Agree to you Nir. In normal english usage:

A person who comes to do a well qualified Job from another nation is called an expat.

Immigrant is used when usually a person/family just moves to another country to start a new life all together due to better economic or social conditions. natuarally doing small jobs to start with.

good topic. i also use expat to describe those with good office jobs, while using expat to describe a guy with a hard manual job of laying bricks or washing dishes feels bizzare.

i'm sure there's something not politically correct here however...

Is it possible that the reason "immigrant worker" feels wrong when applied to, for example, people from other countries working in Geneva, is that it's difficult to imagine most of them actually doing any work?

Seriously, though: I find both terms to be despicable and outdated.

"Expat" has connotations of imperious priviledge; of self-entitled wankers drinking in colonial bars that the locals are only allowed into to sweep the floor.  In most countries that I've stayed in, I avoid anything described as "a popular expat hang-out" like I would avoid a rabid dog, because they are normally full of people who don't like where they're from, don't like where they are now, and are more than happy to tell you all about it.

Meanwhile, "immigrant worker" feels like a trite, dehumanisation of the wide variety of people who make the effort and sacrifices necessary to move to another country to earn a living.

I understand your point, Andy. Personally tho I don't have the same negative feelings about the word "expat", but I guess it depends on subjective personal experiences. Most foreginers I meet in Geneva call themselves "expats", but almost none of them fit the bad connotation of that word. 

Separately, I noticed the official communications of the City of Geneva don't talk about expats or migrante workers, but of the "International Community". What y'all think of that term?

I like better international community... 

But you can’t use “international community” to describe an individual, he/she is a member of, belongs to, or is part of, the international community.

I really don’t have any trouble with the word “expat”. I’m not ashamed of my origins nor do I have any compunction about frequenting -- admittedly, not every day -- an expat watering-hole, society, event, etc. They’re not necessarily exclusive opportunities to deride the local scene and its “natives”.

And just for the record, if anyone believes that the Swiss outside of CH aren’t expats, don’t have their  many societies – Gernan-, French-, Italian-speaking, yodelers, jass, etc., .  -- well, they have another think coming.

R.

I've always thought that the difference between the two terms depends on the perceived length of residence. 

The term "immigrant", to me, implies a long term possibly permanent relocation. If you get citizenship of the new country then you are definitely an immigrant. I described myself as an immigrant when I relocated to Australia from the UK for 20 years.

To me, "Expat" implies a temporary arrangement - the person has relocated for a while, There is probably no intention to remain in the new country permanently. I would think that describes a lot of the international community in Switzerland. I'd describe myself as an expat here.

I don't think this is related to skin colour, though possibly to socio-economic status.

Just my 2c!

i dont think its related to to the length of residence. i know people who are in geneva 20 years working for p&g, and they refer themselves as expats. take a vp at p&g who has been here for 20 year and put the label immigrant worker on her...doesn't feel right, does it?

Didn't you read the papers? A white US expat , Brady Dougan is stepping down as CEO of Credit Suisse ("The Local" and other papers) and is being replaced, in the words of the Swiss paper "La Croix":  by "a noir", Tidjane Thiam, in "a country like ours, where immigrants find it hard to climb to positions of high responsiblity".

Now read that last sentence again carefully.

Here are some links:

The Local

http://www.thelocal.ch/20150310/us-expat-stepping-down-as-credit-suisse-ceo

Le Temps

http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/eef6c0ce-c804-11e4-959d-74804f4bcbe7/Comment_dire_un_Noir_%C3%A0_la_t%C3%AAte_de_Credit_Suisse_En_le_disant

Lx croix

http://www.la-croix.com/Actualite/Monde/Afrique/Un-franco-ivoirien-prend-la-tete-de-Credit-Suisse-2015-03-10-1289618

«Un Noir à la tête d’une grande banque: dans un pays comme le nôtre, où les personnes issues de l’immigration rencontrent bien des difficultés à accéder aux plus hautes responsabilités, le symbole serait frappant. Las, cette nomination n’a pas eu lieu dans un établissement financier hexagonal, mais dans une banque helvétique.»

Editorial by "Le Temps" on the hiring of Tidjane Thiam

“This is undoubtedly the best response the business world could give to the February 9 initiative [to curb immigration, rejected by French-speaking cantons but approved by the German-speaking majority]. In order to prosper, Switzerland needs bright workers for whom recruiters also need to look abroad.”

So, why wasn't the hiring of Brady Dougan, dubbed an American expat considered a statement on immigration? And why is highly educated, Thiam, with a stellar record as high government official and Business executive an immigrant.

The comment in "The Guardian" was not on how you use the terms, Nir, but on how they are used by many mainstream outlets.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/13/white-people-expats-immigrants-migration

Ok thats what started the whole thread!!!!