In order to define terms such as emigrant and immigrant, as well as to explain in detail to those who are poorly versed in terminology, one must first understand what they have in common. But there is a common thing - this is the term migration, which means the movement of a person from his native country to another with a full-fledged change of permanent place of residence. From the word migration, with the help of prefixes, the concepts of emigration and immigration were formed, and from them, respectively, the words "emigrant" and "immigrant". In addition, we will explain the difference between these words and the terms migrant, repatriate and re-emigrant.
Difference
How to call a person who radically changes his place of residence? Despite the fact that the words immigrant and emigrant are antonyms, they can be called the same person. Consider a simple example: our compatriot leaves Russia because he wants to live, for example, in New Zealand. For us, he will be an emigrant, because. leaves the country, and for residents of New Zealand will become an immigrant, because. comes to live with them. An emigrant and an immigrant are those who leave and arrive at a new place, respectively.
How to remember which word refers to which meaning? Very simple. It is enough to remember the rules for the formation of prefixes.
If there is a prefix "im", which means "inside, in", then the term means a visitor, but if at the beginning of the word the letter "e", from the prefix "ex", meaning "outside, outside", then the person leaves the native territory.
However, it is worth remembering one important detail. If a person (or a whole family) leaves the territory of the country not of his own free will, but forcibly - during deportation, for example, or forced eviction, he will not be an emigrant. An immigrant and an emigrant are, first of all, those who made the decision to move on their own.
Another important point is that during emigration, a person evicting from his native country is not obliged to immediately change citizenship or apply for a new one. In some states it is allowed to have dual citizenship - and in the Russian Federation as well. However, each country has its own migration policy, which you should definitely familiarize yourself with if you intend to change your place of residence in the near future. Some of them are legally unable to provide housing and work for immigrants.
Causes
There are many reasons why a person may decide to leave the country and change their place of residence. This may be poverty or famine, military operations, various disasters, ethnic conflicts or various kinds of discrimination, political repression, lack of education or employment, the impossibility of realizing one's own plans, as well as the need for family reunification.
Migrant
This is another concept in this spectrum.
If an emigrant and an immigrant leave the country, moving to another state, then the plans of migrants do not include crossing the border - they are moving only through the territory of one state.For example, a person who moved from the Central Federal District of Russia to the Urals may be considered a migrant.
There is another term here - remigration, this is the case when a migrant and an emigrant returns to their original place of residence. If a person is called a repatriate, this means that he returned to the homeland of his ancestors. This is often done by Jews who move to Israel.
You can not call an emigrant someone who leaves the state for a short time, that is, tourists or businessmen. Yes, they temporarily change their place of residence, but this is not an evicted citizen.
Now you can imagine what the difference is and how to call certain people who change their place of residence both inside their native country and outside it.
