3 ms·

There are many cases where “expat" are sent to a different country by their company. They are there for a couple of years depending on the projects. I don't see

There are many cases where “expat" are sent to a different country by their company. They are there for a couple of years depending on the projects. I don't see how they can be called immigrant, and they certainly don't see themselves as such.

nindalf 5y ago
Brown and black people sent temporarily by their companies are considered immigrants. White people living in retirement communities in Thailand call themselves and are called expats. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/13/white-people-expats-immigrants-migration https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/10/immigrants-britain-poor-problem-expats-gulf-brunei https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/10/immigr...
- nonamechicken 5y ago
  "Immigrants" is still a humane term. H1Bs are called as "temporary alien workers". https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/laws-and-regulations/laws/ina/h1b https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/laws-and-regulations/laws/i...
- mahkeiro 5y ago
  Maybe that's a cultural thing in your country but here we have Indian and Chinese expat, either working for large multinational companies or international organization. Nobody here is going to call an Asian or African working for WHO, or UN agencies on temporary basis an immigrant. Immigrant are people looking for permanent residency, and we btw do have a lot of British and American immigrants.
  - manojlds 5y ago
    Where is "here"?
- zem 5y ago
  that might be an american thing? as a brown person when i was living in the UAE i was definitely an expat, since i had no intention of settling there (or indeed any particularly good option to).
stjohnswarts 5y ago
Exactly, I think a lot of people just like to virtue signal and get angry at the term. I'm pretty neutral on it myself. Expats are people who leave their country but still consider themselves as wholy citizens of that country, immmigrants leave their country and want to build a new life in the new country and often keep their culture, but also adopt that of the new country; expats don't really want to do that.

nindalf 5y ago

Brown and black people sent temporarily by their companies are considered immigrants. White people living in retirement communities in Thailand call themselves and are called expats. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/13/white-people-expats-immigrants-migration https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/10/immigrants-britain-poor-problem-expats-gulf-brunei https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/10/immigr...

nonamechicken 5y ago
"Immigrants" is still a humane term. H1Bs are called as "temporary alien workers". https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/immigration/h1b https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/laws-and-regulations/laws/ina/h1b https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/laws-and-regulations/laws/i...
mahkeiro 5y ago
Maybe that's a cultural thing in your country but here we have Indian and Chinese expat, either working for large multinational companies or international organization. Nobody here is going to call an Asian or African working for WHO, or UN agencies on temporary basis an immigrant. Immigrant are people looking for permanent residency, and we btw do have a lot of British and American immigrants.
- manojlds 5y ago
  Where is "here"?
zem 5y ago
that might be an american thing? as a brown person when i was living in the UAE i was definitely an expat, since i had no intention of settling there (or indeed any particularly good option to).

stjohnswarts 5y ago

Exactly, I think a lot of people just like to virtue signal and get angry at the term. I'm pretty neutral on it myself. Expats are people who leave their country but still consider themselves as wholy citizens of that country, immmigrants leave their country and want to build a new life in the new country and often keep their culture, but also adopt that of the new country; expats don't really want to do that.