Are people who were born in Europe to American parents who came to the USA as adults considered immigrants in your opinion? are they different from Americans who were raised in the USA?

31 comments

  2. A person being born in Country A and moving to Country B makes that person an immigrant in Country B. This is not anyone’s opinion. The person might call themselves an “expatriate” of A, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re still an immigrant in B.

  3. Yes. Immigration is more about physical movement than legal status in this context.

  4. So, we have a very broad definition what is an American. They would be Americans. I wouldn’t necessarily consider them an immigrant because they don’t need to get citizenship.

    What they wouldn’t have is common, defining, binding experiences that make up generations. We actually have a word for this, though I don’t know how common it is. People who grow up in a culture different from their parents but who don’t belong necessarily belong to the culture they grow up in are called third culture kids. Because they naturally make their own third culture.

  5. They’re technically Americans. Who’ve never lived in America. Special cases are weird. I’m sure there will be ways in which they’re more German, Kenyan, whatever than they are American.

  6. I think you could argue it either way, but in general I wouldn’t class anyone who’s been a citizen since birth as an immigrant — even though people like you described will share a lot of the immigrant experience generally.

  7. I’d see them as unquestionably American, but also a foreigner in many ways. I don’t know if I’d describe them as an “immigrant” but I supposed the definition could fit.

  8. If they have American citizenship, they’re Americans. If not, they aren’t– no matter how long they’ve designed rockets or picked lettuce here.

  9. I don’t like to get tied up on who’s American and who’s not these days. I just live here 🤷🏽‍♂️

  10. Culturally they probably will be a bit different compared to someone raised in the states but if you’re a citizen you’re an American as far as I’m concerned.

  11. Legally their Americans but culturally they’re definitely not. They probably speak their native language better than English, dress different, like different foods etc

  12. My initial reaction is who cares? There are more important things in life than labeling fellow Americans based on these sorts of attributes.

  13. Yes they are immigrants.

    As someone who was born in the US to British parents I consider myself American and not British, even if I moved to the UK.

  14. Technically American. Culturally non-American, unless they were raised to be very American.

    They are definitely different from Americans raised in the US. Just like how any other immigrant is different from Americans raised in the US.

    That’s not a good or bad thing. It’s just different. I wouldn’t expect to be dropped in another country and not be any different.

  16. Yes, because even though in this case they are an American citizen, they would still experience culture shock and have to adapt to how things are done here.

  17. They’re third-culture kids, or adult third-culture kids. I guess if forced to say whether they’re immigrants or not, I would say no, since they are natural-born Americans, but I think third-culture kids are a category all their own – if their parents spent large portions of their lives in the US, there will inevitably be some US influence in how they are raised, but, of course, the country where they are raised will influence their upbringing, as well.

  18. First of all, given that we are a nation of immigrants, I’d say that the biggest factor in whether or not someone perceived to be “American” by most other Americans is whether or not they consider themselves “American”. First generation immigrants who embrace being American are absolutely considered “American” by most people here, potentially even before they officially have citizenship.

    Given that, I’d say it’s all about how those people in you question identify. If they identify as Americans, even if they have an unconventional background, most people here would view them as Americans as well.

  19. Since they’re American citizens they’d be considered Americans, just with a different upbringing and experience than most people.

  20. They might be culturally immigrants, but if they were an American from birth, then I would consider them American.

    Its kinda like how in the future when the first kids is born on the planet Mars, we would still consider the kid to be a non-alien because despite the place of birth, they were born to human parents.

  22. Different, yes. But that doesn’t mean lesser. I suppose the difference is between “growing up in America” vs “being American”. All of the groups you describe (grew up in America, born abroad to American parents, naturalized citizens) are American. There’s just shared experiences wi5hin those sub groups that are different.

  23. Technically they’re Americans. Culturally speaking, they’ll probably be seen as immigrants by anyone who interacts with them without knowing their background, because they won’t behave like an American.

  24. Their identity is up to them. If they feel American based on how they were raised abroad, great, welcome back.

    If they feel French, Germain, Thai, or whatever, and just want to live in the US because they have citizenship but don’t identify as American, that’s cool too.

  25. I mean they immigrated to America so literally that’s what the word means. And even with American parents yeah they’re going to be different because they and their parents missed out and did not participate in like 20 years of our culture so they’re just not going to get all the references and little details.

  26. OK. I think we need a little clarification:

    >Are people who were born in Europe to American parents who came to the USA as adults

    Are you saying the *parents* came to the USA as adults or the *child*, as an adult, came to the US? It doesn’t really matter as a child born to American parents is American. It doesn’t matter, in most cases, where they were born as the US has [birthright](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthright_citizenship_in_the_United_States) citizenship

  28. This is a hyper-specific question and I adore it.

    It comes down to accent for me.

    If you speak with a distinct foreign accent, I will assume that you are an immigrant.

    If your American parents spoke English at home and so you have an American accent, I will not assume you are an immigrant.

  30. My kid was born in Europe with one American parent (me). He has a US passport and if he were to relocate to the US permanently he would probably lose his ever-so-faint accent after a few months. Even though we don’t send him to one of those private English-language schools (he is a full-fledged local, like his mother), he watches all the same cartoons and goofy YouTube videos as American kids his age in America do, in English. When in America, other kids mostly don’t guess that he’s from overseas.

    There’d be some kinks but they’d be ironed out fairly quick, were we to move back to the US.

  31. Whether you’re an immigrant or not depends on whether you were an American citizen. In most cases, someone born to American parents would be a citizen, so they’re not immigrants.

    And no, they’re no different from Americans who were born here, or from those who moved here and became citizens as adults. We’re all the same. They might have some unusual habits or accents, and they might think differently than most of us, but that’s fine.

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