Expats are, generally speaking, strong and resilient people. However, expat life also involves expat challenges and we all have our vulnerabilities.

• Life as an expatriate entails transitions abroad, and a general need for cultural adjustment, expatriate acculturation and some ‘cultural intelligence’; Expatriate acculturation involves also dealing with language barriers and depends on the expats’ language ability
• All kinds of family events and living and work conditions might combine and make life difficult
• When cultural adjustment is burdensome, a possible outcome is culture shock. [link cultural adjustment and culture shock]
• This might give risk or result in different psychiatric conditions, involving depression, anxiety, confusion, etc.

The challenges of expat life work out differently for expat professionals, expat partners and spouses, expat children and expat families, and expat students.