@HFCAMPO, I have 3 sons, 2 grandchildren and my parents are both still living, so i will always return to the USA for extended visits. I have sold my home in the USA so unless something changes dramatically my home is in China with my wife. My biggest fear is with china unwilling to give us permanant status without jumping through so many hoops they could make us leave at anytime or make life so difficult we would want to leave. Just taking my wife to visit the USA will be a daunting task as we all have heard the horror stories of trying to deal with immigration.

My understanding of Expats is that it also include long term secondees. Living in another country does not require you to see your life in another country. In many countries, for tax purposes, you would be classed as non-resident and an expat if you expect to be gone for more than one year. Many expats repatriate.

By definition - An expat is someone living in another country. I first came to China when I was 38 and have lived here permanantly since I was 40 years old, so I consider myself an expat.

Ex meaning former - Like exwife. I wonder if some people hope to return to their exwife? For me ex means former or past with no intention of returning to the former state.

It is exactly because of the meaning of EX - that Marines say - I am a former Marine and NOt and an Ex-Marine because they believe in - Once a Marine always a Marine.

call me stupid but with all the problems facing the world defining an expat in the most finite of terms seems to me like a giant waste of time. I apologize in advance if i have missed something or am offending anyone.

From wikipedia, who I trust more than posters on here

An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing. The word comes from the Latin terms ex ("out of") and patria ("country, fatherland").

Attempts at literal definitions of some words just don't work.

@tallamerican
I agree with you but the discussion is pertinent as someone is trying to discredit the validity of the original discussion through pedantry. Or maybe he is just trolling

I think an expat is any person who lives in another country as a foreigner for an extended period of time without gaining permanent residency or citizenship and is most appropriately applied to foreigners living in non-multicultural countries like China where it is difficult and uncommon to gain residency and especially citizenship. An expat also implies a sense of not being in the country forever, although there are many long-term expats these days, many of whom will never go home.

Even though the term expat can be used for say a Brit living in the USA, it sounds a bit strange because that Brit will probably eventually become an American anyway and since the USA is multicultural, everyone, irrespective of background is eligible to become a US citizen provided they have met the requirements in terms of residency etc.