[John Valentine]

Check out Benedic Arnold. Odds are good that when he jumped ship he was not considered an immigrant by the Brits.

He was considered a person of slight character. But not an "immigrant" in the sense of a non-British subject. He was NOT considered "English" though.

[muawiyah]

With a grandfather who'd been Governor of Rhode Island Benedict was as English as anyone.

Ben Franklin's eldest son, a noted Tory, had no problem "moving back home" to England.

Folks in the British North American colonies were quite free to relocate to anywhere in the empire (unless they were black slaves of course).