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Immigration & Visas vocabulary · Migration Basics

Expat

Meaning in immigration & visas, with examples

/ˌeksˈpæt/nounCommon term

In immigration & visas, expat means: Short for expatriate: a person who lives outside their own country, often for work and often for a limited number of years.

In Turkish: yurt dışında yaşayan kişi, yabancı uyruklu çalışan, expat

How it is used

Common in business, HR and everyday conversation: expat package, expat community, expat forum. The word is mostly used for professionals, while people in other jobs may be called migrants or immigrants, so some writers prefer neutral terms such as international residents.

Example sentences

  1. There's a large expat community in Dubai, so it was easy to make friends.

  2. Her company offered an expat package that included housing and school fees.

Common collocations

  • expat community
  • expat package
  • expat life
  • fellow expats
  • immigrantA person who has come to live permanently or for a long time in a country that is not their country of birth.
  • migrantA person who moves from one place to another, inside a country or across borders, usually to find work or better living conditions.
  • relocateTo move to a new place to live or work, often because of a job and often with help from an employer.
  • host countryThe country where a migrant, refugee, student or foreign worker lives, as opposed to their home country or country of origin.
  • emigrateTo leave your own country in order to live permanently in another one.

More terms: Migration Basics

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not legal advice.