Are You a Digital Nomad, an Expatriate, or an Emigrant?

Are you an expat, an emigrant or a digital nomad?

If you are planning to move abroad will you be a (digital) nomad, an expatriate or an emigrant? What is the difference between these terms? I am no linguist, but I can tell you my view on the various types of living abroad from a motivation standpoint. Each of these modalities brings with it an entirely different mentality when it comes to being abroad or where you call home.

A nomad, or a so-called "digital" nomad, is a person who intends to move from place to place. The digital nomad lifestyle has suddenly become hugely popular thanks to technology improvements which make it possible to do computer-based work from anywhere with an internet connection; and, even more, thanks to changes in work culture that were accelerated by COVID relegating to near obsolescence the obligation to be present in a physical work team for many employers. Digital nomads don't tend to settle in a new country or make it a permanent home and often tend to stay in shorter-term apartments or living situations.

An expatriate, or "expat", is someone who lives longer term outside of their home country, but does not necessarily intend to stay abroad forever. International teachers, humanitarian workers, or businesspeople who have taken posts abroad - even if these are longer term - are expats, in my view. They still tend to think of their home country as "home" and identify themselves principally as nationals of that country, even if they have established a home or settled in the new country. Expats often have some kind of organisational or financial support for their move, at least at the beginning - e.g. from their employer. Expats may, however, still integrate themselves very deeply in the new country, learn the language, if they are there long enough.

An emigrant is someone who has left their home country without an expectation to ever return to live there. Emigrants have various motivations, but most characteristically this term refers to people who were somehow compelled to leave their home country and it is usually applied to people leaving more undeveloped countries for more developed countries. It is uncommon for people to be said to "emigrate" from the US, for example, and in fact I have never heard an American use this term. British people who move to another country - the US, or New Zealand - will often say they are "emigrating", however.

My wife and I left the US as "expats" - i.e. we did not leave without expecting to return, but we became "emigrants" later, once we realised we would not. Emigrant-by-default.

Each of these ways of being abroad carries different approaches and challenges and different levels of conscious or subconscious integration into the destination country.