[user104658]

"Expat" is an interesting term anyway, a very illuminating one. The common use of the word "expatriate" exists purely because affluent white western people find the word "immigrant" to have inherently dirty / inferior connotations, and don't want it to be associated with them.

British expats are migrants like any other... Nothing more, nothing less.

Its an interesting double standard, really, and does highlight some of the inherent prejudices that still exist. Take benefits, asylum, etc. Out of the equation for a second: do people consider an American specialist surgeon working in a UK hospital to be an "immigrant"? Or a German or white French doctor? No... But, do they consider an African or Indian surgeon with an accent, with exactly the same position and qualifications, to be an immigrant? Usually, yes.

This applies right across the qualification / income spectrum. A friend of ours is from the North East USA and has settled here, has a Scottish husband and three Scottish children... She is unqualified and a full-time housewife, her husband works full time but in a relatively low income job, so they get full tax credits etc.

She still has a strong American accent.

Do people think of her as an immigrant? No. Would they if she was African, Asian or (especially) Middle Eastern and had one of "those" accents? Almost certainly, yes. Literally the only thing that stops her from being considered a "scummy immigrant leeching benefits" is the fact that she is a white American.