What is an imigrant?

Answer 1

who really knows?

A "legal" immigrant is loosely defined as someone who comes to a different country from their country of citizenship through the legal process in place by the target country. In the US example a "legal immigrant" is anyone who comes to the United States on any form of visa (be it for Temporary Residence or Permanent Residence) and maintains their legal status while in the country.

The term "illegal" immigrant is employed in contemporary political discourse often incorrectly or, more to the point, imprecisely (which considering that many of the individuals perpetrating this are, themselves, lawyers is an inexcusable exercise in disinformation). There are two distinct types of immigrants which are commonly termed "illegal" immigrants:

• Immigrants who entered legally but fell "out of status", and
• Immigrants who entered illegally

The former group (those who entered legally but fell out of status) have been verified by Immigration officials and inspected on entry. Their criminal backgrounds have been verified and their purpose for entry was deemed legitimate. These individuals can fall "out of status" for a variety of reasons including willfully overstaying visas but, due can also be due to sheer ignorance as to their need to renew these visas at all or any efforts on the part of immigration officials to follow-up on visa-holders to advise them of their rights to do so. The unfortunate consequence of this class of "illegal" immigrants is that, due to the nature of the US immigration laws, any minor overstay will automatically result in the individual being deportable and subject to a ban from re-entry for up to 10-years. After its expiry in 1996 there is no avenue to correct an overstay (even a minor one) that is proven to be unintentional or in error. Likewise, for the most part, Immigration Judges lack judicial discretion to make exceptions in cases where the individual is materially contributing to their community or the country.

The latter group are the class of "illegal immigrants" that some political pundits, enjoy portraying all "illegal" immigrants (and indeed, some have painted all immigrants, legal or otherwise) as falling into. These are individuals who, for whatever personal, economic or other reason opted to enter the country without following the legal process set in place by the United States to control entry into the country. These individuals enter the country in a variety of ways but, in each instance, their entry lacks any form of judicial or administrative review of their qualifications, medical history, criminal background, etc.

Answer 2

An immigrant is someone who arrives at a country that is not their birthplace =)