The use of the term &quot;expat&quot; rather than &quot;immigrant&quot; is interesting. I read a piece in the guardian the other day which framed that distinction in terms of white vs non-white (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;global-development-professionals-network&#x2F;2015&#x2F;mar&#x2F;13&#x2F;white-people-expats-immigrants-migration" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;global-development-professionals-...</a>), but it&#x27;s obviously a bit more complicated than that. I don&#x27;t think the two terms are synonyms, but they are <i>very</i> close, and once you try to pick apart the differences, I think the distinction does start to unravel.<p>Thought experiment: think about how the article would have felt had it been titled: &quot;Why American immigrants are giving up their passports&quot;. I think it would have felt different, and I wonder whether an American reader might have felt slightly insulted by that change.<p>I&#x27;d be interested to know whether other languages&#x2F;cultures draw that same subtle distinction between &quot;immigrants&quot; and &quot;expats&quot;, or whether it&#x27;s just some vestigial remnant of the UK&#x27;s colonial past.