Are You an Expat or an Immigrant?

Welcome! Lots of new subscribers lately. I’m Ellie — an American in Paris. I write about policy, communications, and, occasionally, life in France.

In policy communications, words matter. And few debates show that more clearly than immigration, where language is often weaponized instead of used to work towards shared understanding.

Most Americans are familiar with the beloved Disney cartoon An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, the “tail” of the Mousekewitz family, Russian immigrant mice making their way in America. Or perhaps Ugly Betty, the heartwarming story of a young Latina woman from Queens trying to make it in the cutthroat fashion industry.

Both stories are fundamental to the American psyche: a scrappy immigrant comes to America to stake a claim in the American Dream. And, of course, immigration remains one of the country’s most hotly debated — and divisive — issues, no matter where one stands on it.

Personally, I feel somewhat in the eye of the storm: an American in Paris, where many Americans abroad — at least in France — hold political opinions ranging from normie left of center to “Castro was good, actually.”

And given the Trump administration’s divisive approaches to immigration, the topic understandably touches nerves.

But this debate rears its ugly head in one of the funniest places imaginable: the Very Online argument over whether someone is an “expat” or an “immigrant.”

For the uninitiated, this discourse shows up everywhere: Facebook groups1, Substack comments, and occasionally mainstream media.

It usually goes something like this:

“Hi! I’m Ashleigh, an American expat in France looking to make friends.”

Internet person: “Ummm, you mean immigrant, right? Just because you’re white doesn’t make you not an immigrant. Do better. I’m literally shaking.”

Or:

“Hey, Carole and Bruce here. American expats in France looking for a good car rental service.”

Internet person #2: “Ummm, you mean immigrant. I swear, if one more white person calls themselves an expat…”

You get the idea.

The underlying assumption often goes something like this:

People from Western, educated, industrialized, rich democracies are “expats.” People from the “Global South” are “immigrants.” And if you notice that distinction, congratulations: you’re apparently racist.

But look a little closer.

Per the U.S. State Department, an immigrant is someone seeking permanent relocation. An expat, broadly speaking, is someone living abroad temporarily, often for work or school. As the State Department notes: “A foreign citizen seeking to live permanently in the United States requires an immigrant visa.” That definition says absolutely nothing about education, wealth, skin color, or national origin.

And yes, I’m using American definitions because much of this discourse happens among Americans. America has a long history of immigration and still welcomes more immigrants than any other country in the world.

There is, notably, no such thing as an “expat visa,” though the U.S. government maintains an extensive list of non-immigrant visas for everyone from religious workers to performing athletes. According to the BBC, “A business expatriate … is 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.”

So yes, quite literally, a Haitian temporary sugarcane worker in Florida and a wealthy Singaporean businessman could both accurately be described as expats.

And yes, I am, quite literally, an immigrant to France.

But let’s pause for a second. If my husband introduced me by saying, “My wife is an immigrant,” what image comes to mind? A woman sitting at her laptop in a Paris apartment that looks like it came straight from Apartment Therapy? Someone who moved abroad with a decent savings cushion, a close-knit family, and a solid career? Probably not.

And does that make people racist? I’m not so sure…

Speaking candidly as an American, when I hear the word “immigrant,” I instinctively picture the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” — Russian Jews fleeing persecution, Persians escaping the revolution, Guatemalans willing to work brutal jobs for a tiny shot at a better life.

Moreover, I would offer there are PLENTY of successful Black Americans in Paris, wealthy Nigerians in America, and working class white British people in France. So skin color and visa categories tell us only one part of someone’s story.

When people use “expat” instead of “immigrant,” I suspect one of two things is happening:

1. They are literally unaware of the legal and linguistic distinctions.

2. They have a very different mental image of what immigration looks like.

But this leads to the bigger question: how many of the self-appointed ICE (Immigration Category Expertise) Agents care about precision? And how many enjoy using language as a vehicle for performative politics and virtue signaling?

Because if we pretend there is absolutely no meaningful distinction (not hierarchy, notice I said distinction) between the experiences of, say, myself and the Guatemalan slaughterhouse worker, do we foster an honest conversation about immigration?

We must recognize distinctions in resources, mobility, education, financial stability, and potential strain on public systems.

To be clear: every one of us, expats, immigrants, and even online commentors are made equal and in God’s image. But pretending distinctions don’t exist so people can posture online does not make the immigration debate more compassionate or intelligent. It makes it dishonest.

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