We really do want to help you but you need to do your bit too. Sending a message to the wrong place is just like sending a letter to the wrong address, hoping that somehow it will magically appear through the right person’s letterbox, and that they will reply to you.
We understand that you’re busy and maybe in a hurry – we all are. But if you don’t get it right, you are simply wasting your time and making it difficult, if not impossible, for us to help you. So take your time and do it right. In return, we’ll endeavour to help you if we can.
If there’s anything you want to write to us about, you can contact us as described below.
General requests for information about expat life etc: Please don’t contact us directly about these – chances are we don’t know the answer anyway. Please try our discussion forum instead – either the appropriate country forum if it’s about a specific country, or the appropriate theme-based forum if it’s about a wider-ranging question.
You may also be able to find the information you need by using the Site Search facility near the top of the page.
Contributions: we are delighted to receive articles and other contributions from readers. Unfortunately we can’t pay. However, if you have a website and we use your article, we’ll provide a link to your site below your article. We are always keen to hear from readers; however, we’re over-run with approaches from press agents and the like and are not particularly wanting advertorial contributions. If you need more information, please get in touch using the form below.
Requests for help from journalists/TV producers/research students: We have a dedicated sub-forum on our discussion forum where you can post your request. We have also now added similar sub-forums on some of the dedicated country forums. Please read our posting guidelines before you do, though – in particular, please post on the relevant “Journalists/TV producers/research students” forum, no posting the same message on more than one forum, and no SHOUTING, including in the subject heading.
We send out an email newsletter every month to those who have opted-in* to receive it. The newsletter covers something topical, as well as including “virtual snacks” and a bit of humour. If you’d like to see an example, you can look in our archives, or better still sign up to receive it. Simply add your email address and click “Do it now” on the sign-up page. (You can unsubscribe in the same simple way.)
Join our opt-in email list (free)
* We have always used an opt-in system, ie one in which the recipient has actively requested to receive it, as we believe this follows best practice. However, it is also a legal requirement for all sites in the EU. Article 13 of EU Directive 2002/58/EC [PDF file: 162KB] makes it quite clear that unsolicited direct marketing emails are illegal, and that electronic contact details may only be used for self-promotion activities where the address holder is given the opportunity to object, “free of charge and in an easy manner”, at the time the details are collected.
Opt-out lists are breaking the law! Opt-out is where the list owner has gathered your email address by some means – perhaps you have contacted them about some other matter, or joined a forum or whatever – and then added you to their list on the basis that you can unsubscribe if that’s what you want to do. Not only are opt-out lists illegal, they are also misleading – particularly for advertisers. It’s all very well making claims such as “Our newsletter is received by over 20,000 members every month”, but just how many of them are actually read, or how many go straight in the trash because the recipient can’t be bothered to unsubscribe?
British Expat Ltd is a private limited company registered in England & Wales. Registration number 4165796.
Registered address: 95 High Street, BARRY, United Kingdom CF62 7DY
(Please do not write to us at this address, which is maintained solely to meet the requirements of English company law.)
Managing Director: Kay McMahon
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