From "Geo-Arbitrage" to the "Where-Is-Home Glitch": The New Language of Moving Abroad

By Alphonsine Pelletier

There was a time when moving abroad came with a fairly predictable vocabulary: expat, immigrant, relocation, culture shock, trailing spouse.

Then the pandemic hit, and the way people lived abroad changed too. As remote work became the norm, more people started doing it across borders. Countries created visas for people who moved every few months, earning in one currency and spending in another. Couples relocated while maintaining two independent careers.

As international living became the norm for many, the expressions once used to describe life abroad began to evolve. Here are seven that are reshaping how we talk about it.

Geo-Arbitrage

The practice of earning money in a relatively strong currency or higher-paying market while living somewhere with a lower cost of living.

A remote worker earning a U.S. salary while living in Portugal, for example, may find that the same income provides a very different lifestyle than it would in Los Angeles, New York, or San Francisco.

But geo-arbitrage isn't simply about finding somewhere "cheap." Housing, taxes, healthcare, exchange rates, visa requirements, and inflation can quickly change the equation.

Taxile

A play on "tax" and "exile," describing a highly mobile lifestyle in which someone moves between countries partly to manage where they become tax resident.

This concept is often echoed by digital nomads and internationally mobile entrepreneurs, who avoid staying too long in one place to avoid specific residency regulations.

It's not as simple as it sounds, though. Tax residency can depend on much more than the number of days you spend in a country: your personal situation matters, and the rules vary considerably between jurisdictions.

This is the one piece of modern expat vocabulary that should come with an asterisk, since changing countries doesn't automatically mean leaving your tax obligations behind.

Third-Culture Venturing

Some people don't simply move abroad; they move with a business idea. Third-culture venturing describes starting a business outside your native country by combining knowledge from your original culture with an understanding of your new local market.

For example, an American opening a business in Italy, a French entrepreneur building a company in the United States, or a British resident creating a service specifically for other newcomers in Spain are all operating between cultures, drawing on both an outsider's perspective and an insider's understanding of what newcomers actually struggle with.

Trailing Talent

For decades, international relocation had a familiar expression: the trailing spouse or partner. This was when someone received a job opportunity overseas, became the main visa holder, and their spouse followed.

That language no longer fit many modern couples. The person accompanying a partner abroad may be a freelancer, entrepreneur, consultant, artist, remote employee, or even business owner. That's where the newer expression "trailing talent" becomes interesting, because it shifts the emphasis from dependency to capability.

And that matters more than we may think, because one of the most underestimated parts of relocation is identity. Losing a job title, professional network, financial independence, or familiar role can affect how someone experiences a new country.

Creating a life abroad isn't only about finding an apartment and learning where to buy groceries; it's also about redefining your identity in a new context.

Culture-Shock Shock

Most people moving abroad expect culture shock. Far fewer expect it to happen when they return home. "Culture-shock shock" is the new way of saying "reverse culture shock."

It is an informal way of describing that disorienting realization that the new country no longer feels foreign, while your home country doesn't feel as familiar as it once did.

Imagine visiting your home country and suddenly noticing things that never bothered you before. And yet, nothing has changed — but you did.

A Soft Landing

Exactly what it sounds like: choosing a destination, community, or setup that makes the transition easier.

That might mean moving somewhere with an established international community, choosing temporary furnished housing before signing a long lease, arriving somewhere you already know a few people, or selecting a city where healthcare, transportation, and daily life are relatively straightforward.

There's sometimes a temptation to believe the "authentic" way to move abroad is to throw yourself immediately into local life. But making things unnecessarily difficult doesn't make a relocation more legitimate.

A soft landing can give you time to learn, as long as you don't confuse the landing zone with the destination. An expat bubble can be useful when you first arrive, but you'll eventually need to venture beyond it if you plan to build a sustainable life there.

The "Where-Is-Home" Glitch

And then there's the one that may be hardest to explain to someone who has never lived abroad. It's the moment someone asks, "Where's home?" and instead of answering right away, you hesitate and start wondering.

Is home where you were born? Where your parents live? Where your children grew up? The country on your passport? The city where you've lived for the past ten years? Or the place you're returning to when your trip is over?

After enough time abroad, home can stop being a location and become more of a collection of attachments, separate from visas, taxes, or moving boxes. And having more than one answer will be part of what happens when you've built a life in more than one place.

The language of international living will keep changing because international living itself is changing. Some of these expressions will probably disappear, and others may become so familiar that we'll forget there was ever a time before we used them.

But underneath the clever new terminology are questions people who move abroad have always had to answer: How will I support myself? What happens to my career? Will I belong? What if I don't like it there?

So, maybe this newest vocabulary of living abroad isn't really about inventing fashionable new words. Maybe we're simply getting better at naming all the things that happen once the move is done and the new life begins.

Alphonsine Pelletier is an expatriate author living in Los Angeles who writes about the emotional journey of moving abroad. Her latest book, "Starting a New Life Abroad: From Honeymoon Phase to Commitment," uses the language of romantic relationships to guide readers through the stages of the expat journey. Learn more at www.alphonsinepelletier.com.