an email discussion group where people can exchange expat news and information. It's a Yahoo group so membership is separate from that used to access the website but registration is quick and easy. Head along to the group's home page here and see what you think! (PS the group is moderated and spam free)

British expats trapped in the sun

A new warning from the British Foreign Office makes grim reading for expats planning to retire to sunnier climes.

'It is astonishing how many retirees make no plans or provisions for their future health and wellbeing when they retire abroad,' said Steve Jewitt-Fleet of the Foreign Office. 'The majority of British nationals do not register with local authorities and often the FCO only hears about these people when they get into serious difficulties.'

See here for the full story.

Relationships

The thing which excites me most about working with expats is that so much of it is to do with human relationships. The way expats relate to a new culture and the way native inhabitants respond to them is often fascinating. Sometimes the relationship which grows is a positive one, at other times it's one characterised by suspicion or prejudice. In my experience moving abroad often brings out the very best or the very worst in people (both those moving abroad and those who are locals in the destination country) and it's that polarisation which can lead to either long lasting friendship or deep seated enmity. Our ability to form real friendships with locals once abroad is often a key factor in determining our relationship with their culture on a broader scale. Most of the time, we find they're just like us, warts and all.

Interesting Times

It's been an interesting couple of weeks at Expat Focus with the release of our first downloadable e-book, "The Expat Focus Guide to Moving Abroad". Downloads have been encouraging with a large number of existing members taking advantage of the 50% discount until the end of the month. After listening to the feedback we're now working hard to offer our country and city guides in a similar format, a lot of people are finding the ability to print the guide out as a PDF file very useful.

Talking of the country guides, we're always keen to hear which countries you'd like us to cover which aren't already available. Use the feedback form and let us know!

Welcome to the Expat Focus blog!

Welcome to the official Expat Focus blog! We'll be using this as a fairly informal mechanism for keeping people up to date with what's going on at the Expat Focus website.