Why are Americans “expats” but Mexicans/Chinese/Indians and other folks from poorer countries “immigrants”?

25 comments

1. To me an expat does not intend to live somewhere permanently, an immigrant does

2. The expats may not be immigrants at all. Many decide to live there temporarily or do not seek immigration or permanent residency.

3. Huh? I’m not sure I’ve heard these two terms used like that before.

4. Because those people are *immigrating* here, whereas Americans rarely immigrate to places outside of western Europe and east Asia.

   They’ll live the expat life in like the Phillipines or Costa Rica for a few years and then head back home.

   You’re basically asking why circles are called circles and why squares are called squares. You are aware that expats and immigrants are different things, right?

5. Two words have two different meanings, op

6. Immigrants are people who permanently move to a new country and intend to gain citizenship in their new country.

   Expats are people who temporarily move to a new country and don’t seek permanent residency or citizenship.

7. Expat is someone who leaves a place. Immigrants is someone who arrives at a place. It’s a matter of the direction they are moving from the POV of the speaker. As people who live in the US, people who leave are expats and people who arrive are Immigrants.

8. the way I have always seen the word expat used is someone who doesn’t intend to naturalize or establish family roots in their host country. They are there only for cost of living + nice weather that affords them to live without working and relaxing majority of the time.

9. Expats are there temporarily, immigrants intend to stay.

10. Immigrants here would be expats to those where they are from as the terminology is used if they were only living here termporarily.

11. I considered myself an expat when I moved to the UK at first, because I was only planning on it being temporary.

    Now that I decided to stay, and got a British passport, I consider myself an immigrant.

    I still may move back to the US at some point, but currently have no concrete plans to. I came very close to it with the recent energy/cost of living crisis, but luckily that didn’t end up as bad as predicted because of the mild winter.

12. Expats follow a job to a new country. Immigrants move to a new country on a permanent basis.

    If you’re racist, expats white, immigrants brown.

13. Expat to me is someone coming to chill/”WFH”/soak up the culture. I don’t know of anyone called an expat that stayed forever in a new country.

    People coming or going to another country to live permanently or work to support family back home is an immigrant.

14. Expat is temporary while an immigrant is more permanent. It has nothing to do with the income of a nation.

15. Expat is someone who lives outside of his country with no intention of joining that country. Immigrant intends to join.

16. I’ve pasted google results below; the correct “technical” answer. On the other hand, from my perspective the American POV is based purely on who is moving where. People who move to America from other countries are immigrants, while people who move from America to other countries are expats.

    I’ve rarely seen, if ever, Americans make a true distinction between the people who move here temporarily vs the people who move here permanently. Someone could move here and get a green card with the intention of only staying 10-15 years, until their children grow up and go to college, then leave. That person would be an “expat.” But in everything I’ve ever seen “immigrant” is the word that is used. No one calls someone who moves here from Mexico temporarily an “expat.”

    Finally, let’s take our above example further. Someone moves here from another country to raise their children and then go back home to their home country when the children go to college. Let’s say the person decides to stay after 15 years. Would they magically change from “expat” to “immigrant.” I guess so. But from what I’ve seen they would always be called an “immigrant.” The actual technical and legal definition doesn’t seem to matter.

    [Googling your question](https://www.expatriatehealthcare.com/whats-the-difference-between-an-expat-and-an-immigrant/#:~:text=The%20difference%20between%20an%20expat%20and%20immigrant&text=Often%2C%20an%20immigrant%20is%20seen,expats%20often%20find%20work%20abroad):

    Often, an immigrant is seen as someone who has moved to another country permanently, and an expat may be seen to have moved to a country temporarily. Expats may be more likely to move around than an immigrant. Both immigrants and expats often find work abroad.

17. An expat is somebody who moves overseas temporarily but doesn’t intend to give up citizenship or remain in country they moved to forever. Like somebody who chooses to move to Paris to be an artist for a while, or somebody who takes a 3-year job transfer assignment to Singapore.

    Immigrant is a more or less permanent move abroad looking to remain in that country, gain citizenship, etc.

18. Comes down to privilege and skin color.

19. “Expat” is short for [“expatriate”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriate), the term for one who resides outside their native country.

    If I were to move to Mexico, I would be an expatriate of the United States, and an immigrant of Mexico. If a Mexican were to immigrate to the United States, they would be an expat of Mexico.

    We Americans tend to talk about immigrants and expatriates from our point of view–so we see those coming here as immigrants, and those leaving here as expatriates.

20. Those words have different meanings.

21. ”expat” means no intention to settle, while ”immigrant” does. it just happens most people in the US from poorer countries intend to settle and are thus labled as immigrants while americans aren’t as inclined to settle in a foreign country. but of course, this is just a generalization and does not reflect upon everyone’s actual situation. one should always find out a person’s situation before applying lables

22. The formal difference is that an expat is just residing in a country temporarily while an immigrant intends on staying permanently. So if I went to Germany just to study and party for a few years, I’d be an expat. But if I went to Germany intending to live in Germany permanently and integrate into Germany society and acquired German citizenship I’d be an immigrant…

    However in reality, which one is used depends on the wealth of the origin country. Someone moving from a wealthy country will be considered an expat while someone moving from a poorer country is usually considered an immigrant.

23. For me at least an expat does not intend to stay long term, while an immigrant does.

    More specifically an expat is temporarily overseas for work almost every time I’ve heard it, as opposed to students or a year traveling or whatever.

24. Racism, but also because Americans see themselves as being Americans that are temporarily living in other countries while maintaining their American identity, not as immigrants permanently moving to another country. Even if they are retiring to another country, they still seem to consider themselves Americans on (permanent) vacation maintaining ties to America.

25. Expats are those who are temporarily living out of their country of citizenship, typically for work but long vacations also qualify. Immigrants have moved with the intent to permanently live in said different country.