The Many Faces Of Expatriation

Expatriation is not what it used to be.

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 !