In newspaper articles and elsewhere, I have seen the terms expat and migrant worker. Is there any difference?
I've looked up both terms on Wikipedia:
For migrant worker has a UN definition of:
The term "migrant worker" refers to a person who is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national
The term expat, short for expatriate, has different meanings, but can be:
its broadest sense, an expatriate is any person living in a different country from where he is a citizen. In common usage, the term is often used in the context of professionals sent abroad by their companies, as opposed to locally hired staff. The differentiation found in common usage usually comes down to socio-economic factors, so skilled professionals working in another country are described as expatriates, whereas a manual labourer who has moved to another country to earn more money might be labelled an 'immigrant'. There is no set definition and usage does vary depending on context and individual preferences and prejudices.
Does this mean it's entirely up to the motivation and the type of labour?
Best Answer
The term "migrant worker" is more commonly used for people from poor countries working in a richer country, whereas "expat" is typically used for people from stable, first world countries living in a poorer, non-western country.