Expatypus is a self-helping community of expatriates and world citizens. Members share insights and experiences on their travels and living places, and connect with like-minded individuals.

Yes, it is another expat website. Yes, it has a community forum. And yes, it has an ‘information centre’ using a wiki* system. However, instead of focusing on providing information with a “top-down” approach, Expatypus is to be an open, collaborative community. Every user can create wiki pages, edit them, and keep them up to date. You can also discuss and meet like minded world citizen through the forums.

Expatypus is still in its infancy. Presently I am focusing on creating content for Malaysia. Your help would be welcome, and you can be one of our first patron. You can do so by clicking here. The process should be very easy and straight forward. If not, let me know. I’ll correct it.

I look forward to reading your feedback – either here or on Expatypus itself 

Oh, and yes, you can be brutal in your feedback – otherwise how else to improve, eh !

* What is a wiki – a wiki is a website or a section of a website, which allows the visitors to easily add, remove and otherwise edit and change some available content. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring. Wikipedia is the most famous example of how a wiki can work and be successful.

The following graph shows the net migration for each country – add the number of people who wish to move there, and subtract the number of people that want to leave. Not surprisingly, developed countries top the charts, with the USA as the preferred destination with a net change of 165 million people. More surprisingly, Saudi Arabia, Russia and  Malaysia are also very attractive…

Interestingly, most of the desired move would be from a developing country to a developed country, while according to the 2009 United Nations’ Human Development Report, most of the world’s international immigrants move from one developing country to another developing country or between developed countries.

Understandably, migration policies of developed countries do not facilitate the job of migrants from developing countries. Were borders to be open without restrictions, some countries would see drastic change in their populations.

Many contracts to chose from

APRIL designed a range of 9 contracts covering accident or illness for expatriates. These contracts range from a simple, straight forward, international medical cover, to more comprehensive cover including out-patient, dental and optical. They also have contracts working on a monthly revolving basis to cover those on short missions, student exchange programmes or training, and an integrated Mutuelle which work as a  one-stop-center for French who want to remain in the French Social Security System (CFE) – If you are French and want to know more, read this article in french.

Great Medical Cover

Their hospitalisation cover from their Magellan contract is the best Medical Cover I’ve seen. You are covered for 100% of actual costs, up to a maximum amount of healthcare expenses which range from 200,000 to 500,000 Euros – these doubles in the event of accident or critical illness.

I do like the fact that these cover includes pregnancy delivery, even for their most basic plan. Sweet.

Best of all, their prices also are sweet. You would pay from 336 Euro if you are a 21 years old on a 200K cover, up to 2,832 Euros if you are over 70 years old on a 500K cover.  Pretty cheap by international standards.

Cover for life

Many insurer do tell you that they will keep covering you in your old days. But it is very hard to find it in writing. April does write it down. The following lines can be found on page two of most of their contract:

APRIL Mobilité offers lifetime healthcare cover if you take out a policy before age 71. You are then covered for as long as you wish with no increase in premium regardless of the level of your expenses.

I love it. To the point that I am introducing their insurances to all my clients who are in their 50s, advising them to switch to APRIL. To me, this is the perfect option for those who want to retire internationally, with programmes such as the Malaysia My Second Home Program.  An international insurance, replicating the French Social System, with a lifetime cover.

As you can see, I like this insurer very much. The more I work with them, the more I like what I see. If you feel like you’d like to know more, I invite you to visit their website (APRIL Mobilité). Unfortunately it is in French, but they do have most of their brochures and information in English. You can also contact me directly and I’ll be happy to provide them to you.

I’ll wrap this post up with a few figures on APRIL Mobilité and the APRIL Group.

APRIL Mobilité in figures

• More than 35,000 persons are currently covered by APRIL Mobilité
• More than 1,000 companies use their service for their expatriates
• More than 3,000 students covered per year

APRIL Group in figures

• 2.5 Million person insured
• 3,200 employees world-wide
• More than 30 years in business
• ISO 9001 2000 certification awarded in 2002