What Is An Ex-pat?

Thomas_Merton · November 16, 2005

Have you ever considered what makes you an Ex-Pat?

I've never had any trouble calling myself an Ex-Pat, but then I lived out of my country for over 30 years; married a native; speak the lingo; my kids were borne abroad; they went to school in our new land; my son was even called up to do his national service but declined choosing a UK passport (as was his right); my daughter chose the opposite ; I worked and paid taxes in my new land; but I retained my passport considering myself - despite the above - still English and therefore an Ex-Pat.

But what is the definition with respect to Thailand? What makes you identify yourself as an Ex-Pat on Thaivisa Thailand Ex-Pat forum?

What is it that distinguishes you from a tourist on an extended holiday or a backpacker taking a year out?

It must be more than the type of luggage you use.

What makes an Ex-Pat an Ex-Pat?

bkkmadness · November 16, 2005

For me, I suppose it was the point when I knew I would move out of the UK and wouldn't go back.

Not specifically an expat to Thailand but of course an expatriate from the UK.

I follow the dictionary defination of "To remove (oneself) from residence in one's native land."

So that makes me a UK expat in Thailand right? Not an expatriate of Thailand. In which case I expect none of us are actually Thailand expats.

Good topic TM, didn't know you posted topics outside bedlam.

Lot of guys I bet think they are expats because they spend 6 months of the year here but I dont go with that definition at all. Bloody wannabees.

Thomas_Merton · November 16, 2005

For me, I suppose it was the point when I knew I would move out of the UK and wouldn't go back.
Not specifically an expat to Thailand but of course an expatriate from the UK.

I follow the dictionary defination of "To remove (oneself) from residence in one's native land."

So that makes me a UK expat in Thailand right? Not an expatriate of Thailand. In which case I expect none of us are actually Thailand expats.

Good topic TM, didn't know you posted topics outside bedlam.

Lot of guys I bet think they are expats because they spend 6 months of the year here but I dont go with that definition at all. Bloody wannabees.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not wishing to enquire into you finances, but any stay financed from without Thailand, must have a limitation - unless, of course, one is very rich (or a pensionist).

Surely to have moved to Thailand and out of the UK, not intending to move back, demands some form of income earning activity in Thailand?

bkkmadness · November 16, 2005

So do you think that if where you earn money is based on your expat status? I kind of thought it was about where you resided? (sorry 'resided' may not be a word. drunk).

A person with a lot of savings, business in his homelands paying cash to him, and living here for years is still what I would call an expat. Yes/No?

Whats your definition TM?

ProfessorFart · November 16, 2005

Its another one of these posts which tend to surface every now and again.

Personally at the end of the day who cares?

Certainly not the Thai Authorities, not the Thais themselves. We're foreigners to them and always will be.

I know guys to whom classing themselves as 'expats' means the world yet they know a fat zero about Thailand. Conversely I know tourists who have spent only a few months there yet built a good knowledge of Thailand. Its a term which really means nothing and only contributes towards pointless snobbery.

bkkmadness · November 16, 2005

I know guys to whom classing themselves as 'expats' means the world yet they know a fat zero about Thailand. Conversely I know tourists who have spent only a few months there yet built a good knowledge of Thailand. Its a term which really means nothing and only contributes towards pointless snobbery.

fair point. Its the expat snobbery of hate the short term stayers, and the short term stayers hate the backpackers etc.

khall64au · November 16, 2005

What is an ex-pat? A person who wishes to live life on the planet without boundaries of rules and expectations of the society under which they were born?

kayo · November 16, 2005

For me, I suppose it was the point when I knew I would move out of the UK and wouldn't go back.
Not specifically an expat to Thailand but of course an expatriate from the UK.

I follow the dictionary defination of "To remove (oneself) from residence in one's native land."

So that makes me a UK expat in Thailand right? Not an expatriate of Thailand. In which case I expect none of us are actually Thailand expats.

Good topic TM, didn't know you posted topics outside bedlam.

Lot of guys I bet think they are expats because they spend 6 months of the year here but I dont go with that definition at all. Bloody wannabees.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don´t know how technical of an expat I am.

I´m not registered, or rather, I´ve "checked out" of my birth country and my country of citizen ship. I´m not registered to vote or pay taxes in either, though I have been in the past. (well, at least the taxes part)

I´ve lived on this latitude (guatemala - Central thailand) for five years now, and don´t see myself returning.

I receive NO money from my countries of origin.

I have no banks back there either, anymore.

I earn my living here. Day by day. Lose my job and I have no alternative sources, nor any savings at the moment.

Does that make me an expat?

I think by many definitions - Yes.

bkkmadness · November 16, 2005

What is an ex-pat? A person who wishes to live life on the planet without boundaries of rules and expectations of the society under which they were born?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You've been typing ten minutes and now this? Expat is nothing to do with that IMO. You can do that in your home country.

chang35baht · November 16, 2005

I know guys to whom classing themselves as 'expats' means the world yet they know a fat zero about Thailand. Conversely I know tourists who have spent only a few months there yet built a good knowledge of Thailand. Its a term which really means nothing and only contributes towards pointless snobbery.

fair point. Its the expat snobbery of hate the short term stayers, and the short term stayers hate the backpackers etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That`s right Madness and you started it. But why? Are you a better person than someone who cannot yet or who hasn`t made there mind up wether to make the permanent move.

bkkmadness · November 16, 2005

I know guys to whom classing themselves as 'expats' means the world yet they know a fat zero about Thailand. Conversely I know tourists who have spent only a few months there yet built a good knowledge of Thailand. Its a term which really means nothing and only contributes towards pointless snobbery.

fair point. Its the expat snobbery of hate the short term stayers, and the short term stayers hate the backpackers etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That`s right Madness and you started it. But why? Are you a better person than someone who cannot yet or who hasn`t made there mind up wether to make the permanent move.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are we at school? What did I start?

The 'bloody wannabees' thing was a joke dude, I dont give a f.uck if your an expat, been here 1 week, 2 months or a year, carry a back pack or a suitcase, party at nana, khao sarn or thong lor, it makes no difference to me dude coz I been through most stages.

I mean really, children, do we need to define ourselves as a certain type of people so we feel better over someone else?

Yes I define myself as an expat and no, expats here are not better or worse than the tourists, I've met many nice people and ######s in both groups.

naka · November 16, 2005

ex·pa·tri·ate (ĕk-spā'trē-āt') pronunciation

v., -at·ed, -at·ing, -ates.

v.tr.

1. To send into exile.

2. To remove (oneself) from residence in one's native land.

v.intr.

1. To give up residence in one's homeland.

2. To renounce allegiance to one's homeland.

Thats all, nuthin more, not really somethin to brag about ...

Glauka · November 16, 2005

I have live in Spain for 21 years...

I live in the u.k for 8 years...

I have been in thailand now and then...

I have a job now in Spain...just for few months...before i returning to LOS

I have an empty bank account, a room and place in a u.k university

I have a job waiting for me in Thailand...i am working for the people via internet...

what am i ?

Edited November 16, 2005 by Glauka

bkkmadness · November 16, 2005

I have live in Spain for 21 years...
I live in the u.k for 8 years...

I have been in thailand now and then...

I have a job now in Spain...just for few months

I have a bank account, a room and place in a u.k university

I have a job waiting for me in Thailand...i am working for the people via internet...

what am i ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Animal, vegetable or mineral?

chang35baht · November 16, 2005

I have live in Spain for 21 years...
I live in the u.k for 8 years...

I have been in thailand now and then...

I have a job now in Spain...just for few months

I have a bank account, a room and place in a u.k university

I have a job waiting for me in Thailand...i am working for the people via internet...

what am i ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LUCKY.

Voo Doo · November 16, 2005

For me Expat = Expatriate ( correct me if I'm wrong)

Will use dictionary definition:

*somebody who has left his or her homeland to live or work in another country, usually for a long period of time

*somebody who has renounced his or her citizenship or whose citizenship has been revoked

*relating to people who live outside their own country

By the way, I'm not UK citizen so I'm sorry for my English. Will try to express myself as clear as possible.

I think it does matter how you feel living here (pros and cons) to decide to say I'm an expat ( expatriate).

Time matters a lot because staying in Thailand for short period of time means nothing. You got see it, smell it and touch it, not only once!

With my experience of constant 7 years in TH ( South-East Asia for 14 years), when I know I don't want to live in Europe anymore, somehow I feel more "Asian" than European.

Sounds funny but have any of you noticed for instance that when your friends from Europe or US come for holiday here sometimes they say..." you behave like a local". Where does it come from...?

Hope you get my point of view...

Talking about tourists on an extended holiday or a backpackers taking a year out is nonsense. I think they don't know much about it. With full respect to all of them...

I learn and learn everyday here. Maybe I'm shallow but can't find another word to call myself but expat.

As dictionary says:"somebody who has left his or her homeland to live or work in another country, usually for a long period of time".

My own decission...

If I'm wrong how can I call myself then?

Again, with full respect to all foreigners living in Thailand. We are all the same no matter what.

Edited November 16, 2005 by Voo Doo

Boggers · November 16, 2005

To the U.S. government, American ex-pats are one thing - tax dodgers.

The govenment has an issue with people who they think take advantage of the system to make a fortune and then claim residency in another country while renouncing their citienship to avoid paying taxes. They track all American ex-pats in an effort to make sure all due taxes are paid. I think the law now even states that any Americans worth more than $500,000 who renouce their citizenship are bannished from the US.

khall64au · November 16, 2005

What is an ex-pat? A person who wishes to live life on the planet without boundaries of rules and expectations of the society under which they were born?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You've been typing ten minutes and now this? Expat is nothing to do with that IMO. You can do that in your home country.

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Don't know where you got your 10 mins from honey .............. took me 2 secs to put that one together. I'll think about it for ten and get back to you if you want!!

bkkmadness · November 16, 2005

What is an ex-pat? A person who wishes to live life on the planet without boundaries of rules and expectations of the society under which they were born?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You've been typing ten minutes and now this? Expat is nothing to do with that IMO. You can do that in your home country.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't know where you got your 10 mins from honey .............. took me 2 secs to put that one together. I'll think about it for ten and get back to you if you want!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I only dream about 10 minutes attention from you Khall.

naka · November 16, 2005

You know those Cambodian construction workers on the building sites ?

The're Expats too !.

bkkmadness · November 16, 2005

You know those Cambodian construction workers on the building sites ?
The're Expats too !.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hmm, nice twist, well noticed.

ProfessorFart · November 16, 2005

I once had a real row with a guy in a bar in Pattaya when I claimed that a backpacker living in Ko Pha Ngan on his savings has exactly the same right as a retiree living in Pattaya (or elsewhere) to call themselves an expat.

All he could bang on about was dreadlocks, and 100B a night huts etc as opposed to his 6000B a month condo and Thai wife. Whenever I asked how a rented condo and local wife automatically makes one an expat he couldn't answer.

At the end of the day BKKMadness has summed it up nicely as snobbery.

Most people who now fit into the expat category probably arrived with a backpack on and for whatever reason decided to stay.

For me the term expat is a vague one and is soley a question of self perception. In my experience the term becomes overused more and more the more people want to distance themselves from their tourist roots.

That said, it is also a nice easy to use term which indicates that one is no longer travelling but laying some kind of roots in Thailand no matter how long they are there for.

At the end of the day the human need to classify themselves always baffles me especially in Thailand where we'll always be a 'Farang' nothing more, nothing less, in the eyes of the locals!

bkkmadness · November 16, 2005

At the end of the day BKKMadness has summed it up nicely as snobbery.

I kew I made good points when I am drunk, I should drink more really.

Most people who now fit into the expat category probably arrived with a backpack on and for whatever reason decided to stay.

that me totally, came here backapcking almost 6 yrs ago, now I expect many of you would class me as an expat coz I know the barfine at Bacarra bar in the cowboy.

Snobbery really, a lot of foreigners go though a stage where they want to be better than the other types of foreigner here, hence the backpacker bashing, tourist bashing, and the classic "I've got a chinese thai wife with a uni dgree instead of an ex bargirl wife farang bashing".

You wanna know if you are an expat, look it up in the dictionary, though it means absoultely nothing to who u r or how many rights you have out here and to what level you think you think u stand on.

Now I shall pass out.

Boon Mee · November 17, 2005

To the U.S. government, American ex-pats are one thing - tax dodgers.
The govenment has an issue with people who they think take advantage of the system to make a fortune and then claim residency in another country while renouncing their citienship to avoid paying taxes. They track all American ex-pats in an effort to make sure all due taxes are paid. I think the law now even states that any Americans worth more than $500,000 who renouce their citizenship are bannished from the US.

You are very mistaken in your premise that American expatriots are taxdodgers.

I've been overseas most of my working carreer labled an 'Expatriot' and still paid taxes to Uncle Sam. The law states anything over 80K is taxed as if you were residing in the US and, SS tax is still required to be paid.

Americans renouncing their citizenship is a wholly seperate issue.

RamdomChances · November 17, 2005

It's an "ex-pat" someone who used to be a "pat" but has given it up??

Neeranam · November 17, 2005

QUOTE
At the end of the day BKKMadness has summed it up nicely as snobbery.

I kew I made good points when I am drunk, I should drink more really. biggrin.gif

that me totally, came here backapcking almost 6 yrs ago, now I expect many of you would class me as an expat coz I know the barfine at Bacarra bar in the cowboy. laugh.gif

Same Same, but 1993.

Snobbery really, a lot of foreigners go though a stage where they want to be better than the other types of foreigner here, hence the backpacker bashing, tourist bashing, and the classic "

What is so good about being an expat? Why do tourists pretend that they live here?

There must be something wrong with the tourist to Thailand.

I have met heaps of people who exaggerate about their length of stay here. Staying for a long time in Thailand doesn't make you any better than a 10 day tourist, as many of us once were that. I'd love to walk into Nana Plaza with a backpack to see the reaction. Too f*cking judgemenatal all those guys - I wonder why?????

"I've got a chinese thai wife with a uni dgree instead of an ex bargirl wife farang bashing".

I'll think you'll find that after a long stay in Thailand that this is not something to brag about! Well the degree part , maybe.

Often when I am introduced to by people, Thai and farang, they say "this is Neeranam, he's been here for years", I know why they Thais say it - often to warn the other Thai not to speak like they do when a farang doesn't speak Thai.

The farang - as if they think it is an accomplishment staying in Thailand.

Yes, I have slagged off sex-tourists and backpackers, but I have also been them both.

I like this def.

QUOTE(khall64au @ 2005-11-16 22:45:47)
What is an ex-pat? A person who wishes to live life on the planet without boundaries of rules and expectations of the society under which they were born?

smile.gif

*

Boggers · November 17, 2005

To the U.S. government, American ex-pats are one thing - tax dodgers.
The govenment has an issue with people who they think take advantage of the system to make a fortune and then claim residency in another country while renouncing their citienship to avoid paying taxes. They track all American ex-pats in an effort to make sure all due taxes are paid. I think the law now even states that any Americans worth more than $500,000 who renouce their citizenship are bannished from the US.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You are very mistaken in your premise that American expatriots are taxdodgers.

I've been overseas most of my working carreer labled an 'Expatriot' and still paid taxes to Uncle Sam. The law states anything over 80K is taxed as if you were residing in the US and, SS tax is still required to be paid.

Americans renouncing their citizenship is a wholly seperate issue.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am not mistaken. Rightly or wrongly, the US government suspects all ex-pats of being tax dodgers. That is a fact that is plainly obvious in US policy and recent legislation. Until recently, US law defined an expat as someone who gave up their citizenship. Now the govenment has made it very difficult for someone to even renounce their citizenship. There is loads of info on the web if you care to have a look.