What is the Expat ‘Right’?

It’s been 6 weeks of living on the Cayman Islands, a place I never thought I would call “home”. I can best describe the island as a mix between America (for the infrastructure and supermarkets), Bali (for the cuisine and beach bars) and England (purely for the fact that the late Queen is front and centre on the bank notes with stingrays floating around her head - very island-esque).

In the short time “on rock”, here are my top three observations:

• A car is your best friend, and you’ll see a trail of Honda FIIT’s everywhere. Harry flinches at the idea of driving a Honda FIIT (he’s too good for that, apparently) but there’s an oversupply of them on the island so you’re bound to end up driving one

• It is not easy to set up a bank account, let alone “money launder”. The idea that people come to the shores of Cayman with a suitcase of money is laughable once you realise how slow the banking system is here (it took us a whole 5 weeks to have our accounts set up!)

• A weekend in Miami will be a gift from God – a sentence I never thought I would say. Island fever is real so planning ahead to get out and explore the big smoke is critical to avoid going neurotic (but then again, neurotic people are the best kind of people)

Cayman is an adult playground where I am quickly learning that people don’t come for a stint, but instead, a lifetime. The love that expats have for Cayman is very real but my first 6 weeks here has really had me thinking -

Do the locals have the same love for the expats?

I had never and would never consider a city like London somewhere that we needed to respect and care for the locals – the locals were few and far between and the city was a melting pot for people finding their new selves, running the rat race and escaping reality with peter pan syndrome. But here, on island, it’s different.

Yes, Cayman prides itself on being the most developed island in the Caribbean and the epicenter for financial investments around the world. But, at its core, it is a very small community driven island with roots in family, religion and of course, food. It can be hard for these two versions of Cayman to co-exist and the desire to be the booming epicenter comes at a cost for the locals.

Curious to understand more about the local/expat dynamic, I went seeking some insights from my Caymanian colleagues. They describe it as a “love hate” relationship - they know we are important to keep up the boom, but it comes at a cost for the locals' livelihoods. From the cost of living (we are second in the world behind Monaco), to the housing market and the careers that stagnate at entry level positions, the majority of locals are not set up for success. I found myself listening to the realities of their lives and pondering how I had the right to be on the Island enjoying my life in the absence of a tax system that supports the welfare of the most vulnerable members of society.

On the record, I am no expert in the economy, tax systems, politics or global investments but I do consider myself an expert in humanity, people, emotions and values. And the truth is 

When you live here as an expat, you are deliberately not supporting a welfare economy. 

In simple terms: as the expats get wealthier, the locals become increasingly worse off. It’s a hard pill to swallow but one that I believe we should all read the label of and understand the side effects before we digest it.

So, as we move around the world and experience living in different continents and regions, I ask us all: what is our expat ‘right’?

Much love from this overthinking expat.

X AC

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Meet AC (that’s me!) - your fellow expat, world traveler, risk taker and more. In this article, you’ll get up to speed with my current life in London, my impending move to the Cayman Islands and why I’ve chosen to have a Carrie Bradshaw moment and write about it all. Enjoy!

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