Expat or Immigrant…or does it matter?

Ajouté : 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]I've been told calling yourself an expat versus calling yourself an immigrant says a lot about you. So, let's talk about that for a second. So, I've been getting a lot of comments lately about why I call myself an expat versus an immigrant. Honestly, I use them interchangeably. I use both.

[00:00:20]It's because the way I understood it was an expat represents somebody who has left their home country but is staying in a new country on a temporary basis.

[00:00:32]Whereas an immigrant has an intent to stay in that new country permanently. I am on a temporary visa here in the UK with the hope that I can be here permanently someday, but unfortunately, that is not really in my control entirely. So, for me, the term expat fits a little bit better in my opinion. Now, I've been told that the word expat comes with racial undertones.

[00:00:57]And that there have been some people that have used it as a way to differentiate themselves from immigrant because of all the negative connotation that comes along with that in on some circles. Obviously, I can't speak for everybody. But that was never my intention nor had it ever crossed my mind once that that would be even be associated with either term. Obviously, I know there's negativity associated with the word immigrant, but a lot of people use it as a kind of catch all umbrella term for anyone that wasn't born in a country. So, sometimes it just boils down to knowledge in my opinion. When we lived in America and my British partner was there with me, I always referred to him as an immigrant because I didn't even know at that point that the word expat existed and what it meant. I called him an immigrant because that's the term that I knew at the time and I referred to him that way cuz it was never about race for me, only context. But I also understand that people see things through their own lenses. The experiences that those people have encountered do matter.

[00:02:07]I appreciate and acknowledge that.

[00:02:10]I've never said that my point of view was end all and be all on any subject I talk about. What I don't love is how quickly we label people based on one word that's said in a short clip, in conversation, or in a title.

[00:02:24]Because if someone says expat, someone says immigrant, or some other term or phrase, it doesn't take away from their personal experience and it doesn't invalidate what they have to say. I think that we would get a lot further in this world if we assumed good intent instead of negative and went into conversations with open minds and open hearts and good faith, but I will not stand for inappropriate or hasty labels.

[00:02:51]That's not what this channel is about.