[amrocha]

Because US and EU citizens think that "immigrant" is a dirty word for people from poor countries.

To all the other people talking about intent to settle or not: read the post. The author lived in China for 20 years and built a family there. They're not an "expat" under any technical definition of the word.

[lmm]

> To all the other people talking about intent to settle or not: read the post. The author lived in China for 20 years and built a family there. They're not an "expat" under any technical definition of the word.

And yet he's leaving. He calls the US "home". So evidently he was an expat.

[amrocha]

He repeatedly talks about abandoning his plans to build a life in China. Changing plans when the government decides you're the enemy doesn't invalidate decisions taken before that.

[lmm]

> He repeatedly talks about abandoning his plans to build a life in China.

No he doesn't. He says it once, in the tagline, and gives no details.

[def_true_false]

EU citizens mostly don't think in English at all... In most languages you would call someone who moves abroad an emigrant or something similar. From the point of view of the new country, they are obviously an immigrant. The word for people from poor countries is refugee or "economic migrant".

[amrocha]

That's true in their native language, but it's common for high status Europeans to use the term expat when speaking English as well. And in my experience, most European immigrants speak English to a conversational level.

It's likely not an intentional choice, but a learned one, since other westerners around them use that term.

[refurb]

This is silly. I migrated to the US from a wealthy country and I am an immigrant. I've also lived temporarily in other countries, and therefore was an expat.

It's not hard to understand.

[amrocha]

Well yes, going by the dictionary definitions that's true, and I commend you for adopting the immigrant term. I'm an immigrant too, and proud of it.

At the same time, it's also clear that the status of the country determines whether people call themselves immigrants or expats. In the US people are immigrants, in Japan they're expats, for example. US citizens in particular very rarely refer to themselves as immigrants in my experience.