DW-only for obvs reasons

[rhivolution]

Thinky thoughts--if I were to make a community on Dreamwidth for expatriate people in the UK, would anyone join it?

Thing is, there are a bunch of issues here:
- the obviously vastly different experiences for people of different races
- the class/race divide between being expatriate and being immigrant (I saw this referenced recently by someone, had an a-ha moment, but cannot remember where...citation help?)
- the differences in experience due to the places that one is coming from

And since my position is one of a shitload of privilege, being a white lower-middle-class person shifted between two Western English-speaking countries, one of which being the bloody USA...I gotta chew on this one for a while.

And also the issue of Anglophilia, which sometimes can drive me up.the.wall. (sorry Anglophiles.)


...OTly, I am pee-my-pants excited about my Festivids reveal later today. SO EXCITED. I have got more comments on my vid than on any fannish thing I've ever done and I am just plotzing.

Comments

[wrdnrd]

I would also add that there's often an element of "legal relationship" in the immigrant/expat split. Someone who identifies as an "immigrant" often means, in my experience, that they intend to establish citizenship in the new country -- if not for themself, then certainly for their children. Whereas on the other hand, i think expats often have no intentions of either surrendering their U.S. citizenship OR of establishing citizenship in a new country, but they also certainly have no intention of returning to the U.S. to live: Andy's aunt, for example, who is having all their possessions shipped over to the U.K. now that her husband has finally retired there.

Not that these are fixed definitions by any means! (Despite how much governments might want to make them so -- i'm thinking here of U.S. H-visas (aka, work visas) which state that the holder is maintaining their residency in their home country, a definition that seems explicitly designed just to fuck people over.) Lots of the people i know who live internationally (for lack of a better phrasing) don't fit neatly into either category. I know a few people living in the U.S. who have each been living here for decades, but have never wanted anything other than permanent resident cards (one woman is married to a U.S.ian and has children with dual citizenship, but i don't think she perceives of herself as an immigrant -- she's just sort of living here). And i know lots of people with multiple citizenships, which breaks things up into yet some 4th dimension of discussion.

[littlebutfierce]

Yeah, my mom only got US citizenship when I was in high school, & that was only b/c some law changed that would fuck up her social security benefits. She was quite happy to regain her Finnish citizenship when they changed their laws to allow her to do so (& allow people like me to gain it). An old boss of mine (British, actually) has lived in the US for almost 20 years but has no desire to become a citizen. And of course there are the undocumented, as well, for whom there's v. little choice in the matter. (& DREAM Act kids, for whom there might be a choice, someday...)

I can't imagine ever wanting to acquire British citizenship, no matter how long I live here, but then it's easy not to b/c I have EU citizenship & thus a certain amount of privileges anyway (can't go on the dole, though).

[rhivolution]

See, I'm looking for dual citizenship in the future, but then my situation's quite different than yours with regards to living here. (And, as you say, no EU citizenship.) SO COMPLICATED.