Expats
The word ‘expat’ (plural: expats) is an abbreviation of the word ‘expatriate’ and basically refers to someone who settles in another country with a completely different culture, in comparison with the homeland. Besides the term ‘expat’ there is also the term “emigrant”. Even though these are two separate concepts, they tend to overlap.
The word “emigration” refers to the process of a person leaving his or her home in order to settle permanently in another country. The cultural aspect makes the original difference between the concepts of ‘expat’ and ‘emigrant’.
Although the meaning of ‘emigration’ basically remained the same, the term ‘expat’ meanwhile received slightly different meaning in many cases. When we talk about expats we usually mean employees, who are sent abroad by their employer to work and live for an extended amount of time.