Difference Between Emigrant and Immigrant

Main Difference – Emigrant vs Immigrant

The two nouns emigrant and immigrant are related to the verbs emigrate and immigrate respectively. Since these two verbs are often incorrectly used by many English learners, there tends to be confusion over the meaning of the two nouns as well. Therefore, we hope to clear this confusion in this article. Immigrate means to come to settle permanently in a foreign country. Thus, an immigrant is a person who comes to settle permanently in a foreign country. Emigrate means to leave your country and settle in another country permanently. Emigrant is a person who leaves his own country to settle permanently in another country. This is the main difference between emigrant and immigrant. The meaning of these two nouns are related, but, at the same time, they are like two sides of the same coin.

Emigrant – Meaning and Usage

An emigrant is a person who emigrates. Emigrate means to leave your own country and permanently settle in another country. Therefore, an emigrant is a person who leaves his or her country to permanently settle in another country. Emigration refers to the act of relocation from the country. For example, imagine an Irish woman, who moves to the USA. The people in Ireland see her as an emigrant; to them, she is a person who is leaving your country. Likewise, if one of your friends or neighbors is leaving your country in order to settle permanently in another country, he or she can be called an emigrant. Basically, an emigrant is a person who leaves his country.

Immigrant – Meaning and Usage

Immigrant is the other side of emigrant. It is the noun form of immigrate. An immigrant can be defined as a person who moves to a foreign country in order live there permanently. As mentioned before, emigration and immigration are two sides of the same coin. Let’s again look at the example of the Irish woman moving to the USA. To people in Ireland, she is an emigrant. But to Americans, she is an immigrant, i.e. a person who comes from another country. The difference between emigrant and immigrant lies in our perspective. If a person leaves your country, he is an emigrant; if a foreigner moves to your country, he is an immigrant. The term immigrant basically refers to a person who arrives in a foreign country with the idea of permanently setting there. Thus, you can call the people who move to your country from other countries as immigrants.