Most expat guides assume you’re all the same. You’re not. And following advice meant for a different type of expat than you are is why you’re confused, overwhelmed, or getting results that don’t match what you expected. If you’re trying to replicate a corporate expat’s life (company housing, relocation package, international school stipend) while you’re actually a self-funded freelancer - the math will never work. If you’re following digital nomad influencer advice (hopping countries every 90 days, tourist visas, coworking spaces) when you’re actually trying to immigrate permanently - you’re setting yourself up for visa violations. If you’re taking guidance from retirees who moved with pensions when you’re 35 with kids and remote income - the visa programs they used don’t apply to you. The expat experience isn’t monolithic. The goals aren’t the same. The challenges aren’t the same. The advice shouldn’t be the same. This video shows you the different types of American expats so you can identify which one YOU are - and stop following guidance meant for someone else’s situation. Link in bio when you’re ready for an expat guide that actually matches your reality. 🆘🇺🇸 #TikTokCreatorSearchInsightsIncentive
@nomadveronicaTranscript
Not all Americans living abroad are created equal. We all come from different backgrounds and we have different goals for our lives abroad, but after five years of living on three different continents, I've kind of categorized the different types of Americans who are living abroad into nine different categories. I wonder if you're living abroad, if you agree with these different categories, if you have any that you would add to this list, but here are the nine that I kind of lumped together as people with common goals as their living abroad. Number one are the permanent escapies. These are the people who are living in that country and they intend to just stay living in that country. They are not moving. That's their country from now on. Number two is the digital nomad influencers. These are the ones who are in and out and just kind of hopping around on tourist visas and aren't necessarily even dealing with immigration challenges. They're just dealing with hotel rooms or Airbnb's or hostels and sort of short term living situations. Number three are the retirement refugees. These are people who often come as a couple and they come because they have finally retired, so this is sort of their American escape. Then there's people like me. I call myself a slow mad. That's the fourth category. We're someone who lives there in a long term rental, but doesn't necessarily see themselves staying long term. We stay one, two, maybe three years, but then we intend to move on to another country. Number five, there are a lot of Americans living abroad who are military and government expats. These are people who are on temporary assignments and there are time in the country is going to be maybe two, three, four years at most, but they're really tied to American culture because they often have access to post office boxes that are US addresses. They have access to buy US products on bases, things like that. Category number six is the corporate expats. These are people who are brought by their company, usually through an intra company transfer to do some pretty high up position. They're the vice president of something, they're C suite level something at big multinational corporations. Then the seventh category of Americans living abroad are students. These are people who use education as a way to get a visa into the country either through a university or through a language program. The eighth category that I kind of lumped together are English teachers, international school teachers, opairs. They're people who do come over on some sort of work contract as a way to get their visa and they may intend on staying in this country or potentially go on to other countries and the final category of Americans I see living abroad are the silent integrators. These are the people who you don't even necessarily realize that they're American. They've been there so long, they live like a local, they speak the local language, they are your local experts on the area. So what do you think? Did I name all the different kinds of Americans living abroad or did I miss some categories? I know that from my experience living in Dominican Republic, Japan and Portugal, these are the kinds of Americans that I have interacted with in my time abroad, but I'd like to hear if there's other kinds that I'm missing.
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The life you've built in America isn't the life you wanted. It's the life you could scrape together under constraints of: wages that don't cover basics, healthcare tied to employment, housing costs consuming half your income, constant financial stress, survival mode as default state. You didn't choose misery. You chose best option available within impossible constraints. But those constraints are geographic. Change geography, change constraints, change what's possible. The apartment you can barely afford in America becomes the nice place with breathing room abroad. The paycheck that barely covers survival in America becomes the income that allows saving abroad. The constant stress about one emergency destroying you financially becomes manageable situation where emergencies are expensive but not catastrophic. Same income. Same skills. Same person. Different location. Completely different life. You're not stuck because you lack resources. You're stuck because resources you have don't work in location you're in. Move those resources to location where they work better, and you're not stuck anymore. But moving requires: tolerating uncertainty about how things will work out, being uncomfortable while figuring out new systems, releasing familiar patterns even when familiar is miserable, trusting you can build better life from scratch. Most people choose familiar misery over unfamiliar uncertainty. Devil you know feels safer than devil you don't, even when devil you know is grinding you down. This is why people stay in: jobs they hate, relationships that don't work, locations that don't serve them, lives that feel like slow suffocation. Because at least they know how to survive current misery. Unknown is terrifying even when unknown might be better. But what if you're not choosing between misery and uncertainty? What if you're choosing between: familiar misery that will continue indefinitely, or temporary uncertainty that leads to actually building life you want? When you're in survival mode, you're making choices based on: what's cheapest, what's fastest, what gets you through next month, what keeps crisis at bay. Not what you actually want. What you can manage given constraints. Those choices compound into life that doesn't reflect your preferences. Reflects what you could piece together while drowning. But when you move somewhere your income works better, you're not in survival mode anymore. You have breathing room to choose based on: what you actually want, what serves your family, what creates life you're proud of. That's not small difference. That's the difference between life you're enduring and life you're choosing. Living in America isn't default you're stuck with. It's choice you're making every day by not choosing differently. And choosing differently is available to you. Link in bio for people ready to choose. What would you choose if survival wasn't consuming all your energy? 🆘🇺🇸