Expats Abroad: Spain

Bob on board

 

Expatriates are people who leave their homes to live in a new place, either temporarily or permanently. Most migrate legally, following the host country's rules and regulations.

 

Expatriate: (one who) leaves one's native country to live elsewhere…

- Merriam Webster

 

Columbus points to sea

where Ramblas meets wharf

Barcelona, Spain

 

Legal expats are subject to different regulations than those at home. Like, for example, covering from shoulders to knees even when jogging, avoiding physical (and eye) contact with members of the opposite sex, not eating or drinking in public during the holy month of Ramadan. A thoughtful Qatar expat, for example, doesn't enter religious spaces with an uncovered head or make negative comments about her host country's leadership online or, well, anywhere, ever. And when the rules concerning freedom of expression change, she renders her blog publicly inaccessible.

 

contemplating the climb

church at Tibidabo, highest point in Barcelona, Spain

 

In the US, legal expats are those who followed US law to enter the country, typically for purposes of work, school or marriage. Sometimes these intrepid travelers take knowledge home to help change whatever caused them to leave in the first place. Other times they remain stateside and pursue the process to become permanent, legal United States citizens.

 

how Antoni Gaudi (gow-DEE)

covered one building's ducts and vents

atop La Padrera, Barcelona, Spain

 

Illegal US expats sneak across the border. They work jobs, raise children, utilize health care, attend and graduate from US schools funded by government grants and, it is said, even vote! They're fast food workers who go on strike to demand that their illicitly-adopted country celebrate their home country's independence as a national holiday. They're back alley criminals, prostitutes - and top drawer straight A students, business owners.

 

Officially there are repercussions to sneaking into the United States, but a lot of people not only get away with it, but profit from the venture too. Some of these dauntless interlopers are eventually granted status as legal United States citizens.

 

"Sagrada Familia" means "Holy Family"

a church designed by Antoni Gaudi

Barcelona's ever-under-construction labor of love

 

there are funky shapes

 

fruit spires

 

wall sized doors that look like this

 

stained glass windows that alter interior color

 

and a flying Jesus

 

Bob loved it

 

In Qatar, illegal expats are usually former service employees (nannies, maids and drivers) who entered the country legally and (in a wide variety of ways) find themselves without sponsorship. Babies born to unmarried (ie, unlawful) parents are on the list of border crashers. Illegal foreigners are also, as in the US, those who sneak across the border hoping for a better life in the world's wealthiest country (per capita).

 

coed bathrooms are common in Barcelona

at the Olympic Stadium

girls use stalls on one side, boys on the other

wash up together

 

In Qatar children born to a married foreign mother and Qatari man are considered Qatari. Children born to a married Qatari woman and a foreign born man acquire the father's nationality. At this time it's not possible to obtain Qatari citizenship (thereby eligible to receive national dividends and land) except by birth.

 

the Ramblas

a crowded, touristy, no-cars, shopping zone

and the heart of Barcelona

 

In Qatar, illegal expats are not allowed to work, attend school, utilize public health care, own a car, rent or buy a home, acquire a driver's license. Illegals' educations are not subsidized by the government. Without papers, they are also unable to leave the country.

 

As a result (unlike the US), very few people aspire to be illegal expats in Qatar.

 

Free Speech on the Ramblas

Barcelona 2014

 

As legal expatriates in Qatar, we have residency permits, government health cards and driver's licenses. We utilize government medical services, buy and sell stuff, attend programs, leave and come back. We drive the speed limit, cover our arms, keep our hands and words to ourselves - and seek the silver lining.

 

Barcelona Water Tower Garden

tucked among a cluster of buildings

in the heart of the city

(Rick Steve's, Barcelona, page 144)

 

It helps to get away.

 

Barcelona from the top of the Sagrada Familia

Nativity Tower

Spain 2014