Editorial Independence
Expatskey lists providers so that people moving between countries can make a decision without guessing. That is only worth something if the order of the list, and the facts in it, are not for sale. This page states what we do and do not do, in terms specific enough to hold us to.
1. Ranking is organic
The order providers appear in on any shelf, hub or comparison surface is computed from editorial signals only. Whether we earn a referral fee from a provider is not one of the inputs, and no provider can pay to move up.
This is enforced in code rather than by policy alone: an automated test seeds two otherwise-identical providers, marks one as a referral partner, and fails the build if the returned order changes. Ties are broken by a stable identifier, never by commercial status.
2. Disclosure at every referral link
Where we earn a fee if you follow a link, the link says so — on the link itself, at the moment you are deciding whether to tap it, not only here.
Outbound provider links are rendered by a single shared component that emits the disclosure line itself, so a link that skips the disclosure is not something we have to remember to avoid: there is no code path that produces one. Where we earn nothing, the same line says that instead. We do not claim a commercial relationship we do not have, and we do not hide one we do.
3. Facts are independent of commercial status
The facts we publish about a provider — what it costs, what it covers, which countries it serves, what it requires of you — are verified the same way regardless of whether that provider is a referral partner.
Every published fact carries its provenance and the date it was checked. A fact a provider told us about itself is labelled as such, and is not presented as something we verified.
4. Elder care is never monetised
We do not carry referral links on elder care listings, and we will not. Families arranging care for a parent in another country are making one of the hardest and least verifiable decisions we cover, and steering that decision for a fee is not a trade we are willing to make.
This is a lockout in the software, not a guideline: elder care pages are rejected outright if they are given a referral link, on every path that can write one — the admin, the API, and bulk imports alike. Elder care providers are listed on verification alone.
5. No paid placements
We do not sell featured slots, sponsored positions, or placement of any kind. Referral fees on outbound links, disclosed as described above, are the only way a listing is connected to money on this platform.
6. Reporting a wrong fact
Every published fact carries a way to tell us it is wrong. Reports go to an editor for review, and we aim to resolve them within 72 hours. Where a report is unresolved, we take the provider off the public shelves rather than leave a fact we now doubt in front of a reader.
A provider being a referral partner does not change how a report against it is handled, or how quickly.