Internationalisation has attacked even this bastion of privileges, and it now is difficult outline what defines being an expatriates clearly; Most consider a foreign national working in an exotic country to be an expatriate; the reality is more complex. Expatriates now are splintered across different group or coterie, each quite different from the previous one. After sitting down with many expats, I classed them in the following groups:

• Old school expatriates, who are posted in a country for three to five years with their family. They have two contracts, the main one with the headquarters, a second one locally for work permit purposes; their main contract usually comprise a return clause, even though most will be posted to a new country instead of coming back “home”;
• High potentials sent abroad to develop their talent and leadership. They usually have a return clause in their contract, and do come home after a few years;
• Young graduates who move to the country they wish to start their career in – their contracts are local, but they usually are quite generous by local standard to represent their skills and international background;
• Technical experts without manager responsibilities who are sent on emergency mission; they usually work on critical projects and/or locations, and are very well compensated for their skills and flexibility;
• Permanent Residents, who decided to stay put in their new country. They usually switch to a local contract after a few years, and end up setting up their own company or consultancy so as to stay where their heart belong;
• Project consultant who are single or seniors with grown up kids and are sent abroad on mission of a few months;
• Commuters who are based in a country, and travel regionally on a regular basis;
• Miles virtuoso who travel the world all year round and rarely stay put more than two weeks;

This segmentation is of course non-exhaustive and is a work in progress.

I’d love to hear your feed-backs and personal coterie-related-thoughts !