United States
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I confess, I’ve never actually been there. But the myriad of people I know who have lived in or visited the city all say the same thing: Vancouver is an absolutely fabulous place.
And it has some official backing.
The latest annual ranking[1] by the Economist Intelligence Unit claims Vancouver is the most liveable city in the world.
The survey scores locations according to five factors: stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Vancouver topped the poll with 98 out of a maximum 100, as it has done for the past two years. Toronto came fourth, with Calgary fifth.
Mercer’s annual Quality of Living Survey[2] holds Vancouver in similarly high regard – it placed fourth in the 2010 rankings, behind Vienna, Zurich and Geneva.
Meanwhile, this year’s Mercer survey also compiled a list of cities with the best eco-ranking, basing scores on water availability and potability, waste removal, quality of sewage systems, air pollution and traffic congestion. Calgary came out top, with Ottawa in joint third, behind Honolulu.
Canada scores
Indeed, Canada as a whole usually fares well in the various international surveys and rankings.
I may not have been to Vancouver, but I have visited Canada. OK, so a holiday is hardly the same thing as living there (especially as I never experienced the harshness of a Canadian winter). Still, it wasn’t hard to see why the country consistently ranks so highly: huge space … stunning and varied landscapes … diverse recreational activities … reasonable living costs (at least compared to the UK and parts of the United States) … a vibrant economy.
Expat choice
It seems many expats have come to the same conclusion. Canada is the second most popular destination in terms of total number of expatriates from the United States. Among Brits, it ranks fourth.
Expats in Canada seem pretty happy with their lot as well.
HSBC’s 2010 Expat Experience survey[3] asked expats from around the world how they found:
a) Setting up in their new country of residence.
b) Integrating into local society.
c) Their quality of life compared to where they used to live.
Having topped the league in 2009, Canada slipped to second place in the 2010 report. But as HSBC noted, the country “still ranks high for expat lifestyle.”
Not that it is all great, of course. For one, there are those long, cold winters to get through.
The sheer scale has its downsides too – just getting anywhere can take an awfully long time.
(I remember going for a beer one evening during my trip – there wasn’t much to do in the small town where we were staying, so we were driven 90 minutes across the border to a bar in the States!)
And while Canada boasts a host of attractive cities, they can’t boast the same cultural riches as those in Europe and Asia.
Still, nowhere is perfect.
Tags: Asia, Brit, Calgary, Canada, city, country, culture, eco, Economist, economy, Education, environment, Europe, expat, Geneva, health, HSBC, lifestyle, live, liveable, living, Mercer, Ottawa, quality, survey, Toronto, UK, United States, Vancouver, Vienna, winter, world, Zurich
Do animals get grumpy?
Are there certain days when your cat or dog is more irritable than others? Do creatures in the wild go through mood swings? Or is it just humans?
I ask because I read this week about Cathal Morrow, an author living in Madrid. Back in June he embarked on a quest to live for a year without unhappiness, in an attempt to prove happiness is merely a state of mind.
As he writes on his blog, http://imhappyandiknowit.com/:
“What I’m attempting to live is my belief that happiness is entirely independent of the highs and lows of my little life, that it’s far bigger than me. That happiness is a permanent state for us all, if only we allow it to be.”
Being happy. We’re all looking for it, aren’t we?
Yet that appears to be the root of the problem. We’re searching for it, as if happiness is a destination that will be reached once we’ve got X, Y and Z in place.
Thanksgiving
It’s an important issue, brought into focus by this week’s Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States.
While it began as a festival giving thanks for the year’s harvest, Thanksgiving has since developed into a more general expression of gratitude.
And therein lies Mr Morrow’s secret to happiness – a determination to see the everyday brightness in life and be happy for it.
Seeking a better life
Which brings me to moving abroad.
Why is it so many people around the world – including millions of citizens in some of the most prosperous countries on the planet – want to relocate elsewhere?
For most people the interest is spurred by a desire to find a “better life,” whatever their definition may be.
Many are stirred by the potential benefits they hope to find by relocating – better weather, more leisure opportunities, lower living costs, attractive employment openings. Others see moving abroad as an escape from the unfulfilled lives they are living in their current location.
Finding Happiness
However, this desire for movement is not necessarily the path to happiness.
Yes, moving abroad can lead to a healthier, happier, richer life. But switching one country for another won’t by itself be enough. Ultimately it is an internal shift, rather than the external one, that leads to happiness and fulfilment.
Hence the importance of gratitude.
Rather than think about the things that are wrong with our lives, we should devote more attention to the things that are right.
It could be your health, or the health of your partner or children, the love of family, laughter with friends, the joy of a sunrise or waves on the beach, thanks for the food you have to eat.
Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t want to improve your current situation. It is human nature, one of the driving forces of evolution. But by stopping to give conscious thanks for those daily blessings we too often take for granted, the chances are you will be a happier person, wherever in the world you happen to find yourself.
Who could ask for a better life than that?
Tags: beach, Children, citizen, countries, country, destination, employment, family, festival, Food, friend, gratitude, happier, happiness, happy, harvest, health, leisure, life, living, location, Madrid, Moving Abroad, planet, relocate, sun, thank, Thanksgiving, United States, weather, world
The United States is one of the most popular countries in the world for businesses and families to immigrate to. With a diverse array of cultures and companies throughout the large nation, the opportunities for immigrants are virtually endless.
However, because of the strict requirements for people immigrating to the U.S., it is important to know the processes to ensure you get the right visas and documentation for a visit or smooth transition to life as an American citizen or permanent resident.
There are several ways to immigrate to the U.S. depending on the needs of your business, family, or yourself. You can choose from a work or student US visa for a temporary stay, apply for a green card if you have a spouse or relatives who are U.S. citizens, or apply for citizenship if you plan to make a permanent move to the U.S.
A green card affords permanent U.S. residency. People who hold a green card are permanently approved to work within the U.S. despite not having citizenship.
After a certain number of years people with a green card may apply for citizenship if they choose. However, it is not required – something especially important for people to know when there is any possibility of moving back to their home country.
Naturalization, or the process of obtaining American citizenship, is another option, although it applies to those who plan to make their move to the U.S. permanent. After five years of residence in the U.S., green card holders can apply for citizenship. The test required for nationalization measures knowledge of U.S. civics, as well as English language proficiency.
Overall, U.S. immigration laws change rather frequently, so it is vital to know the current regulations in advance, whether you choose to get a USA visa for work, a student visa, or you want to apply for citizenship.
This article was provided by Global Visas, the leading immigration experts for private and corporate clients locally and worldwide.
Tags: America, business, citizen, countries, document, English, family, Global Visas, green card, holder, immigrants, immigrate, immigrating, Immigration, Language, law, move, nation, naturalization, relative, residence, residency, spouse, student, U.S., United States, visa, work, world
So France has the best quality of life in Europe. Or at least that was the finding of a recent study by consumer comparison service uSwitch.com, as I highlighted in a recent posting[1].
I imagine the residents of France may be thinking something different as this week’s round of strikes and protests gets underway.
News reports say the strikes are set to widen to include a range of sectors, including road transport, energy, posts, telecommunications and public service. The industrial action has brought fears of fuel shortages as workers at oil refineries walk out, and rail chaos as train staff join in, threatening to bring the country to a standstill.
The protest has been spurred by moves to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62, and the full retirement age from 65 to 67 years – a change that rather undercuts one of the advantages of French life highlighted by the uSwitch.com survey. The government claims it is needed to prevent the country’s pension deficit from spiralling out of control and threatening the system as a whole.
In total, Nicolas Sarkozy’s government has announced plans to cut spending by €45bn over the next three years in a bid to meet its budget deficit target.
Meanwhile Spain, which came second in the uSwitch.com quality of life rankings, has seen unemployment more than double (to about 20%) since 2007. In a bid to curb its budget deficit, the government is raising the top level of income tax and introducing a range of austerity measures for 2011 designed to cut spending by 8%.
Of course, the UK faces its own economic difficulties – as, for that matter, does the United States. But if you’re aiming to escape your home country’s problems and find a better quality of life by moving abroad, it’s important to remember the grass is not always greener on the other side.
[1] http://expatliving101.com/living-in-spain/what-quality-of-life-can-you-expect-abroad/
Tags: budget deficit, country, economic, Europe, France, French, fuel, government, home, income, industrial action, Moving Abroad, pension, protest, quality of life, Retirement, Spain, strike, survey, tax, transport, UK, unemployment, United States, uSwitch
We’ve long suspected it, and now it appears to be true – the French, those lucky blighters, have the best quality of life in Europe.
Or, at least, so says a new study by consumer comparison service uSwitch.com[1].
Its research examined 16 quality of life factors – such as net income, food and fuel costs, life expectancy and working conditions – across 10 European countries to see how they stacked up.
France emerged with the best overall score, followed by Spain. The UK came ninth, with Ireland propping up the bottom of the table.
The reason for the UK’s poor score, said uSwitch, included its high living costs, below average government spending on health and education, shortage of holiday entitlements, high retirement age and lack of sunshine.
France, by contrast, was found to have the lowest retirement age, the longest life expectancy and the highest healthcare spend.
Meanwhile, Spain benefited from low living costs (especially for alcohol and cigarettes!), the highest number of holidays (at 43 days per year) and most sunshine hours.
The firm went on to note that three in ten people in the UK believe now is a good time to emigrate[2]. Given the low quality of life it seems they can expect to enjoy, is it any wonder?
The Full Picture
Yet before everyone starts packing their bags for France and Spain, it is important to remember that while such surveys make for attention-grabbing headlines, they don’t show the full picture.
For instance, the uSwitch report gives no consideration to the countries’ current or expected economic growth rates. Or what about the 20% unemployment rate afflicting Spain?
It gives no weighting either to the burdensome red tape that is so often cited as a feature of life in France and Italy.
The percentage of GDP spent on health is a blunt tool too by which to measure and compare the efficacy of countries’ systems. The United States, for one, spends a considerably higher percentage of its GDP on health, yet millions of its citizens remain without adequate, or indeed any, health cover.
The uSwitch survey also takes it as given that the greater the hours of sunshine the better. Yet the impressive sunshine quota seen in southern Europe – as well as places such as California and parts of Australia – bring with it high summer temperatures that frequently provoke raging forest fires, water shortages, pest infestations and crop failures.
In addition, the summer heat may force residents, especially the elderly, to spend weeks of the year trapped indoors, and can even lead to spiking death rates (as seen in Europe during the 2003 heatwave).
In short, these types of reports and surveys – a plethora of which are produced around the world each year – can give some helpful indication of the life you can expect to find when moving abroad. But to get a real picture, don’t forget to consider all the elements, the pros and the cons, and what they mean specifically to you.
[1] UK and Ireland Trailing the Rest of Europe for Quality of Life, uSwitch.com, 22 September 2010,
http://www.uswitch.com/press-room/press-releases/uk-and-ireland-trailing-the-rest-of-europe-for-quality-of-life-1769.pdf.
[2] uSwitch.com Consumer Opinion Panel, May 2010, amongst a sample of 3,640 adults.
Tags: Australia, California, citizen, cost, countries, Education, emigrate, Europe, Food, France, French, GDP, growth, health, holiday, income, Ireland, Italy, living cost, Moving Abroad, quality of life, resident, Retirement, Spain, summer, sunshine, survey, UK, unemployment, United States, uSwitch.com, work
A couple of months ago I was interviewed by the features director of the UK’s Good Housekeeping magazine[1].
She was writing an article on the pros and cons of moving abroad, and wanted my “expert opinion” on the topic … which naturally I was more than happy to provide (not least since the magazine has a monthly circulation of half a million readers!).
The article has just come out. And – aside from my own contribution – it makes for fascinating reading.
Expat Challenges
The piece features case studies of people who have moved from the UK to some of the world’s most popular expat destinations: France, Italy, Spain, Australia and the United States. Each highlights the issues they have faced, and offers pointers to anyone following in their footsteps (much of which echoes the topics I address in my book).
Among the biggest challenges the expats encountered were:
- Housing problems
- Unfamiliarity with local legal processes and requirements
- Acclimatising to the local weather
- Finding social outlets and integrating into the community
- Having a viable way to earn money
- Missing family and friends
Hopefully the tips and advice contained in the article will prove a valuable primer for those readers also dreaming of a life overseas!
[1] Good Housekeeping magazine,
http://www.allaboutyou.com/home/channel~index?source=1
Tags: advice, Australia, community, destination, expert, family, France, Friends, Good Housekeeping, Housing, Italy, legal, life, magazine, money, Moving Abroad, overseas, social, Spain, tips, UK, United States, weather, world
The UK is projected to add another 9 million people to its population by 2030, bringing the total to 70 million. And that, says a new report by think tank Forum for the Future[1], will put enormous pressure on the country’s long-term living standards.
The report makes seven recommendations on how to tackle the challenges. They include:
- Planning for the growth to ensure adequate public services, infrastructure, jobs and training exist.
- Trying to change attitudes to consumption.
- Improving family planning to reduce the birth rate.
- Having an objective discussion on immigration, to discuss its benefits and discover ways to reduce the economic, social and environmental drivers that incite people to migrate.
As the think tank points out, population and immigration issues are hot political potatoes. Nevertheless, immigration has returned to the mainstream political agenda for the first time in years, as was evidenced during the recent UK election.
Indeed, the Government has just announced a new measure (the first in a series) to tighten immigration policy, in the form of an English language test for spouses and unmarried couples. This will require all non-European migrants to demonstrate a decent grasp of English before they can receive a visa.
According to Theresa May, the government’s Home Secretary: “The new English requirement for spouses will help promote integration, remove cultural barriers and protect public services.”
For expatriates of all stripes, local language knowledge is certainly a huge part of the integration equation. Without it, you are condemned to remain on the sidelines of society, restricted in your ability to make friends and deal with everything from local shopkeepers to the gas company.
The UK government’s initiative therefore sounds fair enough. I wonder how we would feel though if other countries – say Mexico or the United Arab Emirates – put onerous language restrictions in place on expatriates from English-speaking countries like the United States, Britain and Australia?
[1] Growing Pains: Population and Sustainability in the UK, Forum for the Future,
http://www.forumforthefuture.org/files/population_web.pdf
Tags: Australia, Britain, country, cultural barriers, English, government, Immigration, integration, jobs, Language, living standards, Mexico, Population, spouse, UK, United States
The majority of Britons want out of the country. Or at least, that’s what a recent survey from foreign exchange broker Currency UK reports.
According to the research, this year an incredible 75% of Britons have considered moving abroad. The main reason for wanting to go was the economy (cited by 31% of respondents), followed by 23% who pointed to poor job prospects at home.
Most popular target destinations were found to be Australia, then Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Spain, France and Thailand.
The last such survey conducted by Currency UK was in 2005. That one reported a much more moderate 25% of respondents were considering leaving Britain.
Sounds terrible doesn’t it, as if the country has really gone to the dogs in the last five years, and a mass exodus is imminent. Maybe. But I have a couple of cautionary observations:
1) Survey results are fallible. The outcome depends on the question asked, and so it is easy to skew the response according to how the query is phrased. So 75% is probably an over-inflation of the number of people seriously considering emigration.
2) What the survey does highlight is a link between expatriation and current fears about the UK’s economy. In other words, things seem bad at home, so let’s move abroad. But this is to overlook the fact that similar – if not worse – problems are happening elsewhere.
Moving abroad is too-often seen as a panacea – offering an escape from all the woes of life at home, and the prospect of sun-filled, carefree days ahead. But it’s essential to be realistic. Recognize there are both pros and cons to living overseas, and make an informed decision on that basis.
The chances of finding happiness – whether at home or abroad – then become a lot higher.
Tags: Australia, Britain, Britons, Canada, country, economy, Emigration, expat, Foreign, France, home, job prospects, living overseas, Moving Abroad, New Zealand, Spain, Thailand, UK, United States
After months of anticipation Barack Obama has at last been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.
It is not exaggerating to say this is a day of hope, not just for millions of American citizens, but for the billions of citizens of the Earth as a whole.
The weight of expectation is enormous – too big probably, as if single-handedly and in just a few years he can solve all the deep and desperate problems facing America, and by extension much of the rest of the world. But hopefully his term(s) of office will bring real improvements nevertheless: to the global economy, to the environment, to war-ravaged Iraq and Afghanistan, to the problems of the Middle East, to relations between the Islamic world and the West.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: America, citizen, Earth, economy, environment, expat, Islam, Middle East, Obama, president, United States, war, West, world
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