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The French term "sans-papiers" describes any foreign person living in France without a residence permit. It resembles the term "clandestin", which appeared in political and administrative vocabulary in the late 19th century with the first measures strictly defining the terms of foreigners’ “right to residence”.

The term "diaspora" comes from the Greek spiro, which means "I scatter". It usually refers to populations chased out of their country and who maintain emotional, cultural, economic and political bonds with each other across borders. In France, the Jewish and Armenian diasporas are the best known; they hark back to a lost land, the departure point for a life in which mobility has set the tempo.

The word "refugee" should not be confused with the word “asylum seeker”. An asylum seeker is a person who submits a request for asylum in order to acquire refugee status. A refugee has been an asylum seeker, but not all asylum seekers are recognised as refugees.