Emigrate vs. Immigrate

How to use "emigrate" and "immigrate" correctly

This is an entry on my list of Common Errors in English Usage. Visit the main page for direct links to additional entries.

You emigrate from a place and immigrate to another place:

emigrate from Poland

immigrate to the United States

Polish emigrants = people leaving Poland

Polish immigrants = people from Poland who have immigrated to another country

Common Errors in English Usage: Errors in diction and idiom commonly made by native speakers of English

List of Common Errors in English Usage (PDF): Printable version of the complete list

Common Grammar Errors: A list of common errors in grammar (topics like subject-verb agreement and parallelism) as distinct from usage