hi all expats

I'm a self-described expat because in my opinion the word immigrant means someone who intends to stay and put down roots in their country of choice. That's not really how I feel about my current country of residence, so calling myself an immigrant feels wrong.

Expat is the one that knows s/he will go back one day.
Emigrant/immigrant is the one who's thinking of staying in a foreign country permanently. Not British at all ;-)

(Right now, I don't know where I stick...)

I also hate the word expat I always thought it rather patronising. Most if the time when people say are you British I normally reply NO I am European.
Most of my Spanish friends call me Chana and have done so since I came to Spain 13 years ago. But it is never meant with any disrespect.

V.S.Services wrote:

I also hate the word expat I always thought it rather patronising. Most if the time when people say are you British I normally reply NO I am European.
Most of my Spanish friends call me Chana and have done so since I came to Spain 13 years ago. But it is never meant with any disrespect.

hi. forgive my lack of spanish, what does "Chana" mean???
and what is VS services, maybe my VS need a bit of servicing, no smut intended.
Regards Ian

Jo Ann wrote:

(Right now, I don't know where I stick...)

Hello Jo Ann, stick with your heart not your head.
cool photo :-)

Hi Sorry all, V.S.services stands for Virtual Assistance Services.
I am a freelance Virtual Assistant, the v.s services is just a sister name I use. Chana is what here in the south the Spanish people nick name us. Chana for a female and Chan for a male. I believe it originates from when the Chianese people came to Spain and was asked what there names were and they mostly said Chan so the Spanish people adapted it to Chan and Chana.
I am not going to say the heritage of the name is true but it is commonly used here.Take care.

According to Wikipedia:
An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the Latin term expatriātus  from ex ("out of") and patriā the ablative case of patria ("country, fatherland").

'Guiri' is another Spanish term for us with pale skin.

Good thread Heretostay.  I don't like the term expat but I think it is a fair description of most of us foreign residents.  We are living here for an  indeterminate period of time without cutting ties with our original country. I think if you move here and fully assimilate into Spanish society then perhaps you are an immigrant.  Semantics aside I agree that a lot of Brits in particular are hypocritical about immigration - are we so different from the legal immigrants to the UK?  Illegal immigrants are another question.

Labels dont  really bother , i was born in Canada but i feel one is from where her or she fits in and not where he or she was born.Yo soy de donde me siento no donde naci.

Many expats I come across have lived in a good handful of countries and even those who are based in one country now (as opposed to those who do not spend more than 6 months in any location and hold several passports) have mainly lost any connection with the idea of being domiciled anywhere specifically and don't know where they will end up next.