Challenges for expat trailing spouses

Adjustment problems and dissatisfaction of spouses/partners, as well as dual-career issues, always top the list of expatriation challenges, and quite often become reasons for refusing an assignment, or for an assignment failing. 

Tracy Kautzmann, from the Impact Group tells us, "Networking, job searching and establishing personal connections are a big challenge during relocation - especially for global assignments. Language barriers and culture differences make it difficult to forge friendships or find meaningful work, if the spouse is even allowed to work in the country. There are definitely some locations that are more challenging to settle into as a trailing spouse."

InterNations  looks at this very issue in a recent survey where spouses ranked the top countries for "the ease of settling in" and the top 10 were:

                                                         1.) Ecuador

                                                         2.) Mexico

                                                         3.) Malta

                                                         4.) Singapore

                                                         5.) Luxembourg

                                                        6.) New Zealand

                                                        7.) Thailand

                                                        8.) Panama

                                                        9.) Canada

                                                      10.) Australia