Best Expatriate Websites

Global Resources for Moving and Living Abroad

The most essential way for future expatriates to prepare for their time abroad is to obtain as much information about their host country as possible, preferably in advance. Thanks to the web, information is now much easier to access. Many websites today specialize in providing information and resources for those planning to move and live abroad, very often at the country or even city level. Finding out about housing, employment, visas, health insurance, retirement, customs and etiquette, tax laws, and other relevant expatriate information is now only a mouse clicks away, as are forums with other facts based upon personal experience.

But no one website can honestly pretend to be the only all-inclusive database or social networking site containing all information. The world is vast, and people of all nationalities have specific questions and needs. To help readers find what they need, we have selected the most valuable websites for expatriates apart from our own. This section will provide the tools to aid you in making the process of moving and living abroad a success.

Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide (AAFSW) is a non-profit organization representing Foreign Service spouses, employees, and retirees since 1960 and provides loads of practical resources for the expatriate. Membership is required for access to some information.

EasyExpat is a helpful site that offers expat guides, reports, and blogs from those living and moving abroad, a busy forum, a cost of living calculator, and much more.

Expat Exchange is an expatriate site with some resources, a forum, some articles, and many sponsors.

Expat Focus is a commercial website that provides substantial country resources for visitors, a selection of articles, and an option to listen to podcasts.

Expat Forum is a jam-packed site with millions of posts on its very busy forum, organized by country, with many users posting hundreds to thousands of times, attesting to the engagement. Users are offered more than just organized and researched information. People interact with each other to share information.

Expatica is a Netherlands-based site that provides valuable resources for those living, moving, and working in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, and Russia; it also publishes an online newsletter and the annual Expat Survival Guide with basic information on living abroad.

InterNations: Your Expat Community is a very slick international online community that connects expats in a total of over 400 countries and cities, providing background and resources, ever-growing, and offers meetups worldwide. The site requires paid registration and personal information for full engagement and access.

JustLanded offers “everything you need to live abroad with a friendly interface — connecting expats worldwide.”

MyDolceCasa.com is managed and written by expats, offering perspectives and resources for Americans moving to Europe based on personal expatriate experience and research. They publish guides about living, retiring, working, opening a bank account, purchasing property, renting an apartment, and more.

Meetup lists group meetings in cities worldwide to help bring people with common interests together in person and allow for active local communities. The site also offers remote groups. If you don't find a community, you can start one where you can share your interests. The site lists hundreds of Meetup groups from Morocco to Italy for expatriates to interact.

* Numbeo.com is a tool we love that provides detailed cost-of-living comparisons for countries and cities worldwide in multiple currencies. The site is handy for expatriates during their research process, as are Expatistan.com and Nomads.com. All use and are reliant on crowdsourced data.

USA.gov — Americans Living and Traveling Abroad, go to this part of the U.S. government’s leading web portal, which provides resources on formalities and legal aspects of traveling and living abroad; a very comprehensive and practical web resource for the expatriate.

Tales from a Small Planet is a non-profit site largely composed of the U.S. Foreign Service community and volunteers that shares essays, Real Post Reports, Real School Reports, tales, and other honest information about cultures, people, food, and the challenges of living abroad.