"Emigrate" or "Immigrate"?

Thankyou grammar girl it worked

Think of this, also. If you are an emigre', you are From somewhere else.

Jose is an immigrant in the U.S. He is also an emigre', from somewhere else. He emigrated from South America, migrated north, and became an emigre from South America, but an immigrant in the U.S. A migrant in the U.S. is an immigrant, a migrant from another country is an emigrant from that place.
This is kind of fun!

*embarrassed*
I just realized I was referring to a mnemonic aid and not one for your lungs!

Emigrate From {think 'EF', which sounds like F}

Immigrate To {think 'IT', same as information technology}

Using the From and To as part of the pneumonic aid should help with recalling the definition as well as correct usage in a sentence.

Thanks! I came here bc I forgot the difference, and thought of this just now. Hope this helps. Apologies if someone has already listed this.

@DM

You'd be a migrant, because emigrant and immigrant are both forms of migrant.

I bloody love you Grammargirl!

My trick is also based on the "i" "e" but I use the import and export to remember which is which.

Very helpful, thanks! I'm working on a college essay right now and this tip saved me from using the incorrect spelling.

it was very helpful and it helped me under stand the difference very well! thx!

Got complete clarity now. Thanks a lot.

i was not getting difference between emigrate and immigrate,now get many many thanks to GG

wonderful,'/. i was not getting difference between emigrate and immigrate.now i get .very very thanks G G.

One can only emigrate FROM and immigrate TO. He would not say "Sean emigrated to America" as emigrate means to leave one's native land. The converse is true in saying that one cannot immigrate from as immigrate means to come into.

The thing is, you also have to remember that your memory trick word is "exit" not "enter."

Because "emigrate" could stand for either one. :)

To "emigrate" is to leave your country. To "immigrate" is to enter and reside in a new country. "My parents emigrated from Russia. They immigrated to the United States."

I have the same problem with affect and effect.

I have a question similar to DM's question. I'm dealing with a paragraph on France and the Huguenots. The last sentence says "The Huguenots emigrated to the Americas." The reader should understand that the Huguenots emigrated [from France] to the Americas... right? Or must I change the word to "immigrated" because France is not mentioned in the sentence (though the rest of the paragraph is about France)? It seems like either word would work adequately here, but is there a usage guideline that I can refer to?

Immigrate or Emigrate?

Consider the sentence:

"They emigrated/immigrated to the USA from Norway."

I say it's "immigrated" because "to the USA" comes before "from Norway" in this sentence.

If the sentence read:

"They emigrated/immigrated from Norway to the USA."

Here "emigrated" would be correct because "from Norway" comes first.

Comments anyone?

Feskin just remembers that people who don't like immigrants are upset because they're immigrating, or coming in.
No one generally cares about emigration, except the emigrant's family and friends (if they're lucky).

I shared this with my genealogy organization. I know the difference...but so many people don't! And I've had people argue with me that I'm wrong, no matter how many references I can show them to support the correct usage. Argh! :-)

So, a person is an emigrant as soon as he leaves his home country, then becomes an immigrant as soon as he steps into a new country (for purposes of residing there)?
So a boatload of people trying to find a new home are always emigrants?

i knew the difference and do you know why? because, as children, we would walk from our school to deposit our pennies to our individual accounts at the Emigrant Savings Bank on Chambers Street in NYC. And our teacher explained to us the difference between an emigrant and an immigrant. thank you for this info :) keep the tips coming!

I already knew the difference... but when do you use emigrant versus immigrant? (Because if you emigrated FROM somewhere TO somewhere else, aren't you both an emigrant and an immigrant?)

Yeah it was helpful. I didn't know the difference between emigrate and immigrate. But now I know. Thanks Grammar girl.