Expat Focus Expat Focus: For Anyone Moving Or Living Abroad

When you’re planning a move to a new country, there’s a lot to get your head around, and understanding how things work locally is key to quickly landing on your feet. Today’s guest is Emma Pearson, Editor of The Local France, a website covering French news, culture and practical tips on everyday life in the country. Emma’s going to walk us through how to move to France. We cover everything from visas, to finding a job, a place to live, getting into the French healthcare system, opening a bank account and schooling options if you have kids. Think of this, as a really useful “pick your brain” session with someone who has been through it all - in Emma’s case, twice in fact.
 

Just as the world was coming to grips with the seriousness of COVID-19 and countries were locking down, parts of China were getting over the worst of the pandemic and life was beginning to return to normal. This was the case when we recorded this interview with Mauricio ‘Momo’ Estrella, an Ecuadorian digital designer based in Shanghai with his wife and young son. In fact, Momo tells me that now, life is very much back to normal there.
In this chat he’s going to explain how a city of more than 24 million people handled the outbreak, and what that experience was like. We also discuss how he adjusted culturally to life in China when he first made the move a decade ago. We also chat about the country’s social credit scoring system: Momo explains why it’s not as creepy as that episode of Black Mirror makes the concept out to be!

Where are you spending your coronavirus lockdown? Are you in a densely populated city? A smaller town, where social distancing is made that bit easier? Are you spending this time away from where you’d normally call home? Maybe you’re on your own property in the countryside, with not a soul in sight…
Danish expat Christian Graugart and his young family are spending their isolation time at home in St Barts, a small French island in the Caribbean. In this episode, Christian explains how they got there, and what lockdown life is like on a 25 square kilometre island with a pretty small population, only one supermarket and currently, no swimming allowed! 

The property market - like so many sectors right now - has slowed down as the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. Tenants, landlords and homeowners are all feeling the pressure. Governments are being looked to for bailout packages, while people in the process of buying or selling are now working to completely unknown timelines.
We arranged this interview with today’s guest - Ugo Arinzeh, founder of Onyx Property Consultants - just before the pandemic fully hit, with the intention of sharing her insight into how the US property market works and providing tips for first-time investors there. We’re still going to talk about that, along with Ugo’s work with clients where she’s based in the UK. But she’s also going to share her thoughts on what the current crisis means for property owners; the risks and the opportunities.

Government-mandated isolation has become the new normal for so many of us, as the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m in lockdown here in France where only essential shops remain open, and we need to carry a permission form when we leave the house which can only be for specific reasons like, going to the supermarket, the pharmacy or doing some exercise close to home.

In this episode I’m chatting to American expat Leslie Keeler Saglio about her experience with coronavirus containment where she lives in Spain. As she mentions, the situation is changing so quickly, and since we recorded this interview on Thursday the 19th of March, Spain has introduced a permission form for its citizens to be able to leave the house. The country has recorded its highest number of virus deaths in a day, and its nationwide lockdown won’t be lifted until the 11th of April at the earliest.

As a motivational speaker and life coach, Leslie has some good advice for how we can all lift our spirits and try to focus on the positives at this very difficult time.

You might be feeling a bit paralysed by the news at the moment as the Coronavirus pandemic worsens across the world, and governments update their guidance every day. But amid the chaos, are people trying to do some good.
Volunteers in many countries are sewing masks for local hospital staff facing shortages. GoFundMe pages have been set up so we can buy coffees for people doing essential work. A new website in Australia is highlighting small businesses doing it tough that are still able to open.
And in Switzerland, an expat entrepreneur is hoping to connect communities through his new app. Slovakian Stefan Kuruc is our guest in this episode to talk about how Help’n’Trade can be used by individuals and families, to get the support they need.