#whereas my cousin in poland is an expat

[nyxelestia]

The irony about the working class associations is that if you go by their technical or original definitions, it was the other way around. "Expat" and "immigrant" actually do -- or at least did, once upon a time -- mean specific, different things. An immigrant was someone who moved permanently to another country, going as far as to change citizenship. An expat was someone living relatively temporarily. "Relatively" because sometimes that "temporary" living situation could be for years, even a decade or two. But, they were still considered citizens of another country, and intending to return to said country. They were only in 'this' country for a while, almost always to work or support family that was working there. I feel like retirees using the word 'expat' for themselves is what really started fucking things up, since they were people functionally planning to spend the rest of their days in this new country but still considering themselves citizens of the old one, and did not WANT citizenship in this new country.

the dichotomy between the "immigrant" (someone from the global south who moves to the north) and the "expat" (someone from the global north who moves to the south) makes me feel fucking crazy. a white person who moves to asia is an expat but an asian who moves to the west is an immigrant. & how those terms are politicized and assigned class statuses, like the word "immigrant" tends to imply a blue collar worker (even if that isn't the case) while "expat" implies a white collar worker. the associations with "expat neighbourhoods" in asian countries is very very different from those of "immigrant neighbourhoods" in western nations. also how "immigrants" who dont assimilate are seen as "failing" and bad, lower class, a burden on society, etc. whereas "expats" not assimilating into local culture is expected and viewed as a sign of their higher status. the double standards are so insane