Subreddit marketing guide

r/expats: rules, promo tolerance & best time to post

248.9k members · strict — no promo (2/10) · tone: Thoughtful and supportive, with people seeking advice and validation for major life decisions.

Can you promote in r/expats?

Strict: this community removes promotional content on sight. Contribute value only; pitching here risks removal and a subreddit ban.

r/expats is a supportive, introspective community focused on the emotional and practical realities of living abroad. Members reward vulnerability about loneliness, homesickness, and decision-making anxiety, and value advice from experienced expats. The community enforces strict rules against self-promotion and negativity, with mods prioritizing substantive, considerate discussion over promotional content or complaint-venting.

• DO ask specific questions about visa eligibility and logistics with context
• DO share personal experiences and emotional challenges—the community rewards vulnerability
• DO seek wisdom from older/experienced expats—these posts perform well
• DO ask about making friends, cultural adjustment, and mental health impacts
• DON'T post blog/vlog links as top-level posts (comments only)
• DON'T ask 'Why does [country] suck?' or negativity-focused posts
• DON'T submit survey posts
• DON'T debate immigrant vs. expat terminology
• DON'T ask vague questions without researching basic visa eligibility first
• DON'T self-promote or post article links without community context

Best time to post in r/expats

Compute it live from recent top posts →

r/expats official rules (8)

1. Posts must relate to the subject of expatriation — Posts must relate to the subject matter of expatriation. Questions about living in or emigrating to another country, posts about your experiences in a particular country, etc.
2. Be nice to each other. — Be nice to each other. Uncivil conduct, ad hominem attacks, violent, racist, homophobic, transphobic or sexist attacks will result in temporary or permanent bans.
3. Follow site wide content policy — Posts must follow the site wide [content policy](https://www.reddit.com/help/contentpolicy/). Violations of the content policy may result in bans and reports to the reddit admins.
4. Do some basic research first. Know if you're eligible to move to country before asking questions. — If you are currently not an expat, and are looking for information about emigrating, you are required to ask specific questions about a specific destination or set of destinations. You must provide context for your quest
5. No blog/vlog/article links in posts — Blog/vlog/articles promotion does not engage with the community here. You're welcome to link to your blog/vlog/articles in comments, but not as top level posts.
6. No discussion of the term "immigrant" vs "expat" — This discussion has been done to death and new posts on this subject are just troll attempts at this point. For the purposes of this subreddit, the terms are interchangeable.
7. No surveys — We get a lot of surveys. People are tired of them. We're no longer accepting survey posts.
8. No "Why does country/city/continent suck" or "Why did you leave?" posts — These posts are just stirring up negative sentiment and rarely contribute anything positive.

What this community complains about

Recurring pain points in recent threads — each one is a conversation your product might belong in:

• Loneliness and difficulty making genuine friends
• Homesickness and missing family
• Decision paralysis about whether to move or return home
• Cultural adjustment and superficiality of friendships
• Health impacts of major life changes (time zones, isolation)
• Practical logistics (visas, pet relocation, licenses, schools)

How locals talk

expatWFHvisarelocatinghome cultureabroadmoving backposting up

Using a community's own vocabulary is the difference between reading as a member and reading as a marketer.

FAQ

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