Job Discussion Forums

[phis]

Does it matter?

[saint57]

I am a Canadian teacher. If I moved to Australia for a year, I don't think the word expat would be used once. I believe that the same applies for any English speaking Western country. I'd probably be referred to as Dave the Canadian, Canadian Dave, but most likely Drunken Dave.

[The_Hanged_Man]

I think there is a class-ist element in the term ex-pat. Personally, I feel the main difference between an ex-pat and a migrant worker is the level of education needed, salary, and general level of prestige of the position.

Right now I'm living in Kuwait, and generally the people who work in blue collar positions are referred to as workers and the people in the white collar jobs are called ex-pats.

For the me the period of time you plan to stay doesn't really matter. No matter how long a construction worker plans to stay in Kuwait, I don't think he will ever be considered a proper ex-pat. In the US I don't know anyone who refers to Mexican migrant farm workers as ex-pats regardless of how long they have been in the country or plan to stay.

TEFL teachers tend to fall into a gray area between the imported menial labor and the corporate types pulling in the big bucks. When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer and eikaiwa 'teacher' I didn't consider myself to a have a proper ex-pat job. Now that I am teaching at an international school I do, although I do feel like I am at the bottom of the pack when in comparison to the engineers, bankers and such.

[soapdodger]

I would say that the "ex" in expat is a little inappropriate, as the people who would gladly refer to themselves by this epithet, or others would classify as such, are usually fixated on their own country and culture, seek out the company of fellow countrymen and generally miss out on alot of the enjoyment of living abroad by finding everything inadequete ( except themselves, of course) and not as good as at home. There is definitely an economic element, although alot of the 'suits' tend to forget or be oblivious to the fact that the reason why they've got an overseas posting is because no-one can stand the sight of them at home.

[basiltherat]

[Londonlover]

I think that ex-pats have the economic and cultural capital to CHOOSE wherever they want to live in the world (as stated by a previous poster) and do not necessarily see themselves staying in that place permanently or long -term. They also do a lot to preserve aspects of their home environment and cultural practices in the host country.
Migrants on the other hand, may have moved to a new country out of necessity, e.g. to get better jobs, to escape from problems in the home country and a characteristic of a migrant as opposed to an ex-pat is that migrants usually plan to settle long term or permanently in the host country and often try to assimilate into that country's norms, customs and practices, try to learn the language, develop feelings of loyalty to that country etc.
With globalisation and space/time compression, there is apparently now an in-between position known as transnationalism, where people find it easy to maintain strong ties with their homeland and to live their lives keeping a toe in both heritage and host country's culture. I believe these people are called transmigrants.

[coffeedrinker]

I think about this still because it's interesting to me that people do seem to have an idea of who is an expat and who is not - and generally agree - but it's hard to find a definition that fits it. It seems like almost anything has some counter example, where who we intuitively consider an expat doesn't fit the definition or vice versa.

I wouldn't say this is what "matters" or "counts"...but do you think that people whose main employer is mostly connected to their home country rather than a local one are the people who we kind of think of as expats?

International community people would fit this, as would teachers for international schools. I noticed that some long term volunteers also consider themselves expats...so it's not necessarily connected to high income, though it often does happen to be that way.

[mdk]

I don't think economics ought to enter into the definition. The guys living on the beach in Rosarita and then crossing into San Diego once a month to pick up their social security checks are ex-pats as well.

I think the only way to define it is by whether people are willing to live in a foreign culture. I think people divide into two broad camps. Some people just don't like to be around actual "foreigners". They look at a street full of people who don't act like them and they start to get the fan-tods and want to go find the tour guide. I had friends who would come to visit me and they literally would not walk out of the house unless I was holding their hand.

I think that kind of thinking is hard wired into some of us. Maybe in the paleolithic it was a survival advantage.