Top Three Expat Paradises - Australia, Canada and Thailand

For job seekers that are exploring new lands, here's a bit of news that you'd be interested in. If you are looking for greener pastures (in terms of jobs and earnings), a recent global survey suggests that you consider Australia, Canada and Thailand. Before giving you the details of the survey in question, here's a bit of revelation that another survey has made, that was made just prior to the Freshminds survey.

An HSBC bank commissioned 'Second Annual Expat Experience Survey' had crowned Canada to be the topper when it comes to the quality of life enjoyed by the expats. Canada also ranks the highest when it comes to being the 'easiest place to integrate with the locals'.

The Freshminds survey claims that Britain has become one of the worst places for expats, being the worst hit by the recession. Most expats living in Britain actually claim future job prospects as the only reason to continue sticking it out there, while an astonishing 44 percent wish to return home. The difficulty in finding quality accommodation and rising health concerns are also putting expats off Britain.

The 3149 people surveyed in around 30 different countries consider Thailand as one of the best options to consider when considering moving abroad. This is ironic considering the fact that like Britain, Thailand has also taken a good hit from the current recession. The legitimate and logical conclusion when one sees such results is one that HSBC Bank International spokeswomen Betony Taylor made earlier. She said, "We have seen that there is a distinct trade-off between income and overall quality of life, as many of the top performers...scored toward the bottom of this report's league table. What is clear is that the locations where salaries may not be as high, such as Canada and Australia, are where expats are really enjoying not only an increased quality of life but are also finding it easy to fit in to their new communities."

Last year's Germany, Canada and Spain have thus been effectively replaced by Australia, Canada and Thailand this year. Freshminds released a certain section of the very same survey earlier this year and that bit gave everyone something to think about. They found that Russia surprisingly housed the highest proportion of expats that earned more than USD 250, 000 annually, which made up for almost 30 percent of the total expats living there. Hong Kong and Japan followed a close second and third on this list. What is increasingly surprising is the fact that while Australia ranks first as an expat paradise (in terms of jobs, earnings and quality of life), Australia and Belgium actually have the largest proportions of lowest paid of expats (63 and 64 percent respectively). They earn as less as USD 100 000 annually there.

The problems in Russia are the difficulty foreigners face in adjusting to the lifestyle there, though many claim that mingling with the locals and finding friends is very easy. It is thus the quality of life made possible there, that pulls Canada, Australia and Thailand to the top of our list. When it comes to comfort, I end this article with a bit of statistics that might interest you.

Expats usually prefer friends within their community rather than foreigners, and considering this fact, Brazil tops the friendliness list. With a whopping 94 percent community integration in Brazil, comfort there is surely high. Canada and South Africa with 91 percent each, and India and Russia with 90 percent each, follow in this list.

For all those heading out of the nest looking for better things that life has to offer, hope this article has made for an interesting read.