This has bugged me for a while. But you see lots of articles /posts / threads etc regarding the above, and each article uses either one to mean the same thing.

In my ultimate non wisdom I always presumed that immigration was what happened when someone was inbound into a country and emmigrating was something thst one did to another country.
The dictionary definitions are as follows

Immigrate

intransitive verb
: to enter and usually become established ; especially : to come into a country of which one is not a native for permanent residence
transitive verb
: to bring in or send as immigrants


Emigrate

: to leave one's place of residence or country to live elsewhere <emigrated from Canada to the United States>
— em·i·gra·tion \ˌe-mə-ˈgrā-shən\ noun

So am I right in my thinking once we have arrived in Canada we have emigrated from England (or where ever) and become immigrants

Or is there really no difference and its all down to personal choise of the user?

what you said

I reckon Mandymoochops is right from the dictionary definition. I thought it was immigrating as in inbound and emigrating as in outbound too til now.

Or does it really matter which ones companies use to advertise their wares etc as by default if you are doing one you have to be doing the other

That's how I see it.

This has bugged me too and from what I have noticed the Brits say you emigrate to a country and then become an immigrant. The Canadians say you immigrate to a country and become an immigrant. Could be wrong and somebody will correct me but have not (yet) seen a Canadian use emigrate.

What she said

I agree with you, but the world is full of ignorant Philistines.

I hate the use of bring for take, that really confuses me. Also "visiting with", a woman at work said she visited with her husband after work, I thought maybe he was in hospital but no, she meant they sat down and had a chat.

That was my understanding, but I am blonde, so......?

Yes i love the way Canadians use that phrase too i think its sweet! (good to see you back btw)

Oh i so so agree yey

lol with what Sans - that the use of emigrate and immigrate get mixed up - that "visiting" is cute, or that a certain long lost friend is back

Another one is the (incorrect?) use of the terms "expatriate" or "expat".

In normal use, and certainly in my world, "expat" refers to a temporary assignment. "Emigrant" is the more proper term for someone who, for example, emigrates from the UK to Canada, obtain PR and take citizenship. They would then become an "immigrant" to Canada.

I consider myself an expat but not an emigrant. I'll only be in Canada temporarily, and then will be off somewhere else when my project is done.

For most users of this forum (Canada, Australia) perhaps it should be called BritishEmigrants.com, and for the Middle East board - where it's impossible to obtain PR or citizenship - it's correct to call it BritishExpats?!

Well if you must know haha to me Emigrate is " as in we are going to emigrate" Immigration is what you go through to Emigrate..........I dont think i've ever used Immigrate????? Not sure i've ever seen it as Immigrate......

So now some one can come along and tell me i talk crap............but at least its my crap and not someone elses

Where do you get the idea that the term expatriate or expat refers only to temporary situations?

I just checked four on line dictionaries and none of them refer to anything temporary.