Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Are You An Immigrant or Expat In Spain ?

Just what exactly is the main difference between an immigrant, a foreigner and an expat?

"Expat" might be used for well educated along with wealthy professional foreigners to differentiate themselves from the very poor, non-western or perhaps second- and third-word foreigners.



Consequently, "expats" as well as "immigrants" are generally exactly the same thing, and the word "expat" is simply a social distinction.

Some additional definitions;
Expat (expatriate) - One who has taken up residence inside a foreign nation.

Immigrant - An individual who leaves one country to settle once and for all in another.

Expat, someone who brings cash or wealth from another country or perhaps gets a salary paid from another nation etc. (retirement, business person, diplomat) and an Immigrant, someone who is generating revenue within the country from its local sources (employment salary paid in local currency)?

You never hear the saying 'legal expat' or even 'illegal expat', but 'legal immigrant' and 'illegal immigrant' is extremely frequent.

Spain has observed immigration rise from 2% to 12% within the last 10 years, over five million people. Spain has just about had a wide open borders policy and nonetheless sees many boats coming from Africa and winding up upon it's shoreline.

One differential between expat and immigrant is the type of employment! Most Romanians, Moroccans along with South Americans come to Spain for economic reasons and also to work, however a large part of the expat community don't need to work because they are retired or have some independent income? The problem today is Spain has 22% of its population jobless and this could have a cause to slow down the flow of people from other countries moving to Spain.

The difference between an expatriate as well as an immigrant is that immigrants dedicate themselves to becoming a part of their Country or residence, whereas an expatriatse see themselves, and are perceived, as residing in a foreign land.

The real difference can be a class issue. Immigration has a negative slant. A characteristic of an immigrant might be represented by a minority ethnic group. So, even though an expat may end up being a minority within the extreme sense, they typically steer clear of the status of a statistical minority. I would state that's something to do with the unfavourable connotation of being called an immigrant. I'm not sure just how many expats tend to be concerned with exactly how they are generally termed however I hope in the event that they look at this, they will tell me and post a remark below.

One last thing to mention here, is actually patriotism! Expatriate as a result of the Latin ex patria - to end up being out of your native nation. Patriot is from the Greek 'patris' that means fatherland.

If you like this short article why not check out this more in depth article?

1 comment:

  1. One of my dream place to visit is Spain. I heard that it has a wonderful area there and thanks to your blog it seems that, I am imagining my self going to Spain. Big thanks and keep sharing.


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