BackgroundThe immigrant population across Europe is ageing rapidly. Nurses will likely encounter an increasing number of patients who are older adult immigrants. Moreover, access to and equal provision of healthcare is a key issue for several European countries. The relationship between nurses and patients is asymmetrical with unequal power relations; however, the way nurses construct the patient through language and discourse can help maintain or change the balance of power. Unequal power relations can affect access and be a hindrance to equal healthcare delivery. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore how older adult immigrants are discursively constructed as patients by nurses.MethodsAn exploratory qualitative design was used. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of eight nurses from two hospitals. The nurses’ narratives were analysed using critical discourse analysis (CDA) as described by Fairclough.ResultsThe analysis identified an overarching, stable, and dominant discursive practice; ‘The discourse of the other’, with three interdiscursive practices: (1) ‘The discourse on the immigrant patient versus an ideal patient’; (2) ‘The expert discourse’; and (3) ‘The discourse of adaption’. Older immigrant adults were constructed as ‘othered’ patients, they were different, alienated, and ‘they’ were not like ‘us’.ConclusionThe way nurses construct older adult immigrants as patients can be an obstacle to equitable health care. The discursive practice indicates a social practice in which paternalism overrides the patient’s autonomy and generalization is more prevalent than a person-centred approach. Furthermore, the discursive practice points to a social practice wherein the nurses’ norms form the basis for normal; normality is presumed and desirable. Older adult immigrants do not conform to these norms; hence, they are constructed as ‘othered’, have limited agency, and may be considered rather powerless as patients. However, there are some examples of negotiated power relations where more power is transferred to the patient. The discourse of adaptation refers to a social practice in which nurses challenge their own existing norms to best adapt a caring relationship to the patient’s wishes.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-023-09590-6.