Inspired by several other current threads, I ask the question: Are you an ex-pat? That is to say, do you live somewhere other than your country of birth? If so, why did you leave?
I am a Canadian who lives in the USA. I moved here to marry my husband, who was born and raised here.
I am an Ex-Pat Canadian living in the US. I have no answer as to why I moved here except that I went to school here and then got a H1-B and finally a Green Card. The thought of moving back crosses my mind once in awhile.
Let me add something to the OP: Have you got citizenship in your adopted country? And while we’re at it, add a question mark to the title (:rolleyes:).
I am not yet eligible for US Citizenship. I do not know if I will get it when it’s time. The only benefit to me that I can see, would be the ability to vote. My huband votes the way I would, anyway.
Technically, yes. American living in Peru, moved because the job was here and because I move every 2-3 years with the State Department.
I’m originally from Glasgow, in Scotland. I have been living in London, in England, for nearly ten years and I did not come voluntarily. In 1997 I was 19 years old and on an HND electrician’s course. That is a two year vocational qualification. When my girlfriend got pregnant she told her parents, not me. When her two brothers came to visit I had no idea why, or what they had in mind. After kicking me unconscious they put me in a car and drove me to Carlisle station and put me on a train to London. I am Catholic and they are a Protestant family and they were constantly aware of that, to a degree I never suspected.
Well, I was born in Ecuador but have lived in the States since I was 3. Don’t think that makes me an ex-pat, but it certainly does make me ineligible to be POTUS.
I sure am! I was born in India and my parents brought me here to give me a better life at 4 years of age. I am eternally grateful they did.
No,my name is still Pat. 
No. I’m not.
bookmarks thread for next month
They brought you to an Internets message board???
I was born in New Zealand, and have lived in Australia since 2000.
I don’t really consider myself and ex-pat, though- I’m certainly not involved in the “New Zealand Community” here. I tend to regard NZ as the place where I was born and lived for 18 years, but I don’t have any special fondness for the place.
Yep, American by way of Central America to Saudi Arabia.
Yes. india is only in one-dimension so it is truly a blessing to be in 2-d. Sometimes I wonder how I survived.
Sorry, I mean America of course. :smack:
Ginger, I’m your counterpart. I was born in Canada and moved here to marry my wife, who was born here.
I’m eligible for citizenship now, but it means I would have to learn American politics from the ground up. Currently, everything I know about them you could write on the head of a pin. It costs several hundred dollars less to get my green card renewed than it does to apply for citizenship and not get it because I failed the politics test. The card expires in about three years. I think I’ll just get it renewed.
I just looked at my map. Holy crap! YOU’RE RIGHT!
You learn something new everyday.
I lived for ten years in Oz when I attained Aussie citizenship. I’ve been back home in America for several years now. I haven’t had time to return for a visit or something longer. Besides, all that superannuation keeps building up and I have to go back sometime to pick it up. Until then, the SMH and news.com.au keeps me abreast of things, although the abreasted news is nothing compared to Aussie women who glow.
Yes, I’m native New Yorker who has lived 16 years in Panama (and 3 years in New Zealand). I’m still a US citizen, and don’t expect to change, since I can work here legally.
I live here because 1) I love the tropics and I hate the cold; 2) I was moved here by my job 14 years ago on a one-year temporary assignment. Up until maybe 5 years ago I thought I would eventually go back, but now that’s difficult to imagine.
I first came to Panama in 1977, and lived here two years while I did my doctoral thesis. I really enjoyed it then, and I still do. While there are some annoyances, I like the fact that I can get into good forest in less than an hour, and into really remote areas in a day or two.
Yes. I came to Japan to teach English for a couple of years after I graduated from university. I’d been practicing martial arts for several years and had been interested in the culture for a while. While in school I studied Japanese, took quite a few courses related to Japan, and eventually decided that I wanted to go there. So, I took some courses in linguistics (stuff I would have found interesting anyway), picked up ESL qualifications, applied for the JET Program, and eventually ended up here.
Funny thing is that I was initially selected as an alternate; I got in after someone else cancelled. I was pissed at the time, but from what I’ve seen since then the program tends to be biased against people who would actually be able to stay in Japan long-term, or who are capable of being more than a cultural ambassador/mascot, so now I take it as a compliment. To give you an example of what I mean, I was one of two people (out of 160+) who actually had any qualifications to teach, and there were probably only a handful of people in my group who had studied more than a couple months of Japanese.
I would probably have headed home years ago though if I hadn’t met the girl I’m going to marry next month. I need to do something a lot more challenging and rewarding than I have been, even though my present job is a lot better than a run of the mill teaching gig. We’re planning on moving back to the US in another year or two, when we’ve saved a bit more money and have done the necessary paperwork. Long-term, life in Japan kind of sucks, and from being intimately involved in the education system I know that I don’t want my kids going to school here.
Oh why must you pour salt on my wounds!!! I want nothing more in the world than to be an ex-pat and live where I should be, in England. But as we have no favoured (and note the use of the “U”!!!) nation statues with them, they don’t have one with us. So you have to be someone special to get it…which apparentlly includes Madonna proving the English are not as smart as they make out.
Ah…all I want to do is lie back and think of England.
Born in Canada, raised in Australia, now living in the United States.
Came here to go to grad school, but have now married an American and it seems likely that this is where i’ll stay.