r/expats

Hi everyone. I have two different offers one from London and the other from Berlin need your views to make a decision and to make sure if I'm not missing something.

The first offer is from London (£85k) and the job itself is more appealing to me. Second offer is from Berlin (€90k) and job is OK/mediocre in terms of how much it excites me.

My German is A1 but willing to learn and English is my 2nd language (somewhere around C1/B2).

Given below points I can't find any good reason to live in London:

1. London rents almost 2x higher in London while flats are smaller and lower build quality
2. Commute time is around 15-30 mins in Berlin but 30-60 mins in London.
3. Berlin has less hustle culture often less demanding in terms of work hours.
4. Almost all living costs are 30-40% cheaper in Berlin.
5. Childcare is easier and free in Berlin.
6. Berlin is quieter.
7. Personal one: I have 6-7 friends in Berlin but none in London.

Except for the language and the position in London exciting me, I can't see any strong points that make me want to live in London. I know that people are nicer in London and there are maybe 20 times more activities than in Berlin but I don't find these to be strong reasons to decide to live in a city.

I know that people are mostly see London as a better city to live than Berlin. I feel like I'm missing something and want to get your ideas on this

So this September I am moving to Madrid, I’ve been to Spain MANY times and have travelled all over so I know what to expect and know I will love it regardless. But this time I’m not staying in hostels and meeting people like me everywhere. I will be there for at least a year and want to be able to make friends and have things to do with people and not just on my own. I suck at making friends, I’m so shy and awkward lol. But once people get to know me then I come out of my shell. Does anyone have any recommendations of where to make friends?? Or what to spend my days doing until I make friends lol.

My husband and I (both British) moved back to the UK after 8 years in California at the beginning of 2025. We’ve bought a house here and both have stable jobs and my son is in a good school here but we worry about the future of the UK and the long term stability we have here. Cost of living is so high and we’ve taken a huge hit to our salaries. We’re doing ok but feel like our quality of life was far better in CA, we were making really good money and long term feel we could set up a strong financial future for our son.

But. We’d be leaving family and I worry about education in CA (I genuinely don’t know enough about it), but also worry I haven’t given it long enough here. We have an E2 visa open until April 2027 so ideally need to go back before then as it will be far easier to renew it vs apply for a new one.

Not sure what I’m looking for here but any POV is welcome. Has anyone repatted then gone back?

I 31F am looking to move from U.S. to UK to live with partner (not moving to london). I currently make $130k as an attorney. Im already half way done with my solicitor exam for the UK.

Call it more instability sensitive given state of the world hand gesticulating - but its suddenly starting to worry me about whether this is career/financial suicide. (I also have law school sized student loans, conversely already been LDR for 3 years)

Bonus points if youve done the u.s. > uk move as an attorney.

Since moving, I realized understanding English isn’t the same as actually speaking it :)

In real conversations I sometimes freeze or overthink what to say, even though I know the words. It’s kind of frustrating because I expected it to get easier just by being here.

Did anyone else feel like this at first? How did you get past it?

Hello. I live in a 3rd world country, and I travel to the US once a year at most.

I want to buy a SIM or eSIM which allows me to receive sms verification messages either through roaming or a website or app. I don't want to spend more than $5 /mo to keep the account useable, since I am barely using it: receiving maybe 1 sms per year.

Right now I just ask someone when I need to check something, but as you understand I rather not bother people unnecesarily. I know I can pay for receiving sms verifications on the fly, but I want to try having a SIM/eSIM if possible

Thanks

How are people in Ionian islands vs Aegean islands vs mainland Greece?

How similar and how different they are?

I mainly mean the mentality, attitude, language knowledge.

Hi everyone,

I have a question about studying in the UK and citizenship.

I’m Polish, but I was born in the UK. My family moved back to Poland when I was around 2 years old, and I never got British citizenship.

Does the fact that I was born in the UK change anything in my situation? Does it give me any advantage when applying to study there (like easier admission, lower tuition fees, etc.), or am I treated the same as any other international student?

Also, does anyone know what the process is like for applying for citizenship in my situation? Is it even possible, and where would I start?

I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences 🙏

Glassdoor shows US salaries. LinkedIn shows inflated numbers. Nobody shows what people actually earn when working abroad or remotely for foreign companies.

Built a page - anonymous salary submissions by country, profession, and experience level.

Currently 35 entries. Shows median salary, range, and breakdown by profession and country.

No signup. Takes 30 seconds to submit yours. Idk maybe can be usefull in future

Hello everyone. I received an opportunity to move to Germany this summer for work and I’ve decided to have Berlin as my base. I’ve been several times before and it’s one of my favorite cities to visit. However from my research it looks like newcomers can have a difficult time there due to things like the bureaucracy, unfriendly culture, weather, etc.

For some context I’m 26, from the US, and this would be my first move abroad. I’ve been learning German ever since I accepted the offer and have been using textbooks/apps/online tutors.

I’d really appreciate the opportunity to talk to anyone who’s currently in the city or has been living there recently about their experiences. Or if anyone has any other advice on Germany in general, thanks.

When I was looking to buy in Marbella, I quickly realized that talking about "Marbella property prices" as a single metric is completely useless. It's really a bunch of different districts behaving like completely different markets

A 15 minute drive from east to west takes you from an average transaction price of €3,700/m2 to over €5,400/m2. That’s a 46% difference

But the weirdest part to me was the growth trends. The most expensive areas weren't the ones growing. Eastern districts like Rio Real and Elviria were up nearly 20% YoY, while two of the "premium" western districts were actually slightly declining. It's basically an inverted market

Even the buyer composition changes district by district. Some areas are 70%+ foreign buyers (heavy Scandinavian in some pockets, British or Polish in others), while others see up to 34% of purchases scooped up by corporate entities

The practical problem that i ran into was that you can't see any of this just by scrolling Idealista, and agents are obviously only going to sell you the fundamentals of whatever listing they are currently showing you

Curious how others navigate this. When the market is this fragmented, how do you cut through the noise and figure out which specific area actually makes sense for you?

Moving to Madrid in a few weeks and looking to start a small writing group.

I run an arts and culture publication out of Dubai, and alongside that I write more personal and academic pieces across philosophy, sociopolitics, and lately, alchemy. I’m interested in building a space with people who take writing seriously but are open in what that looks like.

The idea is simple: weekly meetups, bring your work, read, discuss, challenge each other, and actually develop ideas over time. Not a class, not overly structured, just a consistent group of people committed to writing and thinking.

Open to anyone working in or around:
fiction, essays, theory, poetry, experimental writing, or anything in between.

If you’re in Madrid and this sounds like something you’d want to be part of, send me a message with what you’re working on or interested in exploring.

I am a 35 years old Male, Single, from Punjab, working as a Manager in a PSU bank in India. I started this job as a clerk back in 2013.

I applied and got PR of Canada last year through PNP, visited Canada in April 2025. Came back to India after getting my documents like health card and PR card. Its been a whole year now and I am still confused whether I should resign from my job and move permanently to Canada. It feels overwhelming and scary at the same time to think about starting from scratch all over again.

But at the same time I don't feel like continuing here either as this job has become exhausting and is causing dilemma with non sense unrealistic pressure of targets, toxic workplace culture, no fixed working hours and frequent transfers.

I am drawing a monthly gross salary of Rs. 1.28 lacs plus perks of around Rs 25k. Luckily, currently I have no liabilities and financial obligations here in India. I have a parental house in a Tier 2 city.

I have retired parents who are drawing regular net pension of around Rs 1.20 lacs monthly collectively. An elder sister who is also single and does job in a different city.Also, parents have investments of around Rs 2.50 Crores.

Which path should I choose for the long run and why? Practical suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.!

Hi r/expats, I'm currently a Master's student in Lisbon in the interview stage for my thesis and I'm looking for people.

I'm studying short term remote terms/projects and how communication styles and digital tools (Slack, Teams, Zoom) impact project speed and motivation.

I’m looking for people who:

1. Worked in a 100% remote, short-term/temporary project (e.g., 3–6 month contract, agile sprint, or specific project-based team).
2. From a "Low-PDI" culture (UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia/NZ, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, or Scandinavia).
3. With a Project Manager or Lead was from a "High-PDI" culture (e.g., Asia, Middle East, Latin America, or Southern/Eastern Europe like France, Portugal, Italy, Poland, etc.).

It will be a 45min interview with the audio recorded on Google Meets. Names will be completely anonymized.

Also, this is unpaid (unfortunately)

If you fit this description or know someone who does, please comment or DM me! I'd love to schedule a quick chat!

I'm moving in with my girlfriend, she will have a salary by then that is sufficient according to the swedish rules to financially cover me so i can actually do the initial move. After that I'll go do SFI (swedish classes) pretty much as soon as I can, and start a uni/college study.

I'm a bit nervous how long it would take to officially get the residency and my swedish ID card, as I do rely on medication. I can probably get about 3 months of meds at the move, but I can't really be without and i can only start the process of getting in the swedish medical system after i got my ID card from what i understand.

Any experiences with how long getting the residency ID card takes for a schengen-zone EU citizen moving to sweden? Thanks

Hey, guys. I'm an EU citizen living in Amsterdam with no insurance in my home country (I'm not eligible + Polish gov't insurance is notoriously unreliable abroad).

I'm studying at a local university, but not currently working.

As far as I understand it, my job is obligated to provide me insurance when I get one, but I can't study full time and also work (I know many people can, but I just can't swing it without risking my health).

Can anyone guide me?

I'm actually living in Japan , with the Working Holiday . Im from Spain . My desire is not go back to Spain while i'm breathing .

Be over here was an amazing expirience for my life , but my visa is expiring in a few months and my will is not to renew it . My savings are not big , because of the weak yen . And right now , i don't know where i should go ... My will is somewhere where is easy to get an acomodation and there is no unemployment to get easy a visa .

Hi, I’m currently traveling between different EU countries with my Italian SIM card [Fastweb mobile operator] So far, my IP address has always remained Italian, matching the nationality of my SIM. I would like to know: what happens to my IP address if I travel outside the EU? Will it still appear as Italian, or will it be assigned based on the country I am visiting?

I’ve been looking into buying property abroad (EU, Dubai, Georgia type markets).

On paper, it looks great, lower prices, rental income, even potential residency benefits. But I’ve started seeing people mention that owning property can create tax ties to a country.

Are people underestimating this? Has anyone here bought abroad and run into unexpected tax issues, or did it work out cleanly?

I'm interested in moving to Europe either for work or for school, and I recently got a German passport after finding out I was a dual citizen. Since the US often ties their health insurance to employment (in addition to being a nightmare) and not knowing if I'll be in Europe permanently, I'm wondering what my options are.

I'm not entirely familiar with the German healthcare system nor how to obtain insurance, and despite being a citizen I've read that I would not automatically qualify for public insurance and will likely need to apply for a private plan. Since I'm also considering other countries as well, I'm not sure if I should even apply for health care in Germany or to the country I eventually reside in.

If anyone can guide me into the right direction, I would appreciate it!