The expat vs. immigrant debate - What's the difference? And does this difference matter?

I used to really hate pointing things out and making comments that made people uncomfortable, especially about social things, i.e. this type of post that I’m writing now. But, the older I got and the more aware I became of my own privileges, I began to realise that with my privilege, it is my duty to point out these discrepancies and hypocrisies that I keep finding in the world based on race, gender, sexual identity, etc. In this case, we’re talking race. And I know that this is a topic that will make most people squirm and feel uncomfortable, but if you are a white expat, it is crucial for you to understand and learn about the differences in experience you have versus your nonwhite counterpart. So, let’s just get right into it, shall we?

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When I am out in Den Haag - walking into stores, walking down the street, going out to dinner, whatever it may be - the first thing people assume if they speak to me is that I am Dutch. Once I start speaking with my obvious American accent, I am then labeled as an “expat.” But, what happens when a POC expat walks down the street, goes into stores, is ordering food; is it much different from my experience? And if it is, why would it be? 

Well, I hate to break it to you, but it is much different. The way people react to and speak to a POC expat is much different than they speak to someone like me, a white expat. When my dear friend, who no longer lives in the Netherlands, would do anything, people’s first reaction is that she is a Moroccan immigrant (if you live in NL, you know how the Dutch feel about Moroccans…) simply because of the way she looks — she is half Mexican and half Puerto Rican, with long curly hair. It’s only once she starts speaking in her obvious American accent that whoever is helping her will change tones and treat her as an expat. But even then, she is met with questions such as “but where are you really from?”

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When looking up the difference between the two, the only difference I could actually find is in the technical definition, and the difference is incredible small. An expat is someone who moves to another country other than their home country (i.e. me — I’m an American who moved to the Netherlands 3 years ago for university); an immigrant is someone who moves to another country to live permanently. 

See, the difference here is the word “permanently.” These definitions do not take into account whether or not an expat intends to live in the new country permanently, which is where things get confusing, because if you’re apart of any expat Facebook group, you know that many expats discuss becoming citizens, or living in the Netherlands permanently. So, does that mean that expats like me, who intended to move for just a few years but decided to stay permanently (whether for a job or relationship), are now immigrants? 

The answer is pretty simple — no. Even though I have moved here permanently and have made the Netherlands my home, I am still considered by everyone I meet an expat. And I find that when I mention these discrepancies to other people, it makes them pretty uncomfortable.

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Is there really a problem with being called an immigrant? And if there is, why?

The easiest way to explain the damages of being called an immigrant for some people is through explaining group mentality, specifically the us vs. them mentality. This comes from the human mind wanting to categorise everything, and fit everything and everyone in a box. The us vs. them mentality is basically putting people that are like you - by age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education level, etc. - in the “us” category, and everyone else who doesn’t fit that into the “them” category. Most of the time, these categories and defining features are based on nothing substantial but superficial things and not off values or character of the person in quesiton. But for some reason, research shows time and time again that we, overwhelmingly, feel safer and more comfortable with those who we label as “us.” This safety and comfort that is created, then, allows for the “them” category to be marginalised, demonised, or completely ignored, creating more and more unnecessary tension between groups. 

So now that we know what us vs. them means, we can now discuss how this plays into the immigrant vs expat debate, and how this can actually become quite damaging. The us vs. them between immigrant and expat can all come down the stereotypes associated with immigrants. We’ve all seen movies, tv shows, heard on the news, these negative stereotypes including, but not limited to, immigrants being illegal, uneducated, threatening, and criminals. If any of you have met an immigrant before, you will know that these negative stereotypes aren’t true that often, but because of such strong anti-immigrant rhetoric happening in the political air today, the negative stereotypes are the ones that we most commonly hear. 

If all you’re hearing about immigrants are these nasty, negative stereotypes, of course you going to think “well, I’m not any of those things!” This then leads into the us vs. them - us, being expats, are educated, law-abiding citizens, while the them, immigrants, are uneducated, criminals. And this is where the problem lies. As soon as we start seeing immigrants as “them” and different than us, we start treating immigrants differently; we start marginalising them, not trusting them, avoiding areas in which they live. All of which leads to further issues developing in their lives - further poverty because of an inability to find work, lack of access to higher education, etc. When you think about it like this, when you think of immigrants being “them”, you start creating a space where immigrants do not feel safe or welcomed. You even stop seeing yourself as what you may actually be, an immigrant. 

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The problem with the expat vs immigrant debate goes beyond just the terminology and word choice and into how you experience the world, how you experience your new environment and the people from the new country. The connotation of the word “immigrant” was never intended to be negative, but has definitely become a negative over time. With the current rhetoric of immigrants being bad, ruining countries, taking jobs, even as extreme as saying immigrants are terrorists and criminals, it is no surprise that the word went from describing nearly everyone’s family at some point to being a term to avoid being called at all possible costs. 

And this is where the issue is — anyone who moves to another country to live permanently or semi-permanently is an immigrant. So why are we so concerned with being sure to express ourselves as expats, to distance ourselves from the word immigrant; why do we all so desperately want to say “no, I’m an expat”? Because we do not want to be made as the same as the negative aspects to the word immigrant, even if the word immigrant describes us the best. 

It is time that we start reshaping our ideas of what an immigrant looks like, because it may just be you.