Defintion of an expatriate
First and for Larousse dictionary, an expatriate is someone who is expatriated, or who expatriated himself/herself. This word is usually used to design someone who live is another country than his/her home country / country of nationality.
The use of expatriate
At first sight, one considers that an expatriate is someone who live in another country. Thus, this country is different to his/her home country or to his/her country of nationality. No matter if the expatriate works or not. Anyway, no matter also if the expatriate stays several months or several years in the country. At the same time, no one takes into account agreements between the country of expatriation with the home country, or with the country of nationality.
Social security’s definition of expatriates
The word expatriate is precisely define by entities such as the social security. Thus, the expatriation is indeed distinguished from the short or long term assignment. The social security considers the length of stay abroad, the contract between the employee and the employer, which entity pays the salary… to define where contributions should be paid.
For more information, please read:
⇒ Temporary assignment abroad vs expatriation
How is considered an expatriate by the fiscal administration
The fiscal administration does not consider temporary assignement or expatriation, for fiscal aspects. It only take into account the personal situation of the person. If there is an agreement between the country of expatriation and France for example, the fiscal adminsitration will check if the situation of the expatriate meets some specific criteria.
The lenth of stay is often considered (more or less 183 days), where the expatriate practically works and developp his/her activities and where are located his/her economic interests center.
How are defined expatriates by international health insurances
An expatriate is someone who live abroad. The iternational health insurer will not consider the working contract, the employer, … because it will not follow working rules. It could be the case for some of them if the international health insurance intervene on top up to Caisse des Français de l’Etranger (CFE) because this entity works and follows the french regulation and rules.
Even if international health insurers do not pay attention to the working contract… (except in some specific countries such as Emirates), subscribing to an international private medical insurance does not free expatriates from local regulations, and international healthcare plans are not substitute for local mandatory insurances.
One can also hear about TCN or Third Country National. An expatriate is someone leaving one country for amother one. A TCN is someone who has to consider three different countries. Example: the TCN is belgian (nationality). His/her Employer is located in Luxembourg. The TCN is living and working in South Africa.
Expatriate, pay attention to the local regulation
Please note that subscribing to an expatriate medical insurance does not free you from local regulations. To conclude, our plans are not substitute for local mandatory insurances.