The Immigrant Times migration glossary defines and explains commonly used English phrases, both British and American, for reporting on migration-related topics. It is a work in progress and will be updated and expanded over time.

Introduction

The Immigrant Times migration glossary provides clear, objective definitions of key migration, asylum, and nationality terms and phrases, distinguishing between British and American English usage. Terms, often blurred or politicised in public debate, have distinct legal, administrative, and economic meanings; this guide clarifies both their statutory foundations and practical applications.

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The glossary is part of our open research initiative. We invite readers to propose additional terms for inclusion or to suggest refinements to existing entries.

To contribute, please write to the Editor or use our Contact Form.

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A–Z index

A: Asylum seeker / Asylum applicant || B: Border Pushback || C: Climate migrant / Environmentally displaced person || D: Deportation / Removal || E: Economic Migrant | Emigrant || F: Family reunification / Family reunion || H: Host country vs. Country of origin | Human trafficking || I: Immigrant | Immigrant background || Immigration detention | Integration | Internally displaced person (IDP) | Irregular migrant / Undocumented immigrant || J: Jus soli vs. Jus sanguinis || L: Labour migrant || M: Migrant | Migrant smuggling || N: Naturalisation | Non-refoulement || P: Prima facie refugee | Push & Pull factors || R: Refugee | Regularisation | Remittances | Resettlement || S: Safe third country | Stateless person | Subsidiary protection / Complementary protection || T: Temporary protection || V: Voluntary return vs. Refusal of leave ||

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A

> Asylum seeker / Asylum applicant

Language: Asylum seeker in British English. In American English: Asylum applicant before a legal determination, and Asylee upon grant of status.

Definition: An individual who has crossed an international border to seek protection from persecution or serious harm, but whose legal claim has not yet been finally determined by the host state or UNHCR.

Context and distinction: In individual legal determination systems, an applicant is typically an asylum seeker before being recognised as a refugee. However, not all refugees undergo an individual asylum procedure: individuals may receive refugee status abroad through government resettlement quotas or receive collective protection via temporary protection decrees during mass displacement crises. Seeking asylum is a universal human right under international law; describing applicants awaiting an initial hearing as 'illegal immigrants' is legally incorrect.

Reference: Article 14, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.

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B

> Border pushback

Language: Pushback in both British and American English.

Definition: The informal or institutional practice of summarily expelling, turning back, or repelling migrants and asylum seekers across a border, whether by land or sea, into a neighbouring state or international waters, without conducting an individual assessment of their protection needs.

Context and distinction: While national authorities often describe these operations as 'border control' or 'prevention of unauthorised entry', international human rights courts and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights have repeatedly ruled that collective expulsions and pushbacks violate international law, notably the prohibition on collective expulsion and the principle of non-refoulement.

Reference: Article 4, Protocol No. 4 to the European Convention on Human Rights; UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.

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C

> Climate migrant / Environmentally displaced person

Language: Climate migrant or Environmentally displaced person in both British and American English.

Definition: A person who, primarily due to sudden or progressive environmental changes that adversely affect their lives or living conditions, is obliged to leave their habitual home, either temporarily or permanently, either within their country or abroad.

Context and distinction: Although the popular press frequently uses the term 'climate refugee', environmental displacement is not recognised as a basis for refugee protection under the 1951 Geneva Convention. As slow-onset events (such as sea-level rise and desertification) and acute disasters (such as cyclones) intensify, international bodies rely on soft-law instruments, including the Nansen Initiative and the Task Force on Displacement, to coordinate regional humanitarian protection.

Reference: IOM; UNHCR; Platform on Disaster Displacement.

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D

> Deportation / Removal

Language: In British English, Removal applies to administrative expulsions, while Deportation applies to public interest or criminal cases. In American English, Removal is the unified statutory term.

Definition: The formal, compulsory expulsion of a non-national from a state's sovereign territory under an administrative or judicial order, usually accompanied by an exclusion order or a re-entry ban.

Context and distinction: In the United Kingdom, removal refers to the administrative expulsion of people who have breached immigration rules (such as visa overstayers), whereas deportation applies when an individual's removal is deemed conducive to the public good (usually following a criminal conviction). In the United States, under the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), the statutory term removal consolidated and replaced the previous distinct legal proceedings of 'deportation' for non-citizens inside the US and 'exclusion' for non-citizens turned away at ports of entry.

Reference: UK Immigration Act 1971; US Immigration and Nationality Act Section 240; EU Return Directive (2008/115/EC).

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E

> Economic migrant

Language: Economic migrant in both British and American English.

Definition: A person who leaves their country of habitual residence primarily to improve their financial prospects, standard of living, or employment prospects elsewhere.

Context and distinction: An economic migrant moves voluntarily to seek material betterment, whereas a refugee flees persecution, war, or life-threatening harm. However, mixed migration flows often blur this boundary: people moving from countries experiencing simultaneous economic collapse, governance failure, and severe human rights abuses may have compound motivations. Media organisations advise against using the pejorative and legally contradictory term 'economic refugee'.

Reference: IOM Glossary on Migration; International Labour Organization (ILO).

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F

> Family reunification / Family reunion

Language: Family reunion or family reunification in British English. Family reunification in American English (sometimes politicised in US political debates as 'chain migration').

Definition: The legal entry and residence granted to the family members of a foreign national who is already lawfully residing in a host country, to preserve or restore the family unit.

Context and distinction: Family reunification is widely protected under international human rights frameworks that safeguard family life, such as Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Qualifying family members typically include spouses, registered partners, and minor dependent children, though some jurisdictions permit applications for elderly parents or other dependants, subject to strict income and accommodation criteria.

Reference: EU Directive 2003/86/EC on the right to family reunification; Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 16).

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H

> Host country vs. Country of origin

Language: Host country or Country of destination, versus Country of origin or Sending country, in both British English and American English.

Definition: The country of origin is the state from which a person commences a migratory movement or in which they are a citizen. The host country, or country of destination, is the state in which a migrant or refugee resides or seeks to settle.

Context and distinction: In complex migratory movements, researchers also classify countries of transit: nations through which individuals pass, often remaining for months or years en route to their ultimate destination.

Reference: UN Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration; IOM.

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> Human trafficking

Language: Human trafficking or trafficking in persons in both British and American English.

Definition: The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons by threat, force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power, for the explicit purpose of exploitation.

Context and distinction: Exploitation includes forced labour, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, or the removal of organs. Crucially, human trafficking does not require crossing an international border; it frequently occurs entirely within an individual’s home country. Unlike smuggling, trafficking does not require an initial border crossing and is defined by the absence of genuine consent and the presence of ongoing exploitation.

Reference: UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (Palermo Protocol, 2000).

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I

> Immigrant vs. Emigrant

Language: Immigrant (inbound) and emigrant (outbound) in both British and American English.

Definition: An immigrant is a person who arrives in a country other than their country of nationality or habitual residence with the intention of settling. An emigrant is a person who departs their country of nationality or habitual residence to settle in another country.

Context and distinction: The distinction reflects the perspective of movement: a person emigrates from their country of origin and immigrates to their destination country. Public discussion in destination states focuses heavily on 'immigration', while countries experiencing net population loss often debate 'emigration' or 'brain drain'.

Reference: UN Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration; IOM Glossary on Migration.

> Immigrant background

Language: Immigrant background or History of immigration in British English.

Definition: A statistical classification that measures the proportion of a domestic population directly shaped by personal or parental migration, identifying first-generation immigrants and second-generation children born to immigrant parents.

Context and distinction: Used by leading European statistical agencies to track socio-economic integration beyond simple citizenship markers. Under modern statistical standards, the category strictly applies to individuals who immigrated after 1950, or whose parents both immigrated after that date. Crucially, it excludes the third generation (grandchildren of original immigrants born to domestic-born parents), who are officially categorised as having no immigrant background.

Reference: German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis, Mikrozensus methodology); European Commission.

> Immigration detention

Language: Immigration detention or Administrative detention in both British and American English.

Definition: The deprivation of liberty of a non-citizen by state authorities under immigration powers, either pending an asylum determination, a decision on entry, or the enforcement of a removal order.

Context and distinction: Immigration detention is an administrative measure, not a criminal punishment; individuals in detention have not been convicted of a crime under immigration statutes. Under international human rights law, detention must be an exceptional measure of last resort, strictly necessary, proportionate, and subject to regular judicial review. International bodies advocate for alternatives to detention, including reporting obligations and community placement.

Reference: UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention; UNHCR Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers.

> Integration

Language: Integration in both British and American English.

Definition: A dynamic, multidimensional, two-way process of mutual adaptation between migrants and the host society, ensuring that immigrants have full legal equality, socio-economic participation, and cultural belonging.

Context and distinction: Academic and institutional consensus distinguishes 'integration' from 'assimilation'. Assimilation requires immigrants to abandon their original cultural and linguistic identity and to blend entirely into the majority culture. A genuine two-way integration model places mutual obligations on both newcomers (learning the language and respecting democratic laws) and host communities (dismantling discrimination, ensuring equal access to employment, and welcoming diversity).

Reference: European Union Common Basic Principles for Immigrant Integration Policy; UNHCR.

> Internally displaced person (IDP)

Language: Internally displaced person (IDP) in both British English and American English.

Definition: A person or group of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee their homes, in particular, as a result of armed conflict, widespread violence, human rights violations, or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognised state border.

Context and distinction: IDPs often face the same physical perils as refugees, but because they remain within their own country, they fall under the legal sovereignty of their own government (even if that state is the author of their displacement). Consequently, they do not qualify for international refugee status. Globally, IDPs outnumber international refugees by a substantial margin.

Reference: UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (1998); OCHA.

> Irregular migrant / Undocumented immigrant

Language: Irregular migrant in British English and in international usage. Undocumented immigrant or unauthorized immigrant in American English.

Definition: A person who enters, resides in, or works in a country without the legal authorisation, visa, or residence permit required under that country's immigration laws.

Context and distinction: In both Europe and the United States, empirical evidence shows that the vast majority of irregular migrants enter legally, using tourist, business, or student visas, and then overstay, rather than crossing borders illegally. Major international institutions (UN, Council of Europe, IOM) and journalistic stylebooks explicitly reject the terms 'illegal immigrant' or 'illegal alien', as human beings cannot be inherently illegal; only an administrative status or action can be unauthorised.

Reference: UN General Assembly Resolution 3449; Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1509.

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J

> Jus soli vs. Jus sanguinis

Language: Jus soli and Jus sanguinis across all legal traditions.

Definition: Jus soli (law of the soil) is the legal principle that citizenship is acquired automatically by birth within a state's territory, regardless of the parents' nationality or citizenship. Jus sanguinis (law of the blood) is the legal principle that citizenship is inherited at birth through one or both parents' nationality, regardless of the child's place of birth.

Context and distinction: Unrestricted jus soli is dominant across the Americas, notably in the United States under the 14th Amendment and throughout South America. Most European, Asian, and African states base their initial citizenship regimes on jus sanguinis, though many modern European states, including the United Kingdom and Germany, apply modified, conditional forms of jus soli, such as requiring one parent to have held lawful permanent residence for a set period.

Reference: UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness; Council of Europe.

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L

> Labour migrant

Language: Labour migrant or migrant worker in British English. Labor migrant, foreign worker, or guest worker in American English.

Definition: A person who is engaged, has been engaged, or intends to engage in remunerated economic activity in a state of which they are not a national.

Context and distinction: Labour migration spans the full spectrum of employment, from low-wage seasonal agricultural and construction workers to highly skilled medical, academic, and technology professionals. Migrants may hold seasonal, short-term, or open-ended work visas. Many host countries rely on labour migrants to address demographic ageing and workforce shortages.

Reference: International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990); International Labour Organisation (ILO).

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M

> Migrant

Language: Migrant in both British and American English.

Definition: An umbrella term for any person who moves away from their habitual residence, whether across an international border or within a single state, temporarily or permanently, regardless of the cause of the move or whether it is voluntary or involuntary.

Context and distinction: In political discourse, 'migrant' is often mistakenly used as a synonym for 'refugee'. Under international law, refugees are a strictly protected legal category of people fleeing persecution, armed conflict, or violence. 'Migrant' is a much broader term, encompassing international students, skilled professionals, seasonal farm workers, and individuals relocating for family reasons. International agencies, such as the UN and IOM, advise using the inclusive phrase 'refugees and migrants' to describe mixed migratory movements.

Reference: UN General Assembly Resolution 71/1 (New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, 2016); IOM.

> Migrant smuggling

Language: Migrant smuggling in both British and American English.

Definition: The procurement, for direct or indirect financial or other material benefit, of the unauthorised entry of a person into a state of which that person is neither a national nor a permanent resident.

Context and distinction: Smuggling is a commercial transaction across an international border, based on an agreement between the client and the facilitator. While smuggling journeys frequently involve life-threatening risks, extortion, and violence by smugglers, smuggling remains a legal offence against the state's border controls, whereas human trafficking is a grave crime against the individual.

Reference: UN Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air (2000, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime).

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N

> Naturalisation

Language: Naturalisation in British English. Naturalization in American English.

Definition: The formal legal and administrative process by which an individual who does not hold a state's nationality voluntarily acquires citizenship after meeting specific legal conditions.

Context and distinction: Statutory requirements typically require a minimum period of continuous legal residence, demonstrated competence in the national language, passing civic knowledge tests, economic self-sufficiency, and the absence of a serious criminal record. While some countries require applicants to renounce their previous citizenship, an increasing number of destination states allow dual or multiple nationality.

Reference: European Convention on Nationality (1997); US Immigration and Nationality Act Section 316; UK British Nationality Act 1981.

> Non-refoulement

Language: Non-refoulement (pronounced non-ruh-fool-mon, used universally in international law).

Definition: A foundational principle of customary international law that prohibits a state from returning, extraditing, or expelling an individual to any territory where they would face persecution, torture, or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

Context and distinction: Non-refoulement is a jus cogens (peremptory) norm: it binds all nations, regardless of whether they have ratified specific treaties. It applies universally to all individuals, irrespective of their legal migration status or the manner of entry into a territory, whether regular or irregular. It constitutes the legal barrier against pushbacks and collective expulsions.

Reference: Article 33, 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees; Article 3, UN Convention Against Torture (1984); European Convention on Human Rights (Article 3).

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P

> Prima facie refugee

Language: Prima facie refugee across all legal jurisdictions.

Definition: Recognition of refugee status based on apparent collective circumstances rather than an exhaustive individual assessment of each applicant's personal history.

Context and distinction: Used during mass influxes, predominantly in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, when the objective situation in the country of origin, such as total state collapse or sweeping military conflict, clearly shows that virtually all members of a group would qualify as refugees. This prevents national determination systems from becoming entirely overwhelmed.

Reference: UNHCR Guidelines on International Protection No. 11; OAU Refugee Convention (1969).

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> Push and pull factors

Language: Push and pull factors in both British English and American English.

Definition: A classical migration framework that categorises the drivers of human movement into 'push' factors, adverse conditions that drive people away from their home country, and 'pull' factors, favourable conditions that attract people to a specific destination country.

Context and distinction: Push factors typically include armed conflict, political repression, human rights violations, poverty, unemployment, and environmental degradation. Pull factors typically include higher wages, labour shortages, political stability, educational opportunities, the rule of law, and established diaspora or family networks. While the model offers a simple conceptual tool for analysing migration trends, economists and sociologists note that modern mixed migration flows are rarely binary: individual decisions often involve complex, overlapping drivers rather than a single push or pull factor.

Reference: Everett S. Lee, A Theory of Migration (1966); International Organization for Migration (IOM).

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R

> Refugee

Language: Refugee in both British and American English.

Definition: A person who has fled their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of persecution on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, and who is unable or unwilling to avail themselves of that country's protection.

Context and distinction: Unlike general migrants, refugees are entitled to specific, legally binding protections under international law, foremost among them the right not to be forcibly returned to danger (non-refoulement). In United States statutory law, the term 'refugee' is strictly reserved for individuals granted protection overseas before arriving on US soil through formal resettlement programmes; individuals who seek and receive protection after arriving in the US are legally classified as 'asylees'.

Reference: Article 1(A)(2), 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; UNHCR.

> Regularisation

Language: Regularisation in British English. Regularization or Amnesty in American English.

Definition: Any state-led policy, process, or legal decree that grants legal residence status to foreign nationals residing irregularly in a country.

Context and distinction: Regularisation can occur through broad collective schemes, such as national amnesties passed historically in Spain, Italy, or the US Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, or through case-by-case administrative reviews, including permits granted for long-term social ties, medical needs, or humanitarian hardship. While critics argue regularisations encourage irregular entry, proponents and economic institutions highlight that they expand the formal tax base, improve labour standards, and reduce social vulnerability.

Reference: IOM; European Migration Network (EMN).

> Remittances

Language: Remittances or Migrant remittances in both British and American English.

Definition: Financial transfers or personal cross-border payments made by migrant workers to family members and others in their countries of origin.

Context and distinction: Global remittances sent through formal channels exceed 800 billion US dollars annually, far outpacing official development assistance (ODA) and rivalling foreign direct investment (FDI) in low- and middle-income nations. Remittances act as an economic lifeline for millions of households, funding food security, housing, healthcare, and education, though high transfer fees remain a key development challenge.

Reference: World Bank Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD); IOM World Migration Report.

> Resettlement

Language: Resettlement in both British English and American English.

Definition: The planned transfer of recognised refugees from the country where they first sought asylum to a third state that has agreed to admit them with permanent or long-term legal residence.

Context and distinction: Resettlement is one of three durable solutions recognised by UNHCR, alongside voluntary repatriation to the homeland and local integration in the country of first arrival. It is reserved for particularly vulnerable refugees whose security, health, or fundamental rights cannot be guaranteed in the first host country. Beneficiaries arrive with their legal status pre-approved.

Reference: UNHCR Resettlement Handbook; IOM.

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S

> Safe third country

Language: Safe third country in both British and American English.

Definition: A procedural mechanism in asylum law under which a host country may declare an asylum application inadmissible without assessing its merits, on the ground that the applicant passed through a third state where they could have sought and obtained effective protection without risk of refoulement.

Context and distinction: This principle underpins agreements such as the US–Canada Safe Third Country Agreement and the European Union’s Dublin Regulation. Critics note that determining what makes a third country truly 'safe' is often subject to political disputes, bilateral diplomatic arrangements, and court challenges.

Reference: Directive 2013/32/EU (Asylum Procedures Directive); UNHCR Guidelines on Safe Third Country Concepts.

> Stateless person

Language: Stateless person in both British and American English.

Definition: A person who is not recognised as a national by any state under the operation of its domestic law (de jure statelessness).

Context and distinction: Statelessness arises from gaps and contradictions in nationality laws, discrimination against ethnic or religious minorities, gender discrimination (such as laws barring mothers from transmitting citizenship to their children), state succession, or arbitrary revocation of citizenship. Lacking citizenship anywhere, stateless persons frequently cannot access basic legal identity documents, formal employment, public healthcare, higher education, or international travel.

Reference: Article 1, 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons; 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness; UNHCR.

> Subsidiary protection / Complementary protection

Language: Subsidiary protection in British English and European Union usage. Complementary protection or withholding of removal in American English and broader international usage.

Definition: An international protection status granted to an individual who does not meet the specific criteria for refugee status under the 1951 Convention but has substantial grounds for believing that, if returned to their country of origin, they would face a real risk of serious harm, such as the death penalty, torture, or generalised violence arising from armed conflict.

Context and distinction: Across European asylum systems governed by the EU Qualification Directive, subsidiary protection provides legal residency, work authorisation, and social assistance, though often with shorter residency permits and more restricted family reunification rights than those afforded by full refugee status.

Reference: Directive 2011/95/EU (EU Qualification Directive); UNHCR.

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T

> Temporary protection

Language: Temporary protection in British English and the European Union. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) as a statutory programme in the United States.

Definition: An exceptional, group-based administrative mechanism designed to provide immediate, collective protection for displaced persons fleeing armed conflict, widespread violence, or natural disasters, particularly when individual asylum determination systems risk administrative collapse.

Context and distinction: The European Union activated this mechanism in March 2022 under the 2001 Temporary Protection Directive, granting immediate residence, housing, and access to the labour market to millions of displaced Ukrainians without requiring individual asylum claims. In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security designates specific countries for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) due to ongoing conflict or environmental disasters, temporarily shielding eligible nationals already present in the US from deportation and granting them work authorisation.

Reference: Council Directive 2001/55/EC (EU); Immigration and Nationality Act Section 244 (US).

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V

> Voluntary return vs. Refusal of leave

Language: In British English: Voluntary return, Assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR), and Refusal of leave to enter. In American English: Voluntary departure and Inadmissibility determination.

Definition: Voluntary return is the assisted or independent departure of a migrant from a host country to their country of origin or a third country, made by their own free decision. Refusal of leave is an administrative decision by border authorities to bar an arriving non-citizen from entering sovereign territory.

Context and distinction: Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programmes, often coordinated by national governments in partnership with the IOM, offer financial stipends, flight arrangements, and reintegration training to encourage irregular migrants or rejected asylum seekers to leave, thereby avoiding the need for the state to enforce compulsory detention and deportation orders.

Reference: IOM Guidelines on Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration; EU Return Directive.

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Further reading from The Immigrant Times: Teaching and training for refugees in Europe ||

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