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04.11.2007, 19:48
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| | Expat vs. Immigrant
Hi,
Can somebody tell me the difference between an expat and an immigrant?
Cheers,
Nick
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04.11.2007, 20:09
| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
I understand that an expat lives abroad temporarly and and immigrant permanently
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04.11.2007, 20:12
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
Not entirely - an expat is some who moves abroad to live, regardless of duration. An immigrant is someone who moves into a country, also not limited by duration.
And there was me, looking at the title and hoping for some sort of celebrity deathmatch type of thing.
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04.11.2007, 20:14
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
If you ask my dad (an immigrant), he would tell you that expat is the fancy new name for immigrant  . And people from the country you left would call you emigrant.
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04.11.2007, 20:16
| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
Ok, so in the right sense then the people in my country call me an expat and the swiss call me an immigrant
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04.11.2007, 21:40
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
Technically or semantically?
Immigrant has negative overtones compared to expat.
I'd say I'm a British expat but not an immigrant to Switzerland...
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04.11.2007, 21:47
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant | Quote: | |  | | | Technically or semantically?
Immigrant has negative overtones compared to expat.
I'd say I'm a British expat but not an immigrant to Switzerland... | | | | | we are all "economic" immigrants .... except for Boris, he is a vagrant .... | This user would like to thank Polorise for this useful post: | | 
04.11.2007, 21:50
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant | Quote: | |  | | | we are all "economic" immigrants .... except for Boris, he is a vagrant ....  | | | | | Not true - I eat fish and milk products.
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04.11.2007, 21:51
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant | Quote: | |  | | | Not true - I eat fish and milk products. | | | | | You eat fish here? Thats brave.
I am too suspicious of seafood in a landlocked country.
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04.11.2007, 21:54
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant | Quote: | |  | | | You eat fish here? Thats brave.
I am too suspicious of seafood in a landlocked country. | | | | | all fish comes from the sea ...
rlly ?
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04.11.2007, 21:58
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant | Quote: | |  | | | all fish comes from the sea ... 
rlly ? | | | | |
I think you've got me there.
I would happily eat fish from the lakes and rivers if I could understand the menus | 
04.11.2007, 22:04
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
expat is a social/cutlural term, immigrant is a legal/policy term. there are no expat statutes or regulations, but virtually all countries have enacted immigration legislation. all immigrants are expats and all expats are immigrants.
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04.11.2007, 22:36
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
Hi,
It's interesting to read the replies. My feeling is "immigrant" has a slightly more negative connotation than "expat" does. As other posters have implied, we are "Ausländer" in the eyes of the Swiss.
Question: Is an IT professional from India working in CH any less an expat than one from an EU country?
Cheers,
Nick
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04.11.2007, 22:38
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant | Quote: | |  | | | Hi,
It's interesting to read the replies. My feeling is "immigrant" has a slightly more negative connotation than "expat" does. As other posters have implied, we are "Ausländer" in the eyes of the Swiss.
Question: Is an IT professional from India working in CH any less an expat than one from an EU country?
Cheers,
Nick | | | | | absolutely not ...
agree that the immigrant tag has a more negative connotation than expat.
interesting thread, hope we can keep it on track a little longer. | 
04.11.2007, 23:12
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
as i recall from some classses i taught on immigratin (but my notes are still packed away), the term expat developed during the late 1800s or early 1900s to describe american artists, writers, and musicians who went to europe (think dexter gordon and all the other african american jazz musicians who left the US as examples).
taken as a whole, immigrants add value to the countries they move to and the current hysteria about immigration is more akin to a moral panic than a reflection of any substantive problem or deficiency in immigration (yes theree are some bad immigrants but the vast majority are not problematic). interstingly dracula (the novel) was seen as anti-immigrant allegory (aimed at imms from eastern europe. this is a problem that is only going to get worse as people seek to find something to blame for the increasing wealth disparities that characterize many countries in an era of globalization.
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04.11.2007, 23:51
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
From the mighty Wikipedia: | Quote: |  | | | An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the Latin ex (out of) and patria (country, fatherland), and is sometimes misspelled (either unintentionally or intentionally) as ex-patriot or short ex-pat (because of its pronunciation). | | | | | | Quote: |  | | | Immigration is the movement of people into one place from another. While human migration has existed throughout human history, immigration implies long-term permanent or forced indefinite residence (and often eventual citizenship) by the immigrants: tourists and short-term visitors are not considered immigrants (see expatriates). However, seasonal labour migration (typically for periods of less than a year) is often treated as a form of immigration. | | | | | So basically the same thing. Though immigrant can sometimes imply something long term, it is not necessary. Expat includes all foreigners in a country.
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05.11.2007, 00:44
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
Immigrants come here to work hard, do their best to integrate, and make a better life for themselves and their children.
Expats come here, sleep with as many locals as possible, drain the local economy of it's wealth (aside from the beer industry), and then fly home dodging as much tax and train fares as possible. Oh, and this one bought a PS3 today.
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05.11.2007, 09:26
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant | Quote: | |  | | |
Expats come here, sleep with as many locals as possible, drain the local economy of it's wealth (aside from the beer industry), and then fly home dodging as much tax and train fares as possible. Oh, and this one bought a PS3 today. | | | | | Yup, no question about it: you are an expat | 
05.11.2007, 09:32
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant
Ex-pats are also most commonly observed in the Iberian peninsula, shouting at waiters and thinking by adding the suffix '-o' to every word in English, it is suddenly and mysteriously transformed into grammatically perfect Spanish:
"Oi, Pedro, get me-o two pint-os of Carling-o."
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05.11.2007, 09:45
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| | Re: Expat vs. Immigrant | Quote: | |  | | | Yup, no question about it: you are an expat  | | | | | I'm just gutted I can't dodge the air fare home too.
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