Overseas Exile

Monday, November 25, 2013

Overseas Exile Expat Survey Results — Emotions

Today's summary of expat results revolves around expat's emotional responses to being an expat. In other news, I'm learning more about Excel's pivot tables and am doing a better job labeling them. As usual, click on imagine for a larger picture.

See also:

Fully three quarters of expats are very or somewhat happy to be an expat. Only 15% of expats are somewhat or very unhappy.

234 participants by how happy they feel being an expat

Regarding homesickness, only 4% reported feeling homesick "very often", while 58% reported "never" or "seldom". That's a bit of a surprise to me because while I fall in the "seldom" category, I have often heard from expats who claim to be homesick. I suspect what's going on is that those who are homesick are more likely to talk about it, thus biasing my experience (which is why doing survey's helps keep a check on "gut instinct").

Also, most who said they were "very often" homesick had been outside the US less than two years. However, one person with 15 years outside the US and another with 11 years outside the US responded that they felt homesick very often. Thus, while length of time outside the US clearly reduces homesickness, it's not a guaranteed antidote.

234 participants by how often they feel homesick.

Loneliness was also interesting. Only 8% of people felt "very lonely". Again, this is a common complain of expats, but it's again possible that only those who feel this issue are vocal about it.

233 participants by loneliness

For "what do you miss most about the US", this was hard because you could select multiple items. After separating them out, we had 481 responses. Family and friends were what people really missed. Only 1% chose "nothing".

481 responses to "what do you miss about the US?"

Regarding "would you recommend being an expat to other Americans?", the overwhelming response was "yes", though many answered "it depends". Only 3 out of 234 respondents said "no". Of course, saying "no" would suggest that you, yourself, made a mistake. It's a given that people don't like to admit making mistakes, so this could be biased, even if it's unintentional.

234 participants by "would you recommend being an expat?"

The "how do you feel about your life as an expat" question was a freeform text field and generally answers were positive, though not always. Here's a sampling of answers:

I'm happy here. I don't really think of myself so much as an expat.; I don't seek out other expats. I am integrated into the community and have a good group of friends and have a good life here.

I don't care for the country where I am currently living, but I can always move again when I finish this job. I like having vacation time and working only 40 hours a week; this ensures a high quality of life. I also like knowing my medical needs will be met.

I still consider myself a US citizen and take the time to study issues before voting in elections. I am frequently frustrated by the annoyance of trying to maintain my driver's license (which I need when I visit the US, although not in Europe), which requires me to use my last state of residence and fight about it every time. I'm especially frustrated by the tax situation. I have linguistic and family ties to the US which make me not want to give up my citizenship, but I may have to in order to prepare for my future.

I love it. I have a work life balance that would be very hard to achieve in the US.

America looks different from outside. Americans should leave so they can see themselves.

I love Finland, but because of the language it's hard to integrate and find a job.

My circumstances are no where near normal. Every wrong turn that could possibly made has been at this point, which is why things are going poorly. Life here [Spain] isn't terrible, but the bureaucracy is atrocious.

I love the adventure but I am excited to return home.

I left a relatively high-paying IT job in the US, which allowed me to live a pretty nice lifestyle. I haven't been able to get my income back up to the point yet where I can live a similar lifestyle, so that's kind of frustrating. I also need to improve my language skills. I can generally function in society, but am not at the point where I can really talk about deep intellectual issues, or make the kind of friends I had back in the US. I've also gotten tired of most of the other expats I've met. I don't know if it's just the countries I've lived in (Uruguay and Paraguay), but I can't say I've been impressed with most of the other expats I've met. I meet the paranoid delusionals, who move overseas to get away from the "chemtrails and earthquake machines that the global elite are using as part of their massive de-population plan". Or, they're here on a three-year assignment and aren't really looking at the country the same way I do (as a permanent future home). It's definitely not the Josephine Bakers and Ernest Hemingways that I had hoped I'd meet. But overall, I'm a much more relaxed and happier person.

I enjoy it but am grateful for things I once took for granted.

I still love it to pieces, but I recently split with my boyfriend (British). Since all of my family is in the US, and now this, I just feel more lonely than I have in a while. I still have my friends and such here, but it is still hard. But no part of my wants to flee back to the States at all. I want to keep travelling

A great adventure in a land that has adopted me. I feel so fortunate for the experience

I am happier than I've ever been, despite the hardships and stress of establishing yourself in a new country.

I fucking hate Scotland especially Aberdeen

Mostly good, homesickness goes in waves.

It's a bit skewed because here in the UK it's not difficult. As an expatriate where I didn't speak the local language - Hungary and Estonia - it fluctuated. Some days were great, other days I felt crippling loneliness. I'm currently very happy. I am in a long-term relationship with the man I want to spend my life with. After our years in Estonia, it is a respite to be back in the UK.

Wish I could afford to go home more often, but I know home will always be there and my time abroad is limited (due to work conditions) so I have to enjoy it now.

It's just life.

Honestly Canada isn't that much different but due to the healthcare I feel Ihave a better quality of life. I've run into multiple hospital visits that I know would have put me into debt for my whole life that thanks to the healthcare I'm actually doing fine.

I am very happy with it. I'm able to have an interesting job here. In the U.S., I was bored and couldn't find work that challenged me. I have a fantastic community here. I do miss home, but I would most definitely rather be here.

I definitely miss home, and cannot wait to return.

Mostly good but I do miss my family and feel guilty about not being home more often. Feel that I may someday regret being unable to make it home for christmas or a family runion. When I head back to my adopted country I never know when or if I will see my older relatives again. Sad but its life.

I love it here, but I am not sure I would spend my whole life here. I think I will be happy to go home eventually.

Generally happier but I would personally have a higher standard of living in the US.

I do it now for the money mostly. When I left the US in 2011 it was to escape the US and get a better job. But it's great not being in the US because of its politics.
I'm in Papua new Guinea now and it's a rough place. But my job is great, Pay is great and I get to leave PNG often. It's a perfect job except for living in Papua New Guinea.

Happy with my decision to leave, but still difficult to be so far from family, especially as they age. I enjoy my life much more in my new country, but face challenges with the language. Furthermore, my career is going well but I would have more opportunities in my home country.

I am happier than I have ever been. America wasn't a bad place to live, but Japan's cultural and moral values fit me better as a person. I also love being able to explore a new culture and learning the language has been a rewarding challenge that I am happy to work hard at every day.

I'm having the time of my life, but it can also be very lonely.

It is what I want, I feel fulfilled. It can be tough but it is worth it.

other countries are much less friendly towards immigrants, if not downright hostile and explicitly racist.
but there is a higher standard of living in Europe, so even on a lower salary, life is in some ways better.

I have a girlfriend who lives overseas, which makes life considerably more difficult. I am working as an ESL teacher straight of out University because I sought the travel and world experience, as well as personal development. My social circle is limited to about 5 other native speakers. I sometimes feel very lonely and depressed. I enjoy teaching my classes and, when I have put a lot of effort into my work, experience the thrill of fulfillment. I like the food and the city where I live. I am a theatre graduate who had planned to move into another field (not knowing which) after graduating, but being abroad in a city with almost no theatre at all, I've begun to realize that the theatre is where I really want to be.

Sometimes, I feel like I am still living in America - just another city in America where nobody speaks English. I can call, text, and Skype all of my friends with ease. At this point, I realize that getting the experience that I'd hoped for is my own choice.

My job affords me a lifestyle that would be unavailable to me if I were living in the US due to costs of owning and operating a car, paying rent, paying for overpriced health insurance and whatnot.

Once you give up the novelty of living in a different country one has to start building a life. It's somewhat difficult when you're an expat, because you find yourself only being befriended or befriending other expats. Even with a strong grasp on the local language, you will still never be local and never treated as such.
I've lived in Europe for quite some time now and consider Germany to be my 2nd home. However, it blows my mind how out of touch people are with nature. I grew up gardening, hunting and camping. Even activities as an adult have me outside quite a bit, but I find that my time in Europe is spent mainly in cities..eating food and drinking. I've yet to meet anyone my age that has done any of those things listed. I definitely have a higher quality of life in the U.S. than I ever did as an expat in Luxembourg or Germany.

It's mostly good. I have a great support netowrk as I work at a large company that employs people from all over the world. Also I was married to my wife for many years in the US before I left, so her family and I were already quite close. It's not the traditional lonely foreigner situation at all. I miss the freshness of the food in America as Singapore is a tiny island where everything must be imported. Mostly I just miss my friends and family when I think of the US. Everyone speaks english as a first language in Singapore so it's not very isolating. I'm considering moving to China for a more authentically foreign experience.

I want it to continue for as long as possible.

I love meeting new people and getting out and seeing the world. Sometimes I wonder what I am doing with my life but I am only 23 and I really enjoy the choices I have made so far.

A means to an end..... It has made me appreciate The United States more than I did when I left.

Good for people who are unconventional and don't want a family/house/roots

I am very content, especially since I have many American friends who are also living in France long-term. I don't consider myself an "expat" since I am well integrated into life in my adopted country.

Exicting, many opportunities to explore, but sad that so many Americans have misconceptions about countries and cultures around the world.

I'm torn between staying (I love my partner) and going back. I'm not fulfilled at work, and it's a major factor in my unhappiness. (I'm an English teacher at a language school.) It's been difficult for me to decide whether to go back to school, since the main language would be German. (I'm not sure I could succeed, even though my German verbal isn't bad.) I understand the grass is always greener, and somehow I think it would be easier for me to have a job and go to school in the US -- but then I'd be without my partner. ugh.

Big mistake.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Overseas Exile Expat Survey Results — Living Abroad

This is the second entry in my Overseas Exile 2013 US Expat Survey results. Click here for the first entry, covering "Personal Information" about expatriates. Click on any image to see a larger version.

The second part to the survey was about "life abroad". Slightly more than half of participants felt that the local's had a better quality of life than in the US, with slightly less than a quarter feeling it was about the same and only 20% feeling that locals were worse off than the US.

235 participants by local quality of life

Most US expats, 59%, felt they had a better quality of life than in the US, with 25% feeling it was the same and only 11% feeling it was worse.

235 participants by their quality of life

Their reasons for moving abroad were also very interesting. Because there was an "other" column in which people could supply their own answers, I had to correct many entries to "other", as I'll show below the graph. It's clear that I should have listed "Education" as one of the choices.

Fully one-third of the people choosing to move abroad did so for adventure. Contrary to what many people back in the US believe, only 12% did so to get away from US politics. This is in line with other surveys showing few people moving away due to politics. As expected, many people (17%) moved abroad for love, while 10% did so to seek work and 8% did so for their current job.

235 participants by reasons for moving abroad

For the "other" responses, I corrected all references to "grad school", "university", "master's degree", and so on, to "Education".

14 responses — Education
3 responses — All of the above
2 responses — Health care
2 responses — Never lived in US
1 response — Adventure, then history, now love. I wouldn't be in the UK if not for love.
1 response — Adventure, work, and to avoid paying US taxes (Foreign earned income exclusion)
1 response — Better cycling infrastructure and urban design
1 response — Better life
1 response — Better long-term opportunities
1 response — Escape US lifestyle
1 response — Humanitarian work
1 response — Husband accepted job abroad, I followed.
1 response — I had a good opportunity fall in my lap
1 response — I was born an expat.
1 response — I'm a lifelong expat. First moved to China at age 7. For me living abroad is more comfortable than living in the states.
1 response — Love Europe
1 response — Love and Wanderlust
1 response — Love of France
1 response — My parents moved me when i was 14 and never wanted to go back
1 response — No interest in US
1 response — To continue living abroad in one section of the country until I could hop to the one I wanted to be in
1 response — To make money
1 response — canadian mother moved me to canada
1 response — child dependant
1 response — i was here
1 response — spent most of my life abroad in other countries, came here to study
1 response — why not
1 response — with parents
1 response — work and way of life

The "year you left" data surprised me because fully 20% of respondents said they had left the US in 2013. While this does fit the general trendline, it seems a touch suspicious. However, it's entirely possible that more recent expats are more likely to search out expat-related news.

On a side note, Excel's pivot tables did not like a numeric year as a data label. Hard-core Excel users know what I'm talking about.

224 participants by year left

For whether people planned to return to the US, they were fairly evenly divided between "yes", "no", and undecided. Of those who were decided, they tended to prefer not returning to the US.

234 participants by "plan to return to the US"

Generally, the largest group of participants reported that they could speak the local language fluently, with poorly coming in second (Note: I now know why so many people number their answers when creating surveys: it's much easier to make the answers sort properly in Excel).

235 participants on ability to speak local language

When I corrected for those living in countries for which English was not the native language (the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), the largest group reported that they could speak the local language poorly:

235 participants on ability to speak the local language
in primarily non-English speaking countries

Of those reported as living outside the US more than 20 years, all spoke the language at a fluent or native level, with the exception of a gentleman living in France for 35 years who reported that he spoke "conversationally". Generally speaking, those living outside the US for more than 10 years speak the local language well, with results dropping off sharply for 10 years or less.

Regarding the number of countries participants have lived in, the text stated "this includes your home country." I perhaps could have been more clear as 10 people listed 1 country. Only one of those stated they were born on foreign soil, so the other 9 have presumably lived in the US and one other country.

230 participants by countries lived in

The person stating they have lived in 30 countries is allegedly a 30 year-old female, 21 to 25 years of age, born on foreign soil. I actually know someone who was a Foreign Service brat and they lived in many countries by a young age, so I suppose it's not impossible, but it seems odd. However, this person took the time to make longer, reasonable sounding comments to other answers. Take it as you will.

Next, we had two questions about whether you were likely to take the citizenship of another country and another on whether you were likely to give up your US citizenship.

For taking another citizenship, people were clearly interested in this, with only 47 out of 232 answering "not at all".

232 participants by likelihood of taking another citizenship

For the likelihood of giving up their US citizenship, 111 out of 232, or slightly less than half, answered "not at all".

232 participants by likelihood of giving up US citizenship

More than half of Americans answering the "giving up US citizenship" are at least considering this possibility. I find this sad, but in reading their answers, it's clear why they are considering this.

Though income levels won't be covered until a later post, I did some breakdowns by income levels. As you can see, for those earning $70K US or more, they're not more likely to give up their US citizenship.

Individuals earning more than $70K US
by likelihood of giving up their US citizenship

For those earning $90K US or more, we have the same rough proportions. Note that these are the individuals most likely to not just be impacted by US tax laws on expatriates, but also to be double-taxed because they'll start earning more than the FEIE (Foreign Earned Income Exemption).

Individuals earning more than $90K US
by likelihood of giving up their US citizenship

And again, for those earning $100K+ US, the same general proportions.

Individuals earning more than $100K US
by likelihood of giving up their US citizenship

That's interesting, because if it's representative, it puts the lie to the idea that it's the wealthy planning on casting off their US citizenship. Also, there didn't appear to be a correlation with education level and likelihood of giving up their US citizenship. This really looks like an "across the board" phenomenon.

And for today, we'll leave off with a smattering of responses from those who might give up their US citizenship and gave a reason why. While I realize that most people are not trained in data analysis, if you read through these carefully, you will probably notice a pattern: US expatriate tax law.

The vast majority of Americans abroad will not owe US taxes due to the FEIE, tax treaties, housing exemptions, and so on. It's not taxes people are complaining about. It's the complexity of US tax law for expatriates, the time and expense of filing returns on which we owe no money and the severe financial and legal penalties involved in making mistakes on our forms — penalties that people living in the US do not suffer from.

A punitive tax system which provides me with much anxiety and no benefit.
Avoid the stress and pain of dealing with the IRS
If I did not agree with the long-term direction of the U.S. Cost of compliance, limited opportunities to save for retirement in the host country,
US politics. The corporations have more control over my representatives than the voters do.
I want EU citizenship, can't have both. Also, taxes. I'm not about to give the US a chunk of my income that they don't give me anything in return for. I'll consider keeping it if I can afford to, though. US tax liability.
FBAR/FATCA requirements and penalties which reek of a presumption of guilt
The increasing burden of tax reporting, which is preventing me from saving for retirement.
Frustration/fed up with the nonsense
Being forced to. I have dual citizenship and this actually reflects my feeling: connected to both my old and new country.
The tax situation for expats (complicated filing requirements, draconian penalties if I make a mistake, possible financial impact on my non-US husband).
Health care; safety
Taxes
Having to pay US taxes despite living abroad
I guess the big thing is that I was brought up with a very patriotic set of beliefs. My father was a history professor, specializing in the American Revolution, and worked for the government during the Bicentennial. I was in the military (never saw any combat), and I believed in "America" (tm). But over the years, I've seen how the government no longer represents the people. It does what it wants to them, it unilaterally changes its agreement, and it ignores its own rules and laws. It's gotten to the point where I almost feel like a beaten wife. So it's time for me to leave.
hard to say, tax bullshit, political bullshit, not identifying with the country
So that my taxes would be paying for the United States' wars.
Complexity of taxes once living abroad
No need, no benefit, FATCA.
The burdensome tax filing requirements. I don't mind having to file, but I mind that my tax filings are so much more complicated and prying than the filings my family in the States need to perform.
Lack of desire to ever return or escalating political and economic issues in the US
Ability to work in the EU. I can currently only work in the UK and the USA.
In Switzerland, Americans are having their bank accounts taken away due to fatca. I am hoping my swiss passport will arrive before my banking options are limited.
Job, marriage. Really just depends
Onerous double-tax obligations and filing requirements, including stiff penalties for making minor, accidental clerical errors with no tangible benefits or representation to change the laws, and despite being middle-class, being treated and misrepresented as a fatcat trying to hide assets.
It's fucking worthless.
FATCA.
Taxes, military obligation, politics
To not have to pay taxes if I'm a permanent resident of another country.
"Obtaining Taiwanese citizenship. No real benefits to US citizenship - only real reason to keep is for family ties (father still lives there)"
Taxing abroad citizens, what's up with that?
It no longer was necessary, or it did not provide any marked benefits to my life over my quality of life under a different citizenship. For example, if I decide to settle abroad permanently and I still had to pay high US taxes but received no benefit from it, other than a little less hassle going through airport security in the US, I would likely renounce my US citizenship. But if I were working for a US company or my future partner was American and our maintained American citizenship made life easier, I would keep it.
Employment
Taxes and regulations
Having to pay double taxes or military draft. Otherwise would not give it up unless by some change in the rules forcing me to.
Tax and reporting reasons
To avoid paying US taxes when living abroad
Taxes
Better job opportunities.
Taxes
Better living, work conditions that make me happy
Tempted to because of tax hassles, but holding on to for now in case I end up having to move there for a few years for work.
Taxes
N S A
tax purposes
Better quality of life, particularly universal healthcare.
Healthcare
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Tax implications
foreign or domestic policy
Filing taxes and declaration of savings. I also feel no sense of loyalty or patriotism to the US. Partially because I was born in Australia and partially because I disagree with certain aspects of the American psyche.
better quality of life -- health insurance, benefits, marriage, etc.
The income tax BS.
Be done with highly complex tax filing obligations.
The politics and how America is fast becoming a police state.
If I had to end up paying US taxes even though I'm not living in the US.
FATCA
The US scares me.
The paperwork is really a burden. Also tons of countries like cambodia or vietnam have a special tax on visiting americans, which is lame. Also I'm disappointed by being disenfranchised by the voter registration rules particularly those of california and colorado.
Do not wish to support war, want to escape the inevitable decline, want to be free of tedious reporting obligations.
Becoming the most worldly possible. Also to not be 'american'
Because it is becoming tougher and tougher being financially involved in the local economy as an american citizen.
Easier to stay in EU
Do not want children to be U.S. citizens.
I haven't done it, yet, but it's on my mind, and if I do, it's not because of taxes, but because of banking and investment restrictions placed on me at home, in France, because I am a US citizen and in the US because I live in France.
The right wing crazies trying to run the country and guns
Unfair double taxation
Stupid taxation-without-representation system that treats us like plutocrat money-laundering criminals and gives us anything in return
If it would really give me much better benefits in the country I'm living in. Also, that I'm 100% comfortable in that country.
To escape tax liability.
Taxes/banking/ability to invest
taxes
It was worthless.
My husband is the primary wage earner in our family and he is German. Germany would provide me with a better safety net for myself and our children if something should happen to him.
Expenses and complications tied to US tax and banking declarations when I haven't even lived in the US since 1996. Note: I am single, not wealthy and I own no property, but this obligation is a nightmare for many Americans abroad who have lived and worked in a variety of countries, changing banks along with way. Trying to find a qualified accountant (who is knowledgeable about US and French/international filing) AND who accepts to take an average American as a client has become a challenge. They are all busy with their much wealthier clients who need more of their services and thus bring in more money. What's more, trying to get the information from my banks to declare the highest balance per year in all my bank accounts for the past five years involves contacting banks in other countries where I have worked and hope they reply (several of these accounts were closed years ago, but I still need to declare them) is a time-consuming hassle. As I no longer have accounts at their bank, I'm not even sure if they will reply, but I've been told that I cannot simply declare the highest amount on my monthly bank statement for the year, because within that month there is movement. Therefore, the banks all have to supply an official document stating what my balance was. You can imagine that most foreign banks are not anxious to welcome Americans with that kind of extra work. I'll stop there, but you get the picture.
i am Canadian by birth, and American by association through my late father. I have never really felt American, and now I'm not too happy about what i was given. Based on the financial burden placed upon my family, i would say that would be the prime reason.
Taxes, regulation, gain more freedom
US tax policy, Disgusted and ashamed by US government and US politics
Taxes or conscription to a war that I don't agree with.
Taxes
Burdensome financial reporting and double-taxation.
oppessive undemocratic bullying.
Taking on Canadian citizenship with intent to relinquish US citizenship
The expense of filing tax forms to the IRS even though I have owed nothing to USA for 28 years. Also there are some cases of double taxation even though USA and Canada have a tax treaty -- they cannot fix all the loopholes. USA should get rid of citizenship based taxation.
Better healthcare, safer society, less disastrous sociopolitical policies. "Depends on where and what I do next.
Tax policy
Tax complications, shame.
Taxes
Tax crap even though I barely get by on my paycheck, the absurd costs to do my taxes is unjustifiable and the citizenship status I would receive here is better that the US.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Initial Overseas Exile Expat Survey Results

Image by Mizunoryu

As of this writing, the US Expat Survey has 235 responses. That's after removing obvious "joke" responses and duplicate responses. Duplicates were determined by seeing all 50 questions answered identically, with freeform responses required as those require people to type in an answer and those are unique enough to say "yup, this is a duplicate". The survey's only been running for nine days, but almost all of the responses were in the first three days. I'll leave the survey up, but I don't expect significantly different results.

Keep in mind the following:

Internet surveys are notoriously unreliable
Publishing results is more likely to bias subsequent results
Internet surveys are notoriously unreliable

In other news, consider this information "fun" rather than useful.

Only the first three questions, gender, age, and current country, were required. If any of the following totals do not add to 235, it's because some people chose not to answer those questions. For all charts below, clicking on the image will open a larger — and thus legible — version of said chart.

Personal Questions

Of the respondents, 100 were female, 134 male, and one was a nonbinary transgender who thanked me for asking (you're welcome, whoever you are). Of these, 209 were born in the US or one of its territories, with 24 born on foreign soil.

Top five countries represented were France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands. This suggests that the survey responses are biased in favor of readers of this blog (no surprise there), so keep this in mind while reading.

235 participants by country

The participants tended to be on the young side, with approximately half of participants being 30 or under.

235 participants by age

229 participants answered the question about marital status. Half of the participants were single, with almost half being married. One female participant living in Switzerland stated that she was not permitted to legally marry her partner. I should have added "have a partner", but failed to do. Oops.

229 participants by marital status

Of those who stated they had a partner, only one third of them had a partner from the US. Otherwise, almost everyone had a partner whose origin was the country they were currently living in.

152 partners by country

Almost half the participants had a Bachelor's degree. Fully 75% had a Bachelor's, Master's or Doctorate.

232 participants by education level

Sexual orientation was overwhelmingly heterosexual. I did breakdowns by gender, age, and education level, but the distribution below didn't significantly change, so I did not include them here.

226 participants by sexual orientation

Unsurprisingly, respondents were overwhelmingly white. With the exception of the three "Native Americans" who responded, all non-white ethnicities had much lower expatriation rates compared to their population percentage in the US (as a percentage of the US population).

227 participants by ethnicity

For the "state" question, I asked which state the expat felt closest to. Florida, New York, Washington, Texas and Massachusetts were the top five.

228 participants by state

And the last "personal" question was about religion. For the record, these were the options:

Agnostic
Atheist
Christian
Hindu
Jewish
Muslim
Other

Those options represent the most common religions in the US, arranged in alphabetical order. For the "other" choice, you could fill in your own. And that made this one a mess. We had two Catholics, one Quaker and one Mormon list those specific sects instead of choose "Christian" (note for non-Mormons: you may not like me grouping Mormons with Christianity, but they are an offshoot of the religion).

We also had "Buddhistically inclined", more than one "atheist Buddhist", an "atheist Christian" and other items that I changed to "other" because it would be hard to categorize them otherwise.

So after correcting for bad data by shoving a few obvious candidates into "Christian" and all others into "Other", we have the following chart:

224 participants by religion

As you can see, atheism won hands down, but we probably shouldn't make too much of this. That being said, I do wonder if this observation is accurate? Are atheists more likely to leave the US, or is moving abroad likely change one's views about religion? Or will it simply make more atheists "come out of the closet"? One Pew study suggests that 20% of Americans are "atheist, agnostic or unaffiliated", but the above has 55% of US expats as "atheist or agnostic". And if you're wonder about the corrections made to the "other" column, the following were all corrected to "other":

6 Agnostic, Atheist
1 Agnostic, Buddhist
4 Agnostic, Christian
1 Apatheist
2 Atheist, Buddhist
1 Atheist, Christian
1 Atheist, Heathen
1 Atheist, Jewish
1 Atheist, Unitarian
1 Buddhism comes closest -- or Unitarian Universalist
2 Buddhist
1 Buddhistly inclined...
1 Budist
1 Humanist
1 Muslim, Deist
1 Unitarian Universalist
1 Zoroastrian
1 athiest with buddhist belief tendencies
1 mine. :)
1 not sure

Make of that what you will.

Future posts will include the sections on Living Abroad, Emotional, Politics, Finances and Taxes, and some selected comments from participants.

Update: I changed the wording on the "religion" section slightly to avoid concerns that I taking a "dig" at some religions.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Buying citizenship in Malta, a gorgeous Mediterranean island country

Now, for a mere €650,000 (~$880,000US), you can buy citizenship in Malta. It's a beautiful Mediterranean island now known to many as one of the settings of HBO's epic Game of Thrones series.

Malta
Photo courtesy of Thyes

Originally it was going to be a private sale, with people buying citizenship having their names withheld. After outcry from the opposition party, the government agreed to publish the names of those who buy Maltese citizenship.

I've written about Malta before because my wife and I investigated moving there. The climate is lovely, most people speak English, and prices are low. That being said, is buying citizenship a realistic option? I don't think so.

The Nationalist Party has promised, when they return to power, to revoke the the citizenship of anyone buying their way in. The Maltese Labour Party argues that selling citizenship is an excellent way of raising money for the country and attracting "high value" immigrants. While initial estimates suggest that the first year of this program would raise €30 million for the island, it's not clear that this will necessarily work. There is no requirement to be a resident or even invest in the island.

There's also the question of what citizenship really means. Is the right of citizenship something one should be able to buy, or does culture matter? I plan to apply for French citizenship as soon as I'm eligible. I live in France, my wife is French, our daughter is French-American, I speak French, and US and French cultural values are (on paper) largely similar. But does having that passport make me French?

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It's also worth noting that the Maltese government is targeting wealthy Russian and Chinese citizens. On one hand, this makes sense because these citizens often find themselves in the crosshairs of their government's ire. However, and not to put to fine a point on it, many other European countries may not be happy with this. You see, Malta is part of the Schengen area, giving its citizens the right to live and work in 28 different countries. The spectre of the "Russian Oligarch" or Chinese criminals is one that is popular in the news and it's impossible to ignore the potentially racist overtones of some objections, though the Maltese government promises to carefully screen all candidates.

As for myself, I continue to hold that people should be free to move to countries that they feel might be a better fit for their personal values. However, I realize that this is not going to happen and there are very practical reasons why it can't. I also confess that offering citizenship for the rich is disturbing.

Fortunately, if you really want to move to Malta, you can put aside those concerns and take advantage of several less costly routes. Then if you want Maltese citizenship, you merely need to wait five years to apply for naturalization. That should give you plenty of time to integrate into the culture.

How do you feel about citizenship? Should it be for sale?

Friday, November 15, 2013

An American's Adventures in London

The unglamorous Hayes and Harlington Train Station
Photo by Sunil060902

If you're an American living abroad, please complete the Overseas Exile expat survey.

It's not always glamorous being an expat. Rather than give you a proper post today, I'm going to take us back in time to March 2007. I was "living" in London (the quotes will become clear in a moment) and wrote a rather odd blog post. Back then, I was blogging to tell friends what I was up to, rather than blogging for a general audience. As such, the tone of my posts was considerably different from the material you get today. Before I share the post, I should explain the circumstances that my readers at the time understood.

I moved to Nottingham, a small town a couple of hours north of London, in June of 2006. Just over half a year later, the company I was working for announced they were shutting down the Nottingham offices and if we wanted to keep our jobs, we had to move to London. To make a long story very short, the company put all of us up in a hotel for three months — a hotel in Hayes, a suburb of London once described by George Orwell (yes, that Orwell) as "one of the most godforsaken places I have ever struck."

Case in point: shortly after we were herded into this hotel in the middle of nowhere, someone was murdered in the pub next to the hotel. The pub was packed, but there were no witnesses. Those of us in the hotel started referring to it as "the murder pub." We avoided that pub and either we made the long trek into London via the miserable Hayes and Harlington train station or we sat in the hotel bar, night after night, drinking. Sometimes startled guests would walk into the common area of the hotel to find my colleagues wearing pajamas, watching "footy on the telly" with a lager clenched in one hand and the remote in the other (to prevent people from changing the channel). Living in this hotel is how I came to write the following blog entry entitled "Gustatorial Adumbration and the Sheep of the Universe".

"Where you from, mate?"

"The U.S."

"'Ere on holiday?"

How he missed the first 'h' and caught the second is one of those mysteries of English speech that I still can't figure out. Like cricket, it's something that Americans are Not Meant to Understand.

"No, I live here in London."

"What're you doin' in the hotel, then?"

"I sort of live here. It's a long story."

And it is a long story. Or a short one. All depends on where you start, really. I've spent several weeks at the Heathrow Comfort Inn Hotel, but I'm basically living in a bar with two or three dozen of my closest coworkers. I can't really count them. Sometimes they're here. Sometimes they leave for the weekend to go home to Nottingham, Beeston, or wherever else they have a real home, traveling to London only to put in their time in a soulless business park. And drink. Lots.

Earlier I was listening to a woman's conversation in what passes for a restaurant at the Heathrow Comfort Inn Hotel. At £14.99 a plate, I would think they'd be able to hire a competent chef. Instead, they serve tasteless slop, devoid of spices, though if you're lucky, you'll get a tough, chewy papadum with it. A papadum is crisp; it snaps apart. Not these. More than once I've watched people struggle to tear one to pieces before shoving a bit in their mouth, their eyes widening in gustatorial horror. It's symbolic of the entire menu.

Curiously, my browser says the word "papadum" is misspelled. In searching through their spelling suggestions, starting, perhaps not inappropriately, with the word "escapades", I see the word "adumbrate". What the hell is that? Looking it up I see that it means, amongst other things, "to foreshadow." What a fucking perfect word. I don't have a spell checker built into my browser, I have a coauthor. I will never look at Firefox the same way again (and perhaps will be more careful about what I type to whom).

Getting back to the woman, she was nattering on about this and about that and her voice had a quality like an itch under the skin, one where you quietly sit there and scratch and scratch and get no relief at all. That's because she had an American accent. Finding American accents irritating is not something I expected upon moving over here, but then I remember I have an American accent, too.

Sitting in my bar, a few days ago, I was reading a book, turning page after page, desperately trying to figure out how our hero was going to survive my next whiskey, when I realized I couldn't figure out what language the ladies at the table to my left were speaking. Well, one of the ladies, actually. Two of them were speaking English, but the third was chattering away on her cell phone and, jarred away from my book, I wondered what country she was from. I wondered what her childhood was like, how she, too, came to be in this overpriced hotel — whose incredibly friendly staff is its only saving grace — when the awful truth hit me: she was Scottish. My brain switched to the "Scottish" filter and I could slowly make out what she was saying. She was talking about picking up some food from the store, but with a thick, burly accent that would as soon stick a knife in your kidney as say "'ere on holiday?"

Curiously, I usually don't have too much difficulty understanding the thicker accents. A couple of weeks ago, enjoying a night out at the downstairs bar with an Irishman, a Glaswegian (someone from Glasgow, Scotland), and an English lady, we found ourselves well in our cups, teasing the Englishwoman because I, the American, had no problem following the conversation but she kept asking them to repeat themselves because their accents were too thick.

Later, the conversation turned, as it naturally does, to quantum physics and cosmology. David, the Irishman, was trying to explain to the English lady something about the "shape of the universe", but we couldn't stop laughing because his Irish accent kept forcing him to say "the sheep of the universe". Eventually, superstring theory became superwool theory and we decided the universe is filled with billions and billions of subatomic sheep. God is my shepherd. The Bible, the definitive text on biology, will, in a pinch, fill in as a physics textbook.

Last week, about a dozen of us went to see the movie 300 at the IMAX theater in Waterloo. If you've ever been to an IMAX theater, you know these are the largest movie screens in the world and they have to have special film for their projectors. These things are huge. Which is why you might understand why I say that the naked women were not exactly titillating. Nipples the size of my head are not erotic.

I might add that there's not much point in seeing this movie. It's gay porn without gay sex. And like most modern porn, it's all action, no plot. After reading about the Battle of Thermopylae, upon which the graphic novel was based (which in turn inspired the movie), I was surprised to discover the movie wasn't entirely historically inaccurate. That, or the screenwriter consulted Wikipedia before setting fingers to keyboard.

The movie, in a nutshell, is 300 very buff men wearing little more than red capes and leather codpieces the size of a small car, spraying gallons of blood everywhere while somehow remaining mysteriously free of it themselves, even their blades. Oh, and a little bit of sex in the beginning just to make sure that guys have everything they want out of a movie. I am dumber for having seen it.

On the way home, Little Miss Drunk Off Her Ass stumbled onto the Tube and, after being told that she was about to sit on something wet and unidentifiable in one of the seats, asked if she could sit down in the middle of all of us. Though there were still plenty of extra seats on the Tube and inviting yourself to join strangers is simply not done, we said that was fine and proceeded to have very strange conversation with her. She was older, might have looked posh were it not for the blood vessels on her face making it clear how she spent her free time, and, after a bit of conversation about the movie and the buff men, she looked around at all of us and said "I do prefer my men a bit thinner."

Which is why I don't really feel bad for what I said next.

"So, what do you do besides drink?"

I wish, I wish, I wish I could have recorded the look on her face.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Red State France Is Doing Fine, Thank You

Released under GNU Free Documentation License

Standard and Poor's has cut France's credit rating, apparently concerned that France can't rescue itself from its current financial troubles. For would-be expats, this is important. When my wife and I were considering options other than Paris, Cyprus was one location that I was looking at because it looked great: it was inexpensive, great weather and part of the EU. And then the financial crisis hit and it looked, at one point, like everyone with a bank account in Cyprus was going to have funds stolen by the government. Cyprus would not have been a particularly brilliant move on our part.

So yes, you want to know if the economy in your target country is stable and many people may be legitimately concerned about France. In fact, I regularly get email from people who are worried about Europe in general. With half of the US poor or in poverty, it seems strange to think that Europe is worse off, but when S&P and others sound the alarm, people get nervous.

There's only one problem with Standard and Poor's credit rating cut for France: S&P is full of merde.

Unfortunately, to understand their error, you need a lot of background.

You don't need to fear moving to France, though exercising caution wouldn't be a bad idea. In order to understand that, I have to provide some background to help understand Standard and Poor's decision. The French President, François Hollande, is a Socialist. This differentiates him from President Barack Obama, who is not a Socialist, despite what certain blowhards claim. In fact, real Socialists over here in Europe laugh themselves silly at Americans who claim that Obama is a Socialist. This is because Socialism – which has as many variations as Capitalism – is basically collective ownership of an economic activity. The collective, in this case, is a community or state.

For example, when you buy a home in an exclusive gated community in the United States, you often pay dues to the community and the community often provides private security for residents. Even though the security is "private", it's collectively owned by the local community. That's an example of Socialism. In the wider world, police departments, fire departments, basic education, and many other services are provided for by taxes and run by federal, state, or local governments, thus fitting the textbook definition of socialist. As a somewhat ironic example, the US military is a branch of the government, so the free medical care it provides to its service members is also socialism (there is no requirement that an activity benefit everyone for it to be socialist).

Also not a Socialist.

Thus, in the US, there are many, many examples of socialism and the US public generally don't mind in the slightest, so long as you don't call it what it is. Ronald Reagan didn't call for privatizing the police. Does that make him a Socialist? George Bush didn't want to privatize police departments. Does that make him a Socialist? Though many Republicans want to privatize Social Security, basic education, and keep health care private, at the end of the day, all but the most extreme Republicans are happy about the collective ownership of many basic services. The silly cries that Obama is a socialist stem from those who prefer a regressive income tax and less regulation — particularly of the banking industry at whose trough they feed.

And yes, this relates to S&P's downgrading of France's credit rating, but that will have to wait a bit.

Amongst mature economies, you won't find any "pure" capitalist economies, nor will you find pure socialist ones. There's a socialist spectrum and your country falls somewhere on it. In this case, France happens to be more "left" than the US. Unfortunately, the US Republicans have been arguing for so hard and so long that the Federal Government doesn't work that they now have a perverse incentive: they can't try to made the Federal Government work better because if they succeeded, this would put the lie to the message they've been spreading for years.

A case in point is the Affordable Care Act. Every major nation aside from the US has found a solution to providing health care for its citizens, but the Republicans claim, falsely, that the US has the best health care in the world, when even a brief survey of world health care systems reveals this to be untrue. The Republicans make all sorts of wild claims, but at the end of the day, they know that if the US government manages to ensure that all are insured, the Republicans will have trouble explaining why health care for all and the end of medical bankruptcies is a government failure.

But when Republicans claim that the US can't do what every other major nation has done, why do people believe this? According to one fascinating study about misinformation:

[A]nalytic as well as intuitive processing favors the acceptance of messages that are compatible with a recipient’s pre-existing beliefs: there are no elements that contradict other things one knows and the message is easy to process and “feels right”.

In other words, once you get someone to believe a certain way, the lies you tell that reinforce those beliefs are easy to swallow.

Today, since much of the Western world is dominated by large industries, such as banking, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, and so on, we have rich politicians who further enrich themselves by playing along with industry. In the case of the world financial crisis, while the masses struggle, the rich are making a killing, and it's not just in the US. That leads us to ask: why have we followed years of austerity during the current crisis? Who is it helping?

Austerity causes a government to shrink, or at least halt the increase of, its spending. It's an attempt to reduce budget deficits. You can do this with cutting spending, or increasing taxes, or both. However, those on the right strongly object to raising taxes because they're quite happy with the wealth they're accruing, thank you. And hey, raising taxes is Socialist!!!

Germany's Secret Weapon
Photo courtesy Emilian Robert Vicol

We know by now that the primary economics paper used to support austerity was riddled with mistakes and math errors. We also know that Germany is quite happy with austerity, but they're in a curious situation. They have high productivity and their relatively low German wages means their goods are very competitive. Normally when a country sees their exports increasing, the value of their currency increases due to higher demand, thus pushing up the prices of their goods and reducing demand. Strong national exports are usually self-limiting. However, Germany has adopted the Euro, meaning that the value of their currency can't increase relative to their major trading partners, thus capping the prices of their exports and keeping their exports strong. Thus, German business is very happy with the current state of affairs, despite the pain it's causing others.

France has trouble competing in this arena because French minimum wages is €9.50 an hour, but many Germans are earning less than €6 an hour. Germany is building their economic empire on the backs of cheap labor, while France is insisting upon fairness. However, France isn't cutting her budget, she's raising taxes. Thus, much of the business infatuation with austerity has led many people who should know better to assume that France is doing it wrong.

So what happened when S&P downgraded France's credit rating? Nothing much.

The International Monetary Fund seems a lot more worried about Japan, Italy, and the United States than France. In fact, in discussing revenues, they had this to say (emphasis mine):

In advanced economies, revenues (relative to GDP) have rebounded to near precrisis levels—reflecting frequent recourse to tax measures to narrow fiscal deficits. Indeed, relative to initial plans in 2010, revenue increases have in many countries outpaced expenditure cuts by enough to shift the overall policy mix more toward the tax side (Figure 7). Ex ante, about 30 percent of large adjustment efforts were intended to come from the revenue side; in the event, the increase in revenue was about twice as much as projected, so that ex post, this share has increased to about 40 percent. In some cases (including France, Iceland, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom), tax measures made up for shortfalls or delays in expenditure measures. In only a handful of countries (for example, Japan, Spain, and the United States) have revenues underperformed relative to original plans, and there they were partly offset by a reduction in spending—except in Japan.

I guess the IMF is a bunch of goddamned socialists too.

Investors want a return on their money and they're going to be careful where they put their money and they're not too worried about France, even if S&P is sounding the alarm.

Paul Krugman, love him or hate him, explains the problem nicely when he points out that S&P is worried about Hollande's refusal to cut the French safety net and they're ignoring the actual numbers. France is struggling like much of the world, but there's not much to suggest that we're going to have an economic collapse any time soon.

That being said, unemployment in France is high and growth is sluggish. Further shocks to the world economy aren't going to help, particularly if they impact the Euro. Many are waiting to see what happens, but as the Financial Times points out:

In certain respects, France has fought its way quite well through the post-2008 European financial crisis and economic recession. Most of the banking system is stable. The cumulative loss of national economic output is below the eurozone average. Government bond yields are exceptionally low. France boasts world-class companies such as Air Liquide, Danone and L’Oréal that are emerging stronger than ever from the crisis.

So for those who think national economies are all about cutting costs, it's not. Reading textbooks is OK, but paying attention to the real world is better. And for would-be expats looking for new horizons, forget about what politicians say and what your preconceived notions are: the world doesn't really pay attention to op-ed columns (even Krugman's). Yes, any place you move to has an inherent risk and I won't pretend that it doesn't, but it's pretty hard to evaluate that risk when politicians and business are more interested in ideology than information.

Monday, November 11, 2013

US Expat Survey

Image by Mizunoryu

If you are a US citizen currently living outside of the US, please complete the 2013 Overseas Exile US expatriate survey. Identifying information is not collected and if any is provided, it will not be made public.

Please share this survey with any other Americans living abroad, including on forums.

I will start publishing initial results as they come in. Full results will be published later when it's clear the response rate is dying down. Raw information may be made available, but only after I have removed any potentially identifying information.

Due to the nature of Internet surveys, the information shouldn't be relied upon. Further, it's a given that many US expatriates living in countries with limited internet access are unlikely to see this, possibly skewing the results.