An immigrant comes to a new country with plans of making it their home permanently. --They emigrate from their home country with no plans to ever live there again. An expat is someone living outside of their home country, either for work, school, or sometimes due to family - or even because they decided to retire there - but who don't plan on becoming a citizen where they live.
Case in point: I met a guy from Mexico working in Greece as a cook for the Mexican embassy. He's an expat. I have coworkers from Sri Lanka who came for the job. Some of them might end up staying, others definitely plan on moving back home. They're all expats right now. People from offices in other parts of the world who come for short term stays (1 - 6 months) would also be considered expats, no matter what country they normally work in.
Many Mexicans come to the US to work temporarily, make good money, then go home to their families. Some of these do so without permission of the US government.
Yet many call them "illegal immigrants" even for those who don't want to settle. Is it your belief that the more correct term for these people is "illegal expats"? If you use the term "illegal immigrants", will you instead switch to "illegal immigrants and expats"?
Looking around now, Google finds only 150 or so pages using "illegal expat", and the vast majority concern Saudi Arabia or neighboring states.
Comments
This is definitely not true.
An immigrant comes to a new country with plans of making it their home permanently. --They emigrate from their home country with no plans to ever live there again. An expat is someone living outside of their home country, either for work, school, or sometimes due to family - or even because they decided to retire there - but who don't plan on becoming a citizen where they live.
Case in point: I met a guy from Mexico working in Greece as a cook for the Mexican embassy. He's an expat. I have coworkers from Sri Lanka who came for the job. Some of them might end up staying, others definitely plan on moving back home. They're all expats right now. People from offices in other parts of the world who come for short term stays (1 - 6 months) would also be considered expats, no matter what country they normally work in.
Many Mexicans come to the US to work temporarily, make good money, then go home to their families. Some of these do so without permission of the US government.
Yet many call them "illegal immigrants" even for those who don't want to settle. Is it your belief that the more correct term for these people is "illegal expats"? If you use the term "illegal immigrants", will you instead switch to "illegal immigrants and expats"?
Looking around now, Google finds only 150 or so pages using "illegal expat", and the vast majority concern Saudi Arabia or neighboring states.