1. Loneliness
It is almost inevitable that you will feel some form of alienation having uprooted yourself from your home. Loneliness will set in as you make the move to a foreign land and having to adjust to foreign culture and language. There will be things that you missed about home, mainly the food and your family. As a result, many expats may ended up they preferred to cooped up indoors, at times for months, after their initial move as they have difficulty adapting to the new environment. You may begin to feel home sick and the thoughts of having your family and friends far away and are in a different time zone, does not help either. You will need time to get over the initial phase of adjusting but you would have to remain positive or it may affect your physical health and mental health.
2. Cultural Differences
If you are moving to another country especially across the continent, the issue of cultural differences would be very prevalent. Most expats would initially find it difficult to comprehend the other culture and assimilate those in your own beliefs. However, you need to be open and receptive about many new ideas so to reduce the misconception about others. Being very accepting and learning to respect the local practices and local culture in your new found homeland should help you integrate with the local population.
In addition, you have to adjust to the way of life in the new country. For instance you may have to adjust to commuting. There could be issues of high cost of public transportation or if you are driving your own cars, the problem of traffic congestion would be greater in some parts of Asia such as China, Vietnam and Thailand. When choosing a place to stay, you need to also check on the demographics of the place – for instance, a place that may be cheaper to rent could actually be a very noisy neighbourhood. That explains why some expats prefer to live in exclusive expats areas. So do a background check, there are bound to be an niche expat area in most countries. The setback of choosing those areas would probably be the cost of the rent and even groceries that may be higher than most neighbourhoods occupied by the locals.
3. Language Issues
One of the biggest challenges of adapting to a new culture is learning to communicate effectively. According to the Expat Explorer report commissioned by HSBC Bank International, 58% of the 3,100 expats questioned said that learning the local language is one of the biggest challenges faced by international assignees. Even in America and Britain, despite the use of English as the main form of communication, it could still be a problem as there would be variations in pronunciation and common lingo and slang between the countries. A harmless comment from one culture may be misconstrued as being rude in another. Thus, you need to be aware of the differences to avoid embarrassing episodes.
4. Cost of Living
There is no doubt that more attractive pay package is one of the major reasons why the vast majority of expats move overseas. However, the opportunity cost of getting a larger pay package would be a significantly higher cost of living. It is also worth remembering that, in some countries, the difference between the cost of living in the suburbs of the major city and the cost of living within a major city could well be enormous. There are so many aspects to consider, including property, food, utilities, local taxes and other issues, that many people will seek professional advice in this particular area.
5. Healthcare
Healthcare has become a major issue amongst the expat community over the last few years as the cost of private healthcare continues to grow and the level of public healthcare in some countries continues to fall.Additionally most expats are not accustomed to the food and weather during the early days, thus fall victims to stomach flus, coughs and other illnesses. Most new expats have no idea where to seek medical attention in their host country, without medical benefits and local insurance,it could cost a huge fortune for every visit to the doctor.Therefore, a comprehensive medical plan will be needed to avoid the huge cost of medical care. In most countries in Asia, it would be good to have a good insurance plan to cover cost such as hospitalization and terminal illness.
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