so why is this the expats forum, and not the immigrant british truckers forum?
Because we emigrated from Britain, so we are expats.
If this was a Canadian or New Zealand forum we would be British Immigrants.
Quite simple really.
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when I hear the word expat I think of someone working for a british owned company on a short term contract. like someone sent out to the congo to manage a tin mine, and they get a house and a driver provided and that sort of thing. or someone out in Singapore working for HSBC. an immigrant is someone who goes abroad with no plan to ever come back, an expat will be coming back
I suppose theyre just words, but what is the difference? is it just something we tell ourselves to make us feel superior?
and i’m interested about how the locals in Canada refer to you, do they call you expats or immigrants? do they tell you bloody immigrants to go home and stop stealing our jobs, or does the common history between UK and Canada causes relations to be friendlier?
when you apply for visas and residence I bet you go to the immigration department and not the ex-pat department lol
Again, as this is a British forum it means on here we are expats.
How do Canadians perceive us? Well there are those who think we should ■■■■ off back to where we came from, there are others that tell us to ■■■■ off back to where we came from, but by and large they don’t appear to have a problem about us.
I met a couple of people this week that told me about their relatives in Britain and that they hope one day to go and visit, then they want to know all about Britain. I’m often told “Oh I love your accent” and I sound more like Del Boy than James Bond, so overall I would say we get a pretty decent reception from the Canadians.
newmercman:
Again, as this is a British forum it means on here we are expats.How do Canadians perceive us? Well there are those who think we should ■■■■ off back to where we came from, there are others that tell us to ■■■■ off back to where we came from, but by and large they don’t appear to have a problem about us.
I met a couple of people this week that told me about their relatives in Britain and that they hope one day to go and visit, then they want to know all about Britain. I’m often told “Oh I love your accent” and I sound more like Del Boy than James Bond, so overall I would say we get a pretty decent reception from the Canadians.
I’d just tell them that with the exception of the Native Americans,who themselves might possibly be ethnic Siberians, 
the ‘Canadians’ are no less ethnic Brits living in a country that only exists because of us and given its name and language by us,regardless of our date of arrival or whether we were born there or here.Bunch of muppets if they think otherwise. 
As for Quebecois telling us that we’re immigrants in Canada I’d just refer them to the terms of the treaty of Paris signed in 1763. 
Absolutely Geoffrey, I have a couple of memes I like to use when they start up on Facebook groups.
newmercman:
Absolutely Geoffrey, I have a couple of memes I like to use when they start up on Facebook groups.
To be fair the Siberians ( sorry Native Americans ) are going to be back living in tents and having to hunt for their dinner with a bow and arrow if we go for that idea.
It will probably do them good, well better than getting bladdered and dossing in shop doorways like they do now!
I think the experts agree that the path taken by man to populate the world started in what is now Africa, which was at the time joined to S America and then they made their way north thrpugh cental America to what is now The USA, the Eskimo types are supposed to have wandered across the Bering Straits one winter from Mongolia and the native American is a combination of the two.
EX-Pats.
I have been in Australia for 42 years and I am still English. I am only a resident of Aust. In that time I have returned to UK & Euro on 15 times for approx. 3 months each time. In fact I returned from my last trip in Sept 2016. I would return to my home land ASAP if my Australian wife would come with me. If you were born in a different country to where you live, you still belong there. I have only just retired after owning and operating a oversize trucking company employing 26 drivers. So I contribute to Aust as well as UK as I still own a company there. Ex-Pat I am and proud be called so. Pommy ■■■■■■■ is like a VIC CROSS to me.
Its the same the world over to be a expat you have to be British its called trying to be different or stand out from everybody else the word refers to all nationals but the British are the only ones to use it, its like well we took the rest of the world into our country so we should be not called foreigners or immigrants wherever we go, which by the way they are foreigners and immigrants in what ever country they live in and always will be,
You may keep your sterling and you may leave the euro and make your own rules but your a foreigner and a immigrant where ever you live outside the uk and that stands for your commonwealth country’s too
Or it could just be that as we speak the Queen’s English and not the lashed up versions popular in the colonies, we call ourselves Ex-Pats as it is the proper term to use in reference to a British Citizen living abroad.
I worked and lived in South West Africa in 1975 and I asked the same question, what exactly is a British Ex Pat. The answer I got back then was “anybody with a dart board”. 
Live and working in France for 30years as o/d, left UK at 29 never considered myself an expat just simply British, my brother in law worked in Bahrain for 5 years and always referred to himself as expat
nightline:
Its the same the world over to be a expat you have to be British its called trying to be different or stand out from everybody else the word refers to all nationals but the British are the only ones to use it, its like well we took the rest of the world into our country so we should be not called foreigners or immigrants wherever we go, which by the way they are foreigners and immigrants in what ever country they live in and always will be,
You may keep your sterling and you may leave the euro and make your own rules but your a foreigner and a immigrant where ever you live outside the uk and that stands for your commonwealth country’s too
Jesus, what a petty rant, you on the rag this week ?
Whether we are in Spain, OZ, US, Thailand, Canada or Timbukfuckingtu, we are EXPATS.
Also, I am not a foreigner in Canada, my passport says so.
Nice one with the passport but its your birth cert you need to be looking at
mushroomman:
I worked and lived in South West Africa in 1975 and I asked the same question, what exactly is a British Ex Pat. The answer I got back then was “anybody with a dart board”.
I haven’t got a board but I do have my darts; sitting on the dressing table in their case, waiting to be slipped into my pocket on a Friday night.
Strange thing that I have noticed during my multi-country career as a British Ex-Pat: best place to find other British Ex-Pats, any where in the World, is in an Irish Pub.
I have been in the USA for over 16 years, I now hate driving trucks 
In the UK and Europe it was far easier going and better pay for what I did. I only live here because I have a wife and kids here. I will never give up my British citizenship because unlike some I actually read the very tiny print at the back of my passport, also if I became a citizen here I would have to do jury service for $40.00 a day and I would have to vote in this disgusting election. Also as some of my friends who have become citizens denounce my country, something I could never do (Unless Corbyn ever gets in LOL).
Pat Hasler:
I have been in the USA for over 16 years, I now hate driving trucks
Nice one pat honest and up front, Respect
Pat Hasler:
I have been in the USA for over 16 years, I now hate driving trucks
You need to move North Pat before we build the wall I feel very proud to call myself a Canadian citizen , the end of a long road for us as a family , not had to denounce either the UK or Oz as part my heritage although I wouldn’t wish to live in those countries nowadays . Life is what you make it mate , I’m from the “glass half full” school of thinking ,you ought to try it . Re your elections , you’re on your own with those jokers 