Difference Between Immigrants and Migrants
Many countries are facing the problem of illegal immigration. On the other hand a few countries are facing the problem of lack of man power as more and more people are migrating to other countries. The word immigrant and migrant are often read and heard in newspaper and TV news. The word migrant refers to a person who leaves his country for greener pasture. The migration can be within the various states of a country. But most commonly the word migration is used when a person leaves his country and comes in another to find better job opportunity. Migration is a common practice as the constitutions of most of the countries give their citizens the right to move freely wherever they like.
The population of some of the countries has increased many folds. This has resulted in the pressure on the resources of those countries. So people move to other places in search of their livelihood and greater word opportunities. Courtiers keep vigil on their borders to check illegal immigration. The countries have created a separate department for looking after the affairs of immigration and allows only those people to immigrate those have passed through the proper procedure.
Both those who are coming and those who are going are called migrants. A migrant of a country is an immigrant for the country in which he is coming. Thus people who are coming in a country are the immigrants of that country and people who are leaving their country are migrants. Now EU or European Union has formed. So, a person leaving an EU country for another EU country is not called an immigrant because there is no restriction on a person moving within the countries of EU. A person of Puerto Rico coming to New York is wrongly called an immigrant because Puerto Rico is part of the US itself.