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Comment by anal_reactor

2 days ago

Ain't nobody calling seasonal minimum-wage workers "expats".

True, but I'm talking about native English speakers. Those people likely have their own terminology in their own language to describe themselves.

Also an ex-patriate is typically in the professional class. So those "English" teachers who teach in Japan, etc., may think of themselves as ex-pats or try to frequent "ex-pat" hangouts but they aren't necessarily because of two things: one, they have not been working at their home office and then transferred and typically they do not hold prelesional degrees -though they may hold "certificates" or whatever. They are in effect temporary workers on a limited stay visa, often needing annual renewal by hopping to a third country to have it renewed themselves. For ex-pats all this or arranged by their employers.

  • "expat" is rich, "immigrant" is poor. People use the word "expat" to signal they're rich, or at least they want to be.

    Here, your theory goes out of the window.

  • Expat is an Anglo work migrant, they insist on the distinction as it's in their titular language.