Define Expat
Research compiled on our Links + Other Reading pages inspired our definition written below. We encourage you to contribute your recommended revisions of the definition in the project's forum or audio blog.
Our Definition
- Someone living outside of their country of origin.
- Although expatriates make little to large attempts to integrate themselves into their new location, they often do not feel completely at home.
- They tend to move from one place to another, setting out only temporary roots.
- In contrast to exiles or refugees, expats chose to move out of their country of origin.
- In contrast to immigrants, this choice sometimes not driven by a desire for financial gain or an improvement in standard of living, but more often, by a sense of restlessness--a desire to see the world, to know more, to break from routines. Furthermore within the expat community, permanent relocation and assimilation are less likely to be goals.
