Expatriates / Expats / X-pat
An
expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or
permanently
resident in a country and culture other than that of the person's
upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the
Latin ex (out of) and patria (country, fatherland),
and is sometimes misspelled (either unintentionally or intentionally)
as ex-patriot
or short x-pat, because of its pronunciation.
The term
is often used in the context of Westerners living in non-Western
countries, although it is also used to describe Westerners living in
other Western countries, such as
Australians living in the
United Kingdom, or
Britons living in
Spain. Since more companies are doing business other than there
home base country the expatriate communities have been growing all
around the world. This growing community needs the same services is is
used to when in their own home country and thus Expatriate Counseling
was born.
Expatriate can just as well be used to describe any person living in a
country other than where they hold
citizenship, but is generally not used for government officials
stationed in a foreign country.
Some abbreviations are: Expat, Expats, Ex-pats,
Expatriate, Xpat or X-patriate.
