Expats News

US Tax Info For Expats

Every year, Americans overseas assume they automatically have extra time just because they don’t live in the US. That assumption quietly leads to interest charges, penalties, and missed filings — often without any warning from the IRS.

US expats often get more time to file, but rarely more time to pay. And foreign reporting rules play by their own calendar. This is what actually matters for tax year 2025, filed in 2026. Need more time? You can file Form 4868 to extend your filing deadline to October 15, 2026. This is common if: You’re waiting on foreign tax paperwork. You earn income in multiple countries. Your tax situation isn’t straightforward. For most expats, October 15 is the absolute last chance to file without penalties.

Indian Expats In UAE Face Major Changes

Indian expatriates in the UAE are set to face a series of important changes affecting travel, documentation and consular services in the coming weeks. From higher passport fees to a new service delivery system and additional pre-boarding requirements for travel to India, the updates will impact routine applications as well as travel planning.

Indian passport fees are set to rise by up to 75 per cent from July 1, marking one of the sharpest revisions in recent years, bringing major changes for millions of Indians living in the UAE.

According to a gazette notification issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on June 20, the revised charges will apply globally, including to applicants in the UAE. Indian missions in the Emirates are expected to announce the updated local fee structure soon.

US Golden Visa 

In 2025, the number of applications for residency and citizenship by investment programs—also called “golden visas” or “golden passports”—from US nationals doubled, according to Henley & Partners, and it still remains elevated in 2026. “Only 7 per cent of applications by US citizens originate from Americans living outside the country, highlighting that demand is being driven overwhelmingly by US residents rather than expatriates,” says the report.

Most Americans are seeking residency and citizenship investment opportunities in Europe. Almost half of all US nationals’ applications are directed there, and Portugal and Italy are their top two options. Latin America and the Caribbean are also popular choices for Americans, with more than a quarter of applications targeting programs in those regions.

In the first half of 2026, Henley & Partners received applications from 86 nationalities for 47 investment migration programs, the firm says. “The objective is to ensure that no single government holds the whole of a family’s life and capital,” says Basil Mohr-Elzeki, managing partner and head of private clients Americas at Henley & Partners.

Sundar Pichai

 Wizard Of Silicon Valley

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google since 2015, has continually been in the limelight for his unique strategy and stellar achievements. Currently, he is leading the AI revolution in India from the front.

Sundar Pichai, an Indian–American business executive, has been the CEO of Google since 2015 and the CEO of its parent company Alphabet Inc., US, since 2019. With Google ramping up its AI ambitions to take on Microsoft and Amazon in India’s fast-growing cloud market, he has given an aggressive push into AI and cloud technologies.

Sundararajan Pichai began his corporate journey as a materials engineer. After a short tenure at  McKinsey & Co, a management consulting firm, he joined Google in 2004. He worked for the company's product management and innovation, including Google Chrome and ChromeOS. Besides, he was responsible for Google Drive. Also, he later oversaw the development of other applications such as Gmail and Google Maps.

Family And Education 

Sundar Pichai was born in June 1972 in Madurai, a city in India's Tamil Nadu, to a Hindu family. His father, Regunatha Pichai, was an electrical engineer at GEC while his mother was a stenographer. Pichai grew up in a modest household in Chennai, where education and curiosity were a priority. “My mom never went past high school because of financial circumstances, but she was an avid reader,” he said. “That’s where my love of learning came from.” His grandfather’s influence and strong family values shaped his worldview: Knowledge as a path to opportunity.

Pichai studied in Jawahar Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School in Chennai, and he  completed the Class XII from Vana Vani school at IIT Madras. He earned a B.Tech in metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. He holds an MS degree from Stanford University in materials science and engineering, and also an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, US. In the University, he named Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar.

In McKinsey & Company, Sundar Pichai worked as a consultant in engineering and product management at Applied Materials. On joining Google in 2004, he led the product management and innovation team for developing a suite of Google's client software products, including Google Chrome and ChromeOS. He was responsible for Google Drive also. He went on to oversee the development of other applications such as Gmail and Google Maps. In November 2009, he gave a demonstration of ChromeOS. Shortly thereafter the Chromebook was released for trial and testing in 2011. It was released officially to the public in 2012. In May 2010, he announced the open-sourcing of the new video, codec VP8, by Google, and introduced the new video format, WebM.

Between 2011 and 2014, he  served on Jive Software's board of directors. In March 2013, Sundar Pichai added Android to the list of Google products, which was formerly managed by Andy Rubin. Sundar Puchai was selected to serve as the next CEO of Google in August 2015, after previously being appointed Product Chief by CEO Larry Page. In October 2015, he stepped  into the new position on completion of the formation of Alphabet Inc., the new holding company for the Google stable.

Sundar Pichai was suggested as a contender for Microsoft's CEO in 2014, a position that was eventually given to Satya Nadella. In August 2017, he drew publicity for firing a Google employee who wrote a ten-page manifesto criticizing the company's pro-diversity policies. In 2017, he was appointed a director to the Alphabet Board of Directors. In December 2018, he was questioned by the US House Judiciary Committee on a range of Google-related issues, including possible political bias on Google's platforms, the company's alleged plans for a "censored search app" in China, and its privacy practices. In response, Sundar Pichai informed the committee that Google employees cannot influence search results. He also stated that Google users can opt out of having their data collected and also clarified that there were no existing plans for a censored search engine in China.

In December 2019, Sundar Pichai was appointed the CEO of Alphabet Inc. In April 2024, after 28 Google employees were fired for protesting against Project Nimbus, he allegedly stated that the office was not a place to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics, warning against using the company as a personal platform.

India Focus

Google is ramping up its AI ambitions to take on Microsoft and Amazon in India’s fast-growing cloud market. For Sundar Pichai, this aggressive push into AI and cloud is part of a vision he has championed for years: Making technology universally accessible while ensuring trust and safety. While talking to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at Dreamforce 2025 at San Francisco in October, Pichai shared how his personal journey—from waiting five years for a rotary phone in Chennai to leading one of the world’s most influential tech companies—shapes Google’s approach to AI.

Awards

Sundar Pichai was included in Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2016 and 2020. He was also included in the Time 100 AI list in 2024. Besides, he was awarded the 2021 Asia Game Changer Award by the Asia Society. In 2022, he received the Padma Bhushan in the category of Trade and Industry from the Government of India, the country's third-highest civilian award.

Pichai is married to Anjali Pichai (née Haryani) and has two children. Anjali is originally from Kota, India. They met while studying together at IIT Kharagpur. His recreational interests include cricket and soccer. Nowadays he lives in Los Altos Hills, California, US.

Photo: Courtesy Google

Daijiworld

Daijiworld Strikes A Chord With Expats 

Gulf expats of Mangaluru in Coastal Karnataka swoon over Daijiworld, thanks to its founder Walter D'souza Nandalike who has broken the glass ceiling by his business acumen and corporate strategy. From being a news and entertainment website, Daijiworld has grown exponentially over the years into a multi-dimensional entertainment hub.

Walter D'souza Nandalike, Founder and Managing Director of Daijiworld, is an extraordinary visionary businessman. He has been wearing different hats juggling them between roles from being the company's top corporate leader and a popular actor to a prolific writer, an orator and a philanthropist.

Walter D'souza, who runs the popular Daijiworld Entertainment and News hub, as well as one of the top regional TV channels, never had an inkling of where he was headed when he set out on an uncharted business path back in the early 1990s. Today, he has offices in Mangaluru, India, Dubai, and other expat destinations. He had no plans to revolutionise the thoughts of the people of Mangaluru, but merely wished to bring about a transformation in "relationship" between natives of the coastal town employed or engaged in business in the Gulf Countries and connect them to their native heritage and culture. 

The famous quote by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, "The pen is mightier than the sword," inspired Walter to set the ball rolling. A qualified journalist, he was associated with regional publications prior to landing a job in Dubai. Although he took a cue from the above quote, he did not think his business would garner such huge popularity within a short period. In fact, on the suggestions of his close friends he had set up a website for the native expats. Initially, the website was designed and operated as a source of community news from back home. 

Walter D'Souza, born in 1973 and fondly known as Walter Nandalike, is the Founder and Managing Director of Daijiworld Media Pvt Ltd, a media company based in Mangaluru, Karnataka, India.

Daijiworld.com, formerly daijidubai.com, was launched in January 2001. In April 2007, the media company was converted into Daijiworld Media Pvt Ltd. With close to 1.2 million visitors per month, the website today has a wide presence, besides India, in the Middle East and Gulf countries.

Initially, Walter D'souza began writing stories and articles for Konkani and Kannada periodicals as he set out on a journalism career. In fact, it was a dream he cherished from childhood. He graduated in commerce from St Mary's College, Shirva, District Udupi. However, after a brief stint in local publications, Walter left for Dubai in search of employment. However, he had little knowledge of computers, which was then making a splash in the corporate world. Knowledge of computers had become a prerequisite for any impactful business in the media by the 1990s.

In The Beginning 

It began as an April Fool's Day email prank on his friends back in 2000, which said that he had launched a website, daijidubai.com. But he was amazed by the overwhelming response he received from them. Although his friends pointed out the website was not functioning, since Walter meant it to be a mere prank. They expressed their desire that he would look into the matter forthwith. Encouraged by the enthusiasm of his friends and their support, he decided to actually start a website. 

Enthused by the big initial response, Walter took necessary steps to acquire computer skills unaware that it would be a prelude to the coming revolution through his website in  Coastal Karnataka. In January 2001, his efforts came to fruition with the launch of the erstwhile daijidubai.com. It was initially meant to cater to the Konkani-speaking community. The website was transformed from a regional online publication over the years to include the entire spectrum of Mangalorean diaspora around the globe. 

After the success of Daijidubai.com, Walter Nandalike subsequently set up Daijiworld.com, with much wider coverage. He soon diversified into radio and TV channels. Thereafter, he converted his proprietary firm into a private limited company by roping in like-minded friends, inviting investments in the new company. Thus, he embarked upon the corporate media business successfully. 

Walter D'souza was the first person to introduce the concept of Internet TV in Mangaluru back in 2007. He launched the city's first-ever Internet television, TV Daijiworld, which has successfully been running with a wide viewership abroad. Among other programs, TV Daijiworld also telecasts major community and social events, including live webcasts from Mangaluru, Dubai, Doha, Mumbai, Bangalore and other cities across the world.

After Daijiworld's success, Walter D'souza launched the Daijiworld 24x7 TV channel. Today, the TV channel is the numero uno among other local TV channels in coastal Karnataka. In fact, it is the first multilingual channel of Karnataka serving Kannada, Tulu, Beary, and Konkani communities. Along with the multilingual TV channel, he also launched, Daijiworld Audio Visual Pvt Ltd, another first state-of-art-audio recording studio in the region, with advanced recording facilities for music and movie dubbing. Moreover, in May 2017, an app-based Konkani-Tulu music radio station was launched. 

Walter, The Actor

Walter made his film debut in Coastalwood's  "Soda Sharbath," which was a box-office success. He has also played the lead role in "Mog Mullyaar," a Konkani musical film. Besides, he has appeared in "Magane Mahisa," which was directed by Veerendra Shetty, and Police File, a Kannada web series directed by Sooraj Bolar.

Walter's runaway success is Private Challenge on Daijiworld TV, a satire, along with comedian film actor Arvind Bolar. Currently, in its fourth season, Private Challenge has garnered huge viewership.

Radio Daijiworld, a subsidiary of its parent company Daijiworld Media Network, caters to all kinds of Konkani and Tulu music. Moreover, it also promotes artists and events related to Konkani. It's the first online radio station for Konkani and Tulu music.

Awards And Recognitions

Walter D'souza has bagged over 85 national, international and regional awards for his achievements. The key awards include Pingara Rajyotsava Award 2007, IPP Star of Year-2009 from Toastmasters Club, Houston, US, Rachana Entrepreneur of the Year 2010, Sandesha Media Education Award 2010, Editors' Award 2011, Young Entrepreneur Award from CCC Mumbai, Entrepreneur of the Year Award from FKCA Bengaluru, Mayura Award 2012 and several others.

A prolific writer, Walter Nandalike has written nearly 100 short-stories, several articles on current affairs and two novels 'Saithanachya Savlenth' and 'Devcharachi Deswat'. His stories have been broadcast on All India Radio. Being an actor and an orator, he has hosted over 100 major cultural events in India and the Gulf countries.

Photo: Courtesy Daijiworld