I think that this is quite common in southern Spain.
Those people picking tomatoes in a sweltering poly tunnel are immigrants. Us lot, swanning on the costa, are ex-pats.
Do you mean just amongst the Brits? Do the Spanish differentiate between expat and immigrant in the same way? I’d love it if, to the Spanish, there’s no difference between those picking tomatoes in the poly tunnel and the Brits 
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Dangerous waters these days, your real name isn’t Mrs. Hussey is it? 
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I had a recent tussle with Orange - now resolved (no doubt due to my impeccable French 
). I went in to a boutique and the woman said best to phone late morning or early afternoon, and not at weekends when callcentres based in France weren’t open.
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Not sure how well known this is, but these days all younger French doctors speak pretty good English. One of my daughter’s friends is a medical student in Brest, currently panicking a bit because the standard of English she has to pass to qualify is so high. You cannot qualify as a doctor in France without good English nowadays. This is I believe common across all professional qualifications (both in France and much of Europe).
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Ah - you are obviously not married.
We’ve been together 35 years and communication is still touch and go, and that’s speaking the same language - supposedly.
I blame it on the fact that he’s going deaf. He blames it on the fact I have my back to him while talking and am unintelligible.
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I call it “womanese” - always taught in Girls only schools under the subject of “how to confuse men” - My OH has an A level in it! 
Our own version of Verlan!
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He was having trouble understanding me and vice versa. We had been having a lot of trouble with our internet connection and had seen or spoken to various engineers to sort things out. Sometimes at the house. I just expected him to be somewhere nearby. And btw I’m not a hussey !
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As you wrote Hussey without the capital it suddenly occurred to me that you hadn’t read the Hussey thread and didn’t get the silly joke, and thus might have been insulted.
I do hope that is not the case.
They may have english skills, but some prefer not to use it as in case they make a mistake that leads to misunderstanding. Which can have bad consequences which can be considered their fault.
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Well my young one doesn’t. He can just about manage an attempt with great reluctance, especially if he is tryjng to communicate with my wife, but doesn’t with me. I think that a problem I have is that my spoken French is good enough to fool most French people that I am fluent and automatically rattle on irrespective of the fact that my age and hearing have made it very difficult these days.
Same for vets. We’ve been helping a friend’s daughter with her English because she wasn’t initially accepted to study veterinary at uni as she didn’t have the required level. Her English was already good but not good enough to pass the entry exam.
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Sorry for not responding sooner, I’ve been out and about. Ex-pat implies transience, I think the majority here would agree that we’re immigrants
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I don’t know about other nationalities but the estate agents, on line ‘magazines’, finance/insurance agents and the generality of the Costa del Sol Brits refer to the Brit community as ‘ex pats’.
Well, most of them are sixpence short of a shilling anyway. They voted for Brexit after all 
Because they are marketing to the british bubble people who don’t speak french and so are limited as to choice of companies they feel comfortable with - and ex-pat makes them feel all colonial and adventurous!
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I am an expat, changed my name to Frank
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I’m surprised people feel they need to have a label. I don’t think of myself as “ex-pat” and certainly don’t think of myself as “immigrant”. I’m just someone who happens to live in France.
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In addition to @John_Scully 's point that the term ‘ex-pat’ implies transience, I think it’s also associated with colonialism and colonial-types - an association with which most of us would be uncomfortable, I think.
But nor is it possible for me to think of myself just as ‘someone who happens to live in France’ as @SuePJ does - because my family are here, my kids have jobs, relationships and other commitments here. In all likelihood, if any grandchildren arrive, they will be more French than British.
Fact is, we are part of a multi-generational transition to French from British - so I don’t really see it in terms of choosing a label - we are, factually, immigrants.
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