I agree with your premise, Matthew - with reservations. Living abroad is certainly more of a profound experience than traveling abroad.
Yet - seen from what standard "expat" behavior is, at least in the places where I have lived (Middle East, the Gulf, India, Sri Lanka) and am living (SE Asia, Singapore), I am seeing very little "profound" immersion in most.
If life in a top notch condo and being driven in a high-end luxury car from condo to office to club counts as "life", while the "domestic helper" is doing one's chores, then yes.
But for me, life is the messy stuff. The bus rides, train rides, jungle walks, farm work, growing plants, finding out how to solve domestic problems, eating in a communal kitchen, and being with the "servants" in the park on their only free afternoon on Sundays.