Immigrant or expat

This question caught my attention also, in the healthcare thread. And i ventured to do some small research. What i found is as follows:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriate

In strict literal meaning of the words:

Someone who lived to another country permanently or temporarily (for long duration) is an expatriate (expat) to his/her former country and his/her former countrymen.

The same person is an immigrant to his/her new country, and new countrymen.

In case s/he is temporarily in a country for work for large duration, s/he is called a migrant worker. This is irrespective of white collar / blue collar.

In respect to law

Someone who is not a citizen or a permanent resident of a country is an immigrant. There doesnt seem to be any other specific classification other than that. This seems to be valid for majority of the countries.

In case the person is temporarily in a country for work for large duration, she still remains an immigrant in the eyes of the law.

In respect to the specific case of Eu citizens in another Eu country - the law seems to treat this group still as foreigners, but with a right to reside, work and enjoy benefits of the country they are in. As far as i have learned, there are Eu countries which may have chosen to limit immigration from other Eu countries based on quotas and requirement of a job or income, whereas there are those who chose not to. So any person from this group seems to belong to a classification in between a citizen and a foreigner immigrant, defined under the rules of Eu.

Popular cultural usage - country of origin

There seems to have developed a specific usage of these words especially in anglosphere (and in english language venues) to indicate an immigrant from a western country to any other country, for which the term 'expat' is being used. Whereas anyone not from a western country is still considered 'immigrant'.

And in various cases, even those from western countries may be dubbed as immigrants in certain countries, whereas people who are from those countries may still call themselves 'expats' despite being in other countries in the same situation.

The varying use of these terms for different groups of foreigners can thus be seen as implying nuances about wealth, intended length of stay, perceived motives for moving, nationality, and even race. This has caused controversy.[9][10][11] For example, a British national working in Spain or Portugal is commonly referred to as an 'expatriate', whereas a Spanish or Portuguese national working in Britain is referred to as an 'immigrant', thus indicating Anglocentrism

Popular cultural usage - definition based on wealth

Some seem to use a definition that revolves around economic status of the person. If the person moves to a country for economic reasons for better conditions for work or life, then defined as immigrant. If the person moves to another country for non economic reasons, then defined as expat.

However this seems to be contradictory since people from various countries who move to other countries for economic reasons are still called 'expat', whereas a rich person from a poorer country living in those certain countries seems to be called 'immigrant'.

https://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/20/ch-back … broad.html

Ie, American or British retirees whose retirement funds are not enough to retire in California, Florida, Southern England or even where they used to live and work, or people who are not able to get covered under brutal healthcare system in US, causing them to move to other places which are more economically advantageous, ie Mexico, southern Spain, Asia etc, still call themselves 'expats'.

Whereas an African, Asian professional working permanently in, say, Spain, is called an 'immigrant', even if he or she may be much more wealthy than the group above and may choose to live in any given country in comfort at any given point in time. (Ie, tech professionals, finance experts etc).

This seems to be a contradictory usage that specifically pertains to anglosphere. I dont know how is the termage in, say, Francophone or Asiatic expat/immigrant venues.

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My personal understanding is that there seems to have developed a negative connotation to the word 'immigrant' in the anglophone countries in the past 1-2 decades, and therefore expat seems to have become a politically correct term to use instead of the term immigrant. But application of this politically correct term seems selective.