Expat Vs. Immigrant

The difference between an “expat” and an “immigrant” often has nothing to do with behavior, education, or morality. It has everything to do with power, passports, money, and skin color. Colonialism left fingerprints on language, and the vocabulary survived long after the empires collapsed.

If you come from a wealthy country and move to a poorer one, people call you an expat. If you come from a poorer country and move to a wealthy one, people call you an immigrant. One word sounds adventurous and sophisticated. The other sounds like paperwork, suspicion, and struggle.

One is an immigrant with a LinkedIn profile. The other is an immigrant without one.

The first moves to a country that is not his, barely integrates, spends most of his time with people from back home, complains about the locals, misses the food he grew up with, refuses to properly learn the language, demands the benefits of the country while protecting his own culture, and somehow gets paid more for fewer skills.

The second does the exact same thing.

He also stays close to his own people. He also misses home. He also struggles with the language. He also wants safety, opportunity, and a future for his family while holding onto the fragments of himself he could not leave behind.

But he gets paid less for harder work.

One gets called “global.” The other gets called “a problem.”

One arrives with a smile and says, “I moved here because the vibe is chill.” People laugh, pour him wine, and ask about his travels.

The other says, “I came because life back home was collapsing and I wanted a future for my children.” People tighten their borders and say Europe and America are full.

The irony is merciless. The man escaping boredom gets romanticized. The man escaping despair gets interrogated.

Human beings rarely judge migration itself. They judge who is doing the moving.