1. Sent by company to work in another country with a full package: expat
2. Decided to work in another country doing white collar skilled or semi-skilled labor without a package but with no intention of (or ability to) staying: half pat
3. Poorer version of 2 doing less skilled or unskilled labor: migrant worker (not a lot of difference, actually)
4. Working in a foreign country on an actual visa that leads to at least permanent residency: immigrant
Note that China (where I was) doesn't really allow for 4, but there are definitely people who move there with the intention of staying (though their chance of ever getting a green card is very slim if they are not Han or a famous basketball star). I was in the 2 bucket, had a few lucky friends in the 1 bucket. The 3rd bucket was handled by migrant workers from out of province/city (so not technically migrant workers like we have in the states, but without residency via the hukou system they are exploited roughly the same).
Incidentally, the engineers China sends to Africa and south east Asia and other countries are definitely expats (though their packages aren't that big), the workers they send to do construction in the same areas are more like migrant workers. So it is not just a distinction made for westerners.
So usually you are both.
The true concept for immigration would be emigrant (emigres) but this doesn't seem to have popular English usage nowadays.
• getting a drink (alcohol) is a major pain. Either underground, or some elite venue where rules don’t apply - and the jeopardy that goes with that. Really want to spill wine on a Prince? And there are a lot of princes.
• feeling of underlying state level threat if you mess up
• some workers are treated as literal slaves openly
• getting your money home can be troublesome. Check out Dubai airport and abandoned super cars
People who tend to fare better are very career focused and can ignore the above. Also if you or your partner are into the five star life.
Edit: formatting
Seems like rational behavior from both sides in the end.
In Dubai you can get a drink just about anywhere.
> getting your money home can be troublesome. Check out Dubai airport and abandoned super cars
It’s really not difficult to transfer money out of Dubai.
Those cars are abandoned by people who couldn’t make their payments and fled the country.
also, "there are a lot of princes" sure youre not mixing saudi with qatar here?