Young Expats Gain Web-based Forum

Expatriates under 40 living in Costa Rica have formed a new social club, Young Expats of Costa Rica, coordinated through the Web site www.youngexpatsofcostarica.org.

Created just last month, the Web site states: “Here you can meet other young expats for friendship, romance, travel and activity partners, and professional networking.”

The site was posted by San José resident Jacqueline Mackie Paisley Passey, 27, from the U.S. city of Cleveland, after she and a group of friends came up with the idea.

“I went to a couple of events for expats, and I was the youngest one there,” Passey said. “I’m 27, and a lot of the issues they were discussing were for older people, like how to deal with pension checks here or where to get a colonoscopy.”

For younger people, Passey said, the issues are different.

“We’re not coming down here with 20-30 years of savings,” she said.“Most of the people are working here, either for Internet-related companies or for their own companies.”

The idea to create a structure to connect with people, she explained, stemmed from the fact that she and others she knows work from home and have a hard time meeting like-minded expats in the same age range.