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An 'expatriate' (in abbreviated form, 'expat') is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the Latin 'ex' ''(out of)'' and 'patria' ''(country, fatherland)'', and is sometimes misspelled (either unintentionally or intentionally) as ''ex-patriot'' or short ''x-pat'', because of its pronunciation.

Contents

Background

Famous expatriates

Trends in expatriation

Dealing with expatriates

See also

References

External links

Background

The term is often used in the context of Westerners living in non-Western countries, although it is also used to describe Westerners living in other Western countries, such as Americans living in the United Kingdom, or Britons living in Spain.
Expatriate can just as well be used to describe any person living in a country other than where they hold citizenship, but is generally not used for government officials stationed in a foreign country.
During the 19th century Americans flocked to Europe—especially to Munich and Paris—to study the art of painting. Henry James was a famous expatriate American writer from the 1870s, who adopted England as his home.
A nickname in the UK for former expatriates who have returned to Britain is the "When I"s, or "When we"s, as they are accused of starting conversations by saying "When I was in Rhodesia" or "When we were in Singapore". Similarly, they are sometimes even viewed by their fellow citizens as foreigners, particularly their children, whose accents may seem strange to their classmates. The children of expatriates are often considered Third Culture Kids (or TCKs) and later in life consider themselves "Adult Third Culture Kids" (or ATCKs). These children often hold passports from multiple countries, speak several different languages, and have a hard time defining where "home" is.
The difference between an expatriate and an immigrant is that immigrants (for the most part) commit themselves to becoming a part of their country of residence, whereas expatriates are usually only temporarily placed in the host country and most of the time plan on returning to their home country, so they never adopt the culture in the host country - though some may end up never actually returning, with the distinction then becoming more a matter of their own viewpoint.
While Europeans or North Americans living in the Middle East and Asia may marry local people and have children, most see no advantage in adopting citizenship of their host countries, usually because they consider their stay only temporary.
Or indeed they may very much wish to become citizens were it not for dual nationality restrictions.
In countries like Saudi Arabia, many expatriates live on segregated compounds rather than integrate with the local population. As a result a lively community of social blogs has evolved that links the different segregated communities. In Dubai the population is predominately expats, from areas such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines with only 3% of the population made up of Western expats.^[1]

Famous expatriates

The so-called "Lost Generation," a term referring to American literary notables who lived in Paris from the period which saw the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. This group included people such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein. African-American expatriation to Paris also boomed after World War I, beginning with black American veterans who preferred the subtler racism of Paris to the oppressive racism and segregation in parts of the United States.
In the 1920s African-American writers, artists, and musicians arrived in Paris and popularized jazz in Parisian nightclubs, a time when Montmartre was known as "the Harlem of Paris." Some notable African-American expatriates from the 1920s onward included Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Miles Davis, and Charlie Parker. [1]
[2]
[3]
Another famous group of expatriates was the so-called Beat Generation of American artists living in other countries during the 1950s and 1960s. This group included Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Harold Norse, Gregory Corso and Gary Snyder. Later generation expatriates also included 1950s jazz musicians such as Steve Lacy, 1960s rock musician Jim Morrison, and 1970s singer-songwriter Elliott Murphy.
Many American fashion designers have notably become expatriates in France and Italy to design for existing European design houses or to enhance their own collections. Respectively these fashion designers include Marisol Deluna, Tom Ford, Patrick Kelly, and Marc Jacobs

Trends in expatriation

There is a clear trend showing that expatriation in itself is changing. However, in the last couple of years there has only been a slight decrease in the actual number of expatriates, but a different type of expatriate has arisen. Commuter and short-term assignments are becoming the norm, and are gradually replacing the traditional life timer. These types of assignments have clearly less influence on somebody’s personal life. Spouse, children and friends remain at home and continue their own life, while the expatriate makes a ‘slightly ’longer commute experience with these commuter assignments.

Dealing with expatriates

In dealing with expatriates, an international company reckons the value of them and has experienced staff to deal with them. Furthermore, a company often has a company wide policy and coaching system and includes the spouses at an earlier stage in the decision making process by giving them an official say in this. Not many companies provide any compensation for loss of income of spouses. They often do provide benefits and assistance. The level of support differs, ranging from offering a job-hunting course for spouses at the new location to full service partner support structures, run by volunteering spouses supported by the organisation.^[2]

See also

★ Worldwide ERC (Employee Relocation Council) for employment trends in international assignment management.

★ Alien (law)

★ Ethnic enclave

★ Expats Radio

★ Canadians of convenience

★ Third Culture Kids

★ Residency

References

1. Moving To Dubai
2. Ripmeester, N. “What works in expatriation”, Graduate Recruiter, Issue 17 (April) 2005; Ripmeester, N. “How to align personal and business needs?”, Graduate Recruiter, Issue 16 (February) 2004

External links

★ "Brits Abroad" data on British Expatriates from the BBC.