Are you an expat or an immigrant?

According to the dictionary:

Expatriate refers to someone living outside his native country. Expatriate may be used as an adjective, noun or verb. Derived forms are expatriates, expatriated, expatriating, expatriation, the noun form of expatriate is sometimes abbreviated as expat. Originally, an expatriate was someone exiled from his home country, derived from the mid-1700s French word expatrier, meaning banish. The term expatriate carries the connotation that the person in question will one day return to his country of origin, or at least wishes to one day return to his country of origin.


An immigrant is a person who leaves his home and travels to another country in order to become a permanent member of the population. An immigrant is making a permanent change to his residency, with no plan to return to his country of origin or wish to return to his country of origin. The word immigrant comes from the Latin word immigrantem meaning to remove, to move in. Related words are immigrates, immigrated, immigrating, immigration.

I have no wish to live permanently in my country of origin again so I guess I am an immigrant.

iam expats ^_^

I have a one year visa extension and that makes me permanent so I must be an immigrant.

Username Taken wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:23 pm Hasn't this been discussed recently? general-chatter/don-call-expat-immigrant-t31852.html

And here. general-chatter/the-difference-between- ... 20928.html

Sorry, after your bunny boiler yarn I need confirmable references for anything you post for the next 90 days. Please post the source of your definitions.

I will die here, I have no intention of returning to the land of my youth, not even in a box or jar. I am an immigrant with a non-immigrant O visa based on marriage.

Its just semantics anyway. The reason I bought it up is I listen to yanks talk about Trump and his wall and brits talk about Brexit whilst being immigrants themselves. Either way I am not intending to return to my home country to live. I am pretty much priced out of it anyway

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:52 pm

fax wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:17 pm I have a one year visa extension and that makes me permanent so I must be an immigrant.

no it doesn't.. your only legal for 1 year and than you need renew ur status.

I have no wish to live permanently in my country of origin again so I guess I am an immigrant.

Irrelevant if you choose not to return to ur birth country

...a non-immigrant O visa based on marriage.

you have a NON-Immigrant EXTENSION based on a NON immigrant visa, so how does that make you a immigrant?

Normally an Immigrant assumes LEGAL status as a permanent resident in said country;
I have held 1 year extensions in Thailand since 1985, ( gave it up for one year in 97/98)
I am still and will always be an expat. Have zero intention in applying for a permanent resident certificate of any other country.

This is discussed every year or so on just abut every expat forum...

Perhaps the question could be reworded to suit the LEGAL definitions you have so kindly put forward. May I suggest " Is it your intention to return to your native land permanently in the future?"

I believe that there is more than one definition of "expat" and a simple google search indicates that to be the case.

An expatriate is an employee working in a country other than their country of origin. An expatriate may also be referred to as a PCN or parent-country national. ... A U.S. expatriate residing abroad, still owes U.S. taxes each year on his or her worldwide income. The US has income tax treaties with over 35 other countries. https://definitions.uslegal.com › expatriate

Obviously those of us that are retired and no longer work would not meet the qualifications of the above-mentioned definition.
Others who may still need to work to make ends meet are often self-employed, ie selling pies door to door, taking photos or even raising livestock. Given that they are not "employees" they too would not meet the definition as stated above. At the same time, neither group, those that are retired and those that still work but are self-employed unless they have become naturalized citizens of their respective Asian country are not immigrants.

Thus, the real question that can be answered with honesty " Is it your intention to return to your native land permanently in the future?"

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:52 pm

fax wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:17 pm I have a one year visa extension and that makes me permanent so I must be an immigrant.

no it doesn't.. your only legal for 1 year and than you need renew ur status.

But I am going to be here for ever.

Immigrant is a racist term. Everybody knows that an expat is just a white immigrant.