Legit though, the only difference between expat and immigrant more often than not is just vibes, and the vibes are more often than not just
I’m willing to give people some leeway, but anyone who self-describes as an expat still immediately gets a raised eyebrow from me as probably having some chauvy brainworms
Expatriate or expat, from the Latin roots for “out of the fatherland”, just means living outside your country of birth. The difference between expat and immigrant “on paper” is at broadest nonexistent, and at narrowest expats are temporary and immigrants are permanent — but the difference between expats and immigrants “in practice” is really just that expats are white and immigrants are not. So expat is basically a “LinkedIn euphemism” for a migrant worker, because migrant worker is too “Kenyan taxi driver, Filipina maid, Polish construction worker, Chinese cashier”-coded, sorry, I mean, “unskilled taxi driver etc”-coded. I actually have a family anecdote of my mom once meeting an “anti-immigrant” politician’s spiel with “I’m an immigrant, you know!” only for the politician to snap back, “I’m not talking about immigrants like you!” — so just as racialized people are generally barred from the label of expat, unracialized (“white”) people might even experience being barred from the label of immigrant in turn, because politicians want to charge expat with “good vibes” and immigrant with “bad vibes”, and how dare you not put yourself on a pedestal!
But yeah, in any case, as I’m saying, it’s important to give people some leeway with this — a raised eyebrow and nothing more until you get to know the person. Not everybody has put so much thought into this topic, or noticed these things.
Iirc you can stop paying taxes but literally only if you give up your US citizenship entirely. But to do that, you have to book an in-person appointment with feds where you convince them to give you permission. And I’m pretty sure there are no laws or procedures they have to follow; it’s just vibes-based whether or not they let you go.
iirc the up-front cost to renounce citizenship is $4300 and they also levy any possible taxes on all your assets at time of renunciation, so you get to pay your capital gains up-front as well
i really hate how the US makes no bones about ownin’ my ass. if one ever looks around, one finds benefits to citizenship are accidental, ancillary. you’re their asset, born into and for the machine. fuckin’…fuckin’…
“Expat” lol
Did you renounce your citizenship or are you gonna file your US taxes every year for the rest of your life?
Sign me up for the campaign to abolish the word “expat”
Legit though, the only difference between expat and immigrant more often than not is just vibes, and the vibes are more often than not just
I’m willing to give people some leeway, but anyone who self-describes as an expat still immediately gets a raised eyebrow from me as probably having some chauvy brainworms
Wait, I thought the word expat meant someone living in a country that they weren’t a citizen of?
Am I using the wrong word? D:
Expatriate or expat, from the Latin roots for “out of the fatherland”, just means living outside your country of birth. The difference between expat and immigrant “on paper” is at broadest nonexistent, and at narrowest expats are temporary and immigrants are permanent — but the difference between expats and immigrants “in practice” is really just that expats are white and immigrants are not. So expat is basically a “LinkedIn euphemism” for a migrant worker, because migrant worker is too “Kenyan taxi driver, Filipina maid, Polish construction worker, Chinese cashier”-coded, sorry, I mean, “unskilled taxi driver etc”-coded. I actually have a family anecdote of my mom once meeting an “anti-immigrant” politician’s spiel with “I’m an immigrant, you know!” only for the politician to snap back, “I’m not talking about immigrants like you!” — so just as racialized people are generally barred from the label of expat, unracialized (“white”) people might even experience being barred from the label of immigrant in turn, because politicians want to charge expat with “good vibes” and immigrant with “bad vibes”, and how dare you not put yourself on a pedestal!
But yeah, in any case, as I’m saying, it’s important to give people some leeway with this — a raised eyebrow and nothing more until you get to know the person. Not everybody has put so much thought into this topic, or noticed these things.
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Honestly? Will see. I’d love to get another citizenship.
can you actually renounce paying taxes? i thought i read the US was unique in that was very hard to, even if you renounce citizenship as you say
Iirc you can stop paying taxes but literally only if you give up your US citizenship entirely. But to do that, you have to book an in-person appointment with feds where you convince them to give you permission. And I’m pretty sure there are no laws or procedures they have to follow; it’s just vibes-based whether or not they let you go.
you also have to pay them money to renounce it, it’s not free
iirc the up-front cost to renounce citizenship is $4300 and they also levy any possible taxes on all your assets at time of renunciation, so you get to pay your capital gains up-front as well
i really hate how the US makes no bones about ownin’ my ass. if one ever looks around, one finds benefits to citizenship are accidental, ancillary. you’re their asset, born into and for the machine. fuckin’…fuckin’…