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

jandrewrogers 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

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.

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shermantanktop 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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.

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adev_ 6 hours ago | parent [-]

> 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.

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eblume 6 hours ago | parent [-]

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?

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bnm04 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

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.

	▲	jandrewrogers 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		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.

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Rudybega 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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.

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anjel an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

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jjtheblunt 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

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6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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