# Ex-pat Dopers, roll call! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 9, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846 "2008-09-09T21:17:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/21 "2008-09-10T06:43:15Z")
> [@ShakWave](#): > > I lived all my life in Pakistan, until around 8 months ago when I moved to Sydney, Australia. I will be here for a another one and a half years or so. As a slight hijack, where did you end up moving to in Sydney? I gave some advice but missed your eventual choice… Cheers, G ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/22 "2008-09-10T07:36:05Z")
I’m an American living in the Aceh province of Indonesia, I’ve been here almost two years now. My permanent home is Washington, DC. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/23 "2008-09-10T08:07:26Z")
I’m not an expat, but I might well become one. My husband works in Germany. I live in the US. He’s trying his best to find a job in his field in the US, but it’s not proving to be too easy. If he can’t get a decent job offer in the next 6 months, I’ll be moving to Germany. If we both end up living in Germany, we’ll both be expats. He’s Indian, I’m from the US. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/24 "2008-09-10T08:57:38Z")
Indian in England. 4 years and counting, but with all the new immigration regulations who knows how much longer I’ll be able to stay? ---
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/25 "2008-09-10T08:58:28Z")
> [@TokyoPlayer](#): > > 18 years in , ah, Japan. Have no idea when or if I’m going back. Ah… 🙂 One of those rare ones who beats my 17.5 years here in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/26 "2008-09-10T09:22:02Z")
American who has lived abroad since 2000 (except for 15 months spent in the States in 2006 and 2007-8). I don’t really have any plans to move back; if I leave Qatar, it will probably be for somewhere else abroad. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/27 "2008-09-10T09:51:22Z")
I’m not so much an expat as someone with a bad case of unstable bum. I’m from Spain. Since joining the Dope I’ve lived (1) in Costa Rica, Spain, Switzerland, France, Spain and the UK, see location. I’m currently a Spanish resident for income tax purposes, a UK resident for Council Tax purposes and an airport resident for VAT on chocolate purposes 😛 mostly because you can’t find 1kg tubes of Lacasitos outside of duty-free stores. (1) defined the way the Spanish government does it for purposes of deciding whether you’re supposed to sign up as a “resident” in the appropiate consulate, i.e., stay of 30+ days. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/28 "2008-09-10T10:25:38Z")
I’m a Brit who’s been living in France for the past 2 years. My contract’s now coming to an end, and well, it looks like I’m still going to be an ex-pat, though I’m not sure which country yet, it may be European or it may (with any luck, come on get back to me about this job!) be the US. I am going to be living in India for 6 weeks though in a couple of months, so I’ll join **Nava** in being an airport resident for VAT-free chocolate… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/29 "2008-09-10T11:40:21Z")
> [@Mongo\_Ponton](#): > > What kind of business has you living in Tbilisi, Wellington, Dubai and Prague? I have a software business that, while based in Nevada, is operated online from where ever I happen to be. sales, support etc are all online. We have an “office” that is a small law firm where we have voice mail etc. My wife and I run it and we have two Czech-based software developers (in addition to myself). When we left the US, we had been on holiday to Georgia (the country) and liked it, so decided to try living there. It was easy to get jobs teaching English, editing, doing English voice over etc and we could run the business as well. We lived on what we earned in the country and the software business income could be saved. Tbilisi got difficult so we moved to Germany/Czech Rep for 5 months or so, then took off for 7 months around the Indian Ocean. We ended up in New Zealand. In New Zealand, we tried to get permanent residency (and hopefully after two years, citizenship), but they said I would have to get a job… it seems they were not happy with the idea of me relocating my business and hiring a New Zealander. We may well try again as we have more money now and thus a few more options for immigration. While there, we got a contract in Dubai to do Mac software development so moved there for 3 years. One of my goals is to get a second citizenship. I don’t think I’d ever give up my US citizenship, but if I had a second one, who knows. New Zealand doesn’t go around the world pissing everyone off and drawing terrorism to its shores. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/30 "2008-09-10T12:22:29Z")
American here. I’ve lived in South East England since 1995, got citizenship in 2000, and have no plans to ever return to the US. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/31 "2008-09-10T13:37:14Z")
> [@Mongo\_Ponton](#): > > How did you get out? > > How did you find a German husband, or a job teaching in Japan? > > What kind of business has you living in Tbilisi, Wellington, Dubai and Prague? > > Man I could so live somewhere else. Well, for me, I worked for a company that had a German parent company, and people would periodically come over to us from it. My husband was one who came to us for 6 months to do some marketing work, and that’s how we met. To hear him tell the story, he tried to get me to go out with him for months before I finally agreed – my version is slightly different, but it is true that I didn’t see the point of dating someone who lives 5,000 miles away. In any case, we started dating about 2 months before he was due to leave, fell head-over-heels in love with one another, sponsored AT&T and Lufthansa for a year and a half of a long-distance relationship, and then got married and I moved over here. Also, what **BellRungBookShut-CandlesSnuffed** said above – nothing’s holding you back if you really want to be elsewhere! The world is your oyster, yadda yadda. I think it’s a pure positive to be somewhere totally other than where you were, if only to gain a new appreciation for your familiar world through getting some distance from it. It can be woefully difficult to live in a foreign country, but there’s all sorts of good that comes with it, too. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/32 "2008-09-10T16:43:33Z")
Canadian, in the US since May 2002. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/33 "2008-09-10T17:26:12Z")
American, living in the UK since 2004. I’ll be back in the US for about 6 months (January-summer 2009) and then back here to finish up my degree. After that, I’ll go where they’ll take me - realistically I will be looking for jobs in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the US, and Canada. ---
**Author:** ![ems](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@ems](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ems)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/34 "2008-09-10T17:57:07Z")
Brit living in the US for 5 years in a couple of days. Got married and working on the greencard thing now. I also lived in Norway for a while ---
**Author:** ![Moscow\_Discow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Moscow\_Discow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moscow_Discow)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/35 "2008-09-10T18:42:02Z")
I’m a US citizen living in Tianjin, China. I’ve been here for about a year for grad school and am finishing up in December. After that, it’s either Canada, Spain, Argentina, or Malaysia - whoever will have me! ---
**Author:** ![Aguecheek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Aguecheek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aguecheek)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/36 "2008-09-10T18:53:35Z")
Canadian living in the States since 2000. U.S. wife. I hope to go back to Canada or somewhere else that isn’t the US someday, but there are no definite plans. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/37 "2008-09-10T20:51:30Z")
American in the English Midlands for almost a year, northern Japan sorta near **BellsRung…** but not at the same time, for a year. Germany for 6 months a while ago. When I’m tire of England, I don’t know where the next stop will be. Maybe South America somewhere? Assuming the job situation doesn’t change, I’ll be traveling to Japan for the Christmas/New Year holidays. Ohio Goziamoose. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/38 "2008-09-10T21:12:59Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > You’re an ex-ex-pat! 🙂 Ooh, even better. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/39 "2008-09-10T23:11:34Z")
US-born, in Australia for 3 1/2 years, probably never going back to stay. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846/40 "2008-09-10T23:23:45Z")
British, lived in US, Malaysia, Azerbaijan and currently Argentina Moving back to Malaysia next month. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-pat-dopers-roll-call/462846.md?page=3)