Moving to France doesn't make you French

submitted by [deleted] from self.GenderCritical

sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]vitunrotta 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

Fun fact! I myself am an immigrant (no, I will NOT use the stupid, privileged Western word "ex-pat" - I am an immigrant just like anyone else who moved to live in a different country). I've been asked whether I now think that I am Portuguese: it's such an odd question to me. Even if I sought to have the nationality (which I won't) it wouldn't undo my past or change my history. I am what I am, I just happen to live here, and that is fine. Important: this is just from my POW, by the way. I am fully aware that in many situations, for many people, having the nationality of a certain country and not having to explain "yeah but where are you FROM?" to everyone is probably an excellent thing. And in too many cases even if you DO get the nationality and are officially now from country X, you'll get questioned.

In many ways I am super privileged - also in that I am not questioned nor looked down upon because of my country of origin. This is sadly not true for the vast majority of immigrants, usually because of their "exotic looks" and colour of their skin. Sigh. The world is a stupid, stupid place.

I do get your analogy and I think it's really good. Some things, obviously, are different when we speak of nationality and TRA's - but nevertheless, well done :)

[–]yousaythosethings 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Immigrant is a legal term in the U.S. That's why some visas are immigrant visas and some are non-immigrant visas. Both allow you to enter and in some cases live in the United States but only with an immigrant visa are you permitted and considered to have made the U.S. your permanent home/domicile. The only non-immigrant visa that allows you to enter the U.S. with "immigrant intent" is the K visa for fiancé(e)s of U.S. citizens.

[–]vitunrotta 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I don't know about the legal terminology in each European country but here the word "immigrant" tends to come with a very negative baggage. (Maybe so in the U.S. too, regardless of the legality of the term itself.)

I speak from my experience of course, and the realities I've seen and heard of in my continent. The two are (meaning the U.S. and Europe) in so many ways extremely different in a myriad of ways :)