> Think the difference is that an expat makes his wealth from outside that country he migrated to and Immigrant makes money from the country they migrated to.
I don't agree that this is at all universal, I moved to a (marginally) more expensive country for a local job, and am still definitely considered an expat. And while it's not an official term, there are plenty of companies targetting people like me, "expat mortgages" and so on. For them they can target their market, for us it means that we know they'll be good enough speaking professional English.
> And to me it comes down to power: when my fun is over, I just buy a ticket home.
This rings more true however. I think if you still have some feeling of "I'm likely to go back some day", rather than putting effort in to learning the language, making local friends, and possibly putting down serious roots, that's more expat-like.
The distinction is not so much about source of income as it is about the reason for their relocation, in my experience. Expats come to a country more so for adventure than opportunity. Not to say they can't thrive there and integrate closely with the culture, just that it wasn't really a relocation driven by necessity.
I don't agree that this is at all universal, I moved to a (marginally) more expensive country for a local job, and am still definitely considered an expat. And while it's not an official term, there are plenty of companies targetting people like me, "expat mortgages" and so on. For them they can target their market, for us it means that we know they'll be good enough speaking professional English.
> And to me it comes down to power: when my fun is over, I just buy a ticket home.
This rings more true however. I think if you still have some feeling of "I'm likely to go back some day", rather than putting effort in to learning the language, making local friends, and possibly putting down serious roots, that's more expat-like.