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Comment by rbtprograms | Hacker News Reader

americans pretending they aren't immigrants by using the term expat always cracks me up

The terms "expat" and "immigrant" are not synonyms. There is a material semantic distinction in American English.

Most Americans that live overseas tend to be expats rather than immigrants. Those two terms don't convey the same meaning.

whatever makes Americans feel better about being immigrants or migrant workers is fine by me

Expats have to pay taxes in their home country. The US is very difficult to temporarily not be in.

It's not fine by you, since you brought attention to it.

a person who temporarily or permanently lives and works in a country other than their native country. I mean, some Mexicans and other latin americans go to the US to make money and buy a home back in their countries. And still by they're not called expats?

For me, expat implies a temporary stay, often tied to your job.

I guess I think of "expat" as a possibly-temporary state where full assimilation is not the goal. American expats also pay American taxes unless they give up US citizenship.

Technically of course you are right.

> American expats also pay American taxes unless they give up US citizenship.

Practically, they barely pay anything significant.

The lower net salary in Europe / Asia associated with rather high local tax means that most Americans citizens oversea barely own anything significant back to the state.

However it does remain an annoyance to fill the tax declaration every year: I know several American who chose to give up their citizenahip just to avoid this specific issue.

I'm not sure I follow. I am a US citizen and have never lived abroad, but my understanding is that US Citizens living abroad must still pay the US a full federal income tax. It's graduated/progressive, of course, so the actual percentage may vary, but it should probably be between 15% and 40% of income. Not what I would call small. I don't think they can deduct local taxes, can they?

Many countries have tax treaties with the US, and there’s also the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), which excludes up to 132.9k of foreign income; so many US citizens abroad will indeed pay no US income taxes.

That is mostly only true if you have no significant investments. If you have investments, the tax situation is not good as an American even under tax treaties.

If you are normal wage slave with limited savings then yes the exclusions mostly work.

There's a huge exclusion.

The 2026 Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) allows qualifying U.S. expats to exclude up to $132,900 of foreign-earned income from their U.S. federal income taxes. Married couples can exclude up to $265,800 if both spouses work abroad and each meets the eligibility requirements.

Thanks! I did not know that. That changes a lot.

americans pretending they aren't refugees by using the term expat is almost too ironic.

if you're living where you were born, how can you be an expat?

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