Nowadays, there’s a lot more opportunity for people to live outside their native country thanks to educational grants, work-and-study programs, and work-related relocations. In fact, expats are so common today that there is now an actual need for single expats online dating sites.
However, this doesn’t mean that dating is the same for an expat as it is for an indigenous person. Namely, there are some obstacles a non-native single person has to overcome that otherwise wouldn’t exist for a local. With that in mind, here are the 5 dating challenges every single expat faces.
1. Culture-Barrier
Although English is pretty much the language spoken and understood in most countries of the world, the language barrier still exists for an expat who is trying to date actively.
This especially happens for individuals who are living in countries that are entirely different from their home. Take a German guy living in Japan, for instance – He’s probably going to have a hard time communicating everything to his date given that their cultures and languages have practically nothing in common!
2. Being in the Know
Although expats are pretty much on the same level as locals in terms of being a part of the community they live in, this doesn’t mean that they’re keeping track of everything that’s happening around them.
People who live in countries other than their own have the tendency to watch the news and stay on top things regarding their homeland. However, they are usually not that acquainted with the events in their current place of residence. That’s completely normal but it can create gaps if you’re trying to date locals.
3. Lack of Friends
Not only does being an expat mean that you’re not on your home turf, but it also understands that you’re far from your friends and family. Consequently, the absence of close people can seriously impact your dating game.
Now, we all know that modern dating implies that you’re supposed to introduce the person you’re seeing to your friends at some point, which means that expats are bound to have a hard time when it comes to this.
4. Staying in One Place
There aren’t too many things that tie expats to one place. Therefore, they usually come across the challenge of dating while constantly being on the move.
It’s not uncommon for people to be between apartments or cities but expats don’t really have to stay in one place unless their work requires them to. With that said, you can imagine how hard dating can be if you’re not stationed anywhere or if you have to move every once in a while.
5. Stereotypes
Last, but not least is probably the worst enemy of every single expat out there who is trying to stay active in the dating field – stereotypes.
Whether we’re talking racial or cultural stereotypes, expats will be often looked down on because they’re “not from around here” and have opinions formed about them based on prejudice just because they’re from a different country. It can be very, very hard to overcome such things.
Are you an expat yourself? Have you tried dating one? What was the biggest challenge you had to face? We’d really like to hear from you in the comment section below!
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