I’ve lived in three countries during my life – I was born in England, my family emigrated to Canada when I was 11 (making me an immigrant) and then I moved to Helsinki for graduate school in the summer of 2016. Myself and my parents have always identified as immigrants. It never occurred to me to call myself anything but. Since being in Finland, however, I’ve noticed a “trend” that has appeared, namely among people of a similar socioeconomic background and white ethnicity as myself. This trend is calling each other and their peers “expats” (abbreviated from expatriates), and so I began to wonder – what exactly is an expat? Is there a racial line? An economic one? I decided to try and find out.
An expatriate is “a person who lives outside their native country”. An immigrant is “a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country”. Is the permanence of the stay the reason for the name change? Several people think not, and that it is more telling of the background of a person rather than the duration of their stay. In an article for The Guardian, editor of SiliconAfrica.com Mawuna Remarque Koutonin wrote that:
“…Europeans are expats because they can’t be at the same level as other ethnicities. They are superior. Immigrants is a term set aside for ‘inferior races’”.
This divide between the terms could perhaps be attributed to the changing attitudes of citizens as to what they identify with. A BBC World Service Poll, when looking at citizens from countries such as China, Nigeria and Peru, found that almost three-quarters of those interviewed identified themselves as being a global citizen rather than a national citizen. In countries such as Germany and the UK, less than half those interviewed saw themselves as a global citizen.
There is still no clear consensus about the term expat. Dr Yvonne McNulty defines a business expatriate as
“…a legally working individual who resides temporarily in a country of which they are not a citizen, in order to accomplish a career-related goal (no matter the pay or skill level)…”
Whereas Malte Zeeck, founder of expat network InterNations, defines an expat as someone for whom “…living abroad is rather a lifestyle choice than borne out of economic necessity of dire circumstances in their home country such as oppression or persecution”.
So, these were the definitions I’d discovered, but what about people in my own peer circle? I decided to talk to a few of my friends. The first, Bianca, moved to Finland from Brazil in 2009. She told me that she has never used the word expat, and the only time she heard it in conversation was when she went to a dinner where she talked with some people from America.
Another friend of mine, Roberta, is from America, and emigrated to Finland in 2011. I was wondering if she would define herself as an expat, but she told me she definitely considers herself an immigrant. For Roberta, “expat means wealthy, fancy, and white”.
I asked the same questions to another friend, Bajan Laura, and she stated that in Barbados, expat is a term used solely to describe foreigners from Europe and North America; “foreigners from other Caribbean islands are never referred to as expats”. These foreigners are usually in Barbados for a temporary period on a work contract, and they do not make an effort to integrate into Bajan society beyond a superficial level, instead preferring to stick with their fellow expat peers. Laura expressed that as her move to Finland is permanent for the foreseeable future she does not view herself as an expat, and she doesn’t see students as being expats because their main purpose is to study, not to work.
Whilst Laura does see the difference between expats and immigrants being in the permanence of the stay and the purpose of the move, she did allude to a racial bias that seems to be prevalent in many countries — “I hate the motion that white immigrants are expats, like automatically”.
I decided to ask one more friend, Beate from Latvia, so I could get a European perspective. Beate summarized her experience in the following way:
“I have the privilege of being considered an expat because I am a Master’s student in Helsinki and come from the West, but in England I will always be an immigrant as Latvia is not seen as part of the elite…I am an immigrant. I will normalize the idea that immigrants are not all just seeking a better life but emigrate for a variety of reasons – rather than creating a hierarchy and belonging on the expats table.”
So, those were the experiences of three of my friends – all of different ages, nationalities, and backgrounds. All three of them identified as immigrants. By the way, this debate over expats and immigrants is not a European phenomenon, by any means. In China, this distinction between the two terms cements an already existing segregation, according to Holing Yip. Yip says that
“I definitely agree with the declaration that the word ‘expat’ is related to privilege. But what’s interesting is that it’s a perceived privilege – what I think when I meet or see someone, how I treat them. It’s often aligned with race and socioeconomic status”.
Expats in Hong Kong could receive permanent residency after seven years, something that is usually unattainable for the thousands of Filipinos and Indians working in the service industry. A survey by InterNations also revealed that in mainland China, expats are less likely to befriend locals, possibly due to the cultural differences. It was recently advised by the Shanghai Expat to use an expat rather than a local hospital, to save themselves embarrassment.
Feeling confused, I found one more article on Expat Chronicles, which said that they had a very simple test to determine if one was an expat or immigrant. The test was one question, stating “To make the most money in terms of dollars, where do you go?” The answers were 1. I would go to my home country, or 2. I would leave my home country. If the first was true, you were an expat; the second, an immigrant.
Obviously, there is still debate about this topic, and the difference seems to vary for people depending upon their background and race. I couldn’t help but notice that those who didn’t view expat as a racially-charged term were…well, all white. As more and more people start to experience the benefits of globalization and leave their home country for a variety of reasons, these terms are going to be thrown about everywhere. I’ll stick with immigrant.
Sources:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-36139904
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170119-who-should-be-called-an-expat
http://www.expat-chronicles.com/2017/03/expat-vs-immigrant-test/