I have a couple opinions on the term that might be considered hot takes, but here's how I view it:
Historical/Classic Expat
Usually a white person from a developed country that has moved to a developing country that rarely (or reluctantly) integrates/associates with the locals, their culture, customs, and even language. They almost never naturalize as citizens, and even if they don't plan on, or ever do return to their country of origin, they still generally don't consider themselves to be immigrants/emigrants, and will often stay culturally connected and informed about ongoings in their home country, and seek to replicate aspects of it in their adopted home, up to and including associating with other nationals of their country of origin.
Examples: American writers in Paris in the 1920s, people who hang out at the various Foreign Correspondents Clubs, anti-fascist French people in Morocco during WW2, Military Brats in Germany, Japan, or South Korea, etc.
Digital Nomad/Modern Expat
People that are increasingly popular here on the forum; they're diverse, usually younger, and come from both developed and developing countries. They generally move here and to other countries without plans on staying long term because they have jobs they can do remotely from anywhere with an internet connection or are self employed, and want to visit and experience different countries and cultures.
Ironically, these are what I personally consider expats as they aren't immigrants at all and are moving around a lot.
Immigrants
This is what I think most "expats" here on the forum actually are, but for whatever reason, some chose to not identify as such. I'm not looking to judge them, as it's also especially hard to explain why someone would move to a developed country to Argentina to Argentines.
I consider myself an immigrant to Argentina, though I suppose emigrant from the US/Canada is more accurate since the "push" factors to stop wanting to live in either country outnumbered the "pull" factors to move to Argentina, i.e. I could have just as easily ended up somewhere else LatAm, or in Europe, or South East Asia if I hadn't met my Argentine spouse, that just made the decision of where to go easier.
I was here in the early 2010s during what I thought was a rough time under Cristina's reign (remember kids, it can always get worse) and for a two bedroom apt my roommate and I were paying over $500 USD a month for it, and that was the local rate, i.e. we had his aunt's house's deed as collateral.
Things have been getting cheaper overall in dollar terms over the past decade, but this has also paired with a decline in wages too (except for part of Cristina's and Macri's terms, wage growth has been negative both in real and nominal terms).
I visited in 2018 and things were cheaper than when I was living here before, (though the minimum wage and average wage was higher), but compared to now it was expensive, that's just how bad things have gotten since. While COVID and Ukraine haven't helped, even if you discount all of this, Alberto still managed to fuck things up just by winning the PASO in 2019, everything has been going poorly economically since, except for the dollar and inflation which is making Cristina's terms look like Ayn Rand and Ben Bernanke ran the palace of hacienda.
