Contractors can present themselves for employment in a number of ways, ranging from employee to offshore company director. Make sure you take the approach that suits your circumstances best. It is important to consider the structure of your relationship with companies you do business with. There are a number of options, according to accountants Forbes...

Silversurfers.com is a unique and informative lifestyle website and social network exclusively for the online community of over-50s in the UK and many other English speaking expats living all over the world. The site was developed by an experienced team, all aged over 50, in response to the growing number of UK internet users of...

For those of you contemplating contracts in the Middle East here is a brief introduction to what you can expect if you are going to work in Qatar Like many other Gulf countries, Qatar is a combination of an ancient past and 21st century technology and architecture. It is a country in transition that has retained...

New Zealand has voted, following a national referendum, to keep its current flag, which features the British Union Jack alongside the Southern Cross star constellation. It is also attracting record numbers of migrants. Britain has a rich history with New Zealand. People, commerce and ideas have flowed between the two countries for many generations. The first...

Saudi Arabia is considering setting up a ‘green card’ system, similar to that used in the US, as part of plans to raise $100 billion of revenues annually by 2020. The green card system and a plan to charge companies a fee for hiring more foreign workers above official quotas could raise $10 billion each...

The majority of expat pensioners are now living off an income which is worth at least 11% less than a decade ago, according to Equiniti Group plc which manages the payment of over 60,000 expat pensioners. Of the 60,000 pensioners the largest group is receiving their pension in the Eurozone, where market uncertainty and the...

International Living magazine’s Annual Global Retirement Index has identified the most-affordable places to buy or rent property abroad in retirement Ecuador was found to be the best in this category. In the colonial city of Cuenca, you can rent a two-bedroom apartment for $500 or less, while the same property in the popular mountain town...

One of the most important financial tasks you have as an expatriate is to plan how and to whom you will leave your assets. It can be a complex process, involving inheritance taxes and succession law of more than one country, but it is vital to have a solid ‘estate plan’ so your estate is...

As an expat, the internet has made managing your finances much easier, but make sure you are doing it safely, says Iain Yule. As expats become more prepared to trust the internet as a means of handling their financial transactions so the banks are developing more and more exclusively online offerings. This is potentially of great...

As expats, or expats-to-be, we all know how many overheads and worries, both large and small, are involved in making a move abroad. If you’re lucky enough to have a new job lined up, there are still issues around accommodation, visas, taking family members (and pets) – and this is before you even buy the...

A third of British people who have retired abroad intend to return to the UK, according to findings from the eighth annual NatWest International Personal Banking (IPB) Quality of Life Index. While ‘retired expats’ retiring to warm European countries is an enduring cliché, the index  has found that younger expats (aged 25-35) are actually increasing...

When moving overseas, either permanently or temporarily, most of us will keep some kind of base/connection with the UK – whether that’s renting out a property, having post forwarded to friends and family or keeping our UK bank account. Apart from practical and financial reasons, for a lot of us, keeping that link to the...