Community for asking and answering any question related to the life, the people or anything related to the USA. Non-US people are welcome to provide their perspective! Please keep in mind:
Either in regards to the current political situation, or for other reasons. What drew you to the idea of living in another country? Do you think whatever benefits it offers are really worth it, or is the grass just greener on the other side of the fence?
Nope. Gonna fight it out here.
Canada cause it's close. Netherlands cause of DAFT and bike infrastructure would be so nice
Norway or Sweden, but apparently I'm one generation away from being able to do so.
I've been living in Canada for a year now (grad school). Going to hope and work hard to see if engineering can pan out over here.
I would but I am 63, retired, and have 4 cats. My pension is tied to the state and my SS is tied to the USA. I am fucking stuck.
You can still collect you pension and SS even if you are abroad! Some places even have 'retirement visas'. 4 cats is tough for a big move, though, for sure.
Fuck
My fiancée lives in the US, and we're in the process of getting her a visa to get her the fuck out of that backwards shit hole
It's not a case of "the grass is greener", the US is a fucking joke
It's a cruel country. I've never seen a place so full of hatred and fear
Overall that's totally fair, but to add some nuisance, it very much depends on where in the US you are
I agree, but the states that aren't complete backwaters are being specifically targeted by Cheeto, and outside the the major centres, even California is full of complete fucking idiots
You can be wealthy, and live in the most progressive part of 'Murica and still be ruined by a bit of bad luck
Ireland. Because I could. Issue is my wife can't handle change and it would be a hard thing to pull without the other person completely signing on. Honestly im not that motivated because I feel I would be abandoning the place and just stetting it up to be a problem for a lot of people. I mean anyone in the americas whos ancestry is abroad has to think about the native peoples. They got screwed and the only upside is being part of a relatively fair modern democratic country. Then you have to wonder what happens when everyone who is not looking to take advantage leaves. Not just domestically because trump has telegraphed all kinds of foreign military use. Then you gotta wonder if you will be useful to the new country. I mean im older. If that country was actually was at war maybe I would be useful given I still have some years of productive work left but in a status quo way its hard to say.
I don’t wish to but I’ve thought about it, mainly as an emergency exit in case I get targeted by state violence. But barring that I don’t plan to leave.
Unfortunately, I’m as home grown as they come so I don’t have any other citizenship I would qualify for. And with the level of anti-immigrant sentiment happening in most of the world right now, nowhere seems like a great option. But I’ll do what I have to do if the time comes.
For now, I’d rather keep resisting tyranny here though.
I personally like the culture of my community and am very happy here. If only the thugs would leave us alone things would be great. So having to learn another culture and possibly language to assimilate into doesn’t sound very appealing. I have lived abroad before and it’s harder than I thought it would be.
But I’ll do what I have to do if the time comes.
I may already be too late, depending on how much time it actually takes to secure an opportunity for immigration. e.g. do you even have a passport? Do you belong to one of the groups the government might start targeting? In my mind, it's clear the trump regime is going to start locking its people in, it's really common for dictatorships.
I moved to Portugal about three years back. Unrelated to politics, I just wanted a change. Life is overall much more peaceful and enjoyable here. Let me know if anyone has specific questions!
How did you manage to stay long term there? Which type of visa?
Any advice/tips for those looking to do the same?
What do you like most about the differences? Did you learn Portuguese / is it pretty common for locals to speak English? What is your favorite food there that's not as much a thing in the US?
I just spent a month there checking out Lisbon and Porto.
Definitely a lot of things that are different, some things better here or there, but I've only got a tiny perspective.
What are some of the things that surprised you over the long term. What are the worst parts of it?
I need to learn Spanish or German or both. It’s possible I could get approved as a person of German descent, or I could just flee to Mexico/elsewhere in Latin America but I’d need to speak the language.
EU passport seems like a good option.
Trouble is trying to find a job with transferable skills, being willing to pick up all my roots and move, and fitting into a community that speaks a different language, and 'jealous passport' countries that ask you to give up your US citizenship when you claim the new one.
Wish it was easier.
I did moved away from the states a long time ago, for reasons other then political fear. I mean I was afraid of what the US was turning in to but not like it is today. Finding a way to immigrate is a lot harder then it looks, but the EU isn't the only option. The second part is a lot harder then it sound and it some ways easier. Picking up a second language is easier in a country where everyone is already using it. The hardest part is getting most people to stop trying to practice their English on you and to let you practice you new language on them. And the fitting in isn't that hard if you are honestly excited about it. Don't grumble because this isn't the way you're used to doing it think of it as new chance to be part of the lucky 10,000 almost every day. But picking up your roots is harder then you think everyday I'm haunted by the fact I'll never see my old friends and my family again except through a tiny screen, never hug them, never cry on their shoulder, hell never even have them understand what my day was like because they don't understand all the cultural clues I do. I've lost frames of reference to my family and it's not something I really expected or would have been able to understand if did. It's weird / hard to have cultural gulfs between you and your family not to have a shared pool of reference.
I wish it was easier too, but I'm glad I did it every day.
Moving to another country is a lot of work. Europe is stereotypically seen as having a lot of practical benefits like walkable cities and generally sane culture around stuff like healthcare. America is a big country though and blue states offer a lot of the same benefits.
Not really to the same levels, and federal fuckery seeps into everything nationwide.
Back alley abortions common in the EU? Because we're less than one lifetime from the age of septic pregnancy wards and could easily go back if mifepristone gets banned
The strongest contenders for me would be Ireland or Spain.
My employer does remote work and they have their European HQ in Dublin. That combined with everyone speaking english seems close to ideal in terms of logistics.
As for Spain, they have a special Digital Nomad visa for remote workers, my wife and I took Spanish in high school, and my dad lives in Barcelona after having retired, due to the lower cost of living/healthcare, and also because his sister, my aunt, lives there too.
The wife and I would love to move but that for us would mean giving up every possession and going it from scratch. It's especially hard to think of because we were both hard times divorces 8 or so years ago and started over with literally nothing . 8 years and we've both built a life in an apartment and now have a hella cozy nest. I can't afford to move any of it to another country. We both aren't super specialists in our jobs either so that's not helping. Its gonna have to get pretty bad before we sell it all and leave on basically foot. Sadly I can't rule out this eventuality. Life sucks now.
I emigrated in 2017 after coming back from the Peace Corps in Peru. After the 2016 election, I wanted out and don’t regret it. Many benefits, one of the main ones being not having to support the current government, and the work-life balance of course.
I think no, unless things get real real bad. Which they might. But maybe not even then. Honestly I have been thinking about this and I really don't want to leave.
Honestly, we did this shit. It's a crappy thing to turn this monster loose on the world and then peace the fuck out and let it do whatever it's going to do. We let it develop through inaction and apathy, it's our problem, we should stay and deal with it. Even the activist part of the US (which is small) is still not really having any kind of plan, just reacting and getting out and yelling sometimes. As far as I can see.
The one thing I really wish I could have is some kind of community that believes in the values I believe in. I think education is important, science is good, civic values are important to make everything a nice livable place. Honestly, things like this current spasm of fascism tend to have a pretty short shelf life (even if they manage to kill a bunch of people in the short span of years they're around). I am more afraid of what happens after, in a whole society which doesn't believe in education, doesn't have media that brings any kind of awareness of what is happening, is filled with people who don't give a fuck and don't care about each other. What happens when that society starts striking back to defend itself against the violence that's being visited on it now? What does it set up after? What country are we going to have when it's 2035, as climate change is really getting its hooks in? Are we going to just turn things back over to the Democrats and hope for the best? That doesn't sound good but I can't really forsee how anything else could happen. I would feel better if it was some decent people with a solid grasp of making a good place, like a lot of them and prominent in the country. If I felt like I could find those people, and get back to back with them for whatever is coming, I would feel a hell of a lot better about still being here. Honestly if I felt like those people existed somewhere else in the world that I knew about I would probably want more to leave. But for now at least, definitely for as long as I am safe here with my level of privilege, I feel like it is criminal to try to leave and not do anything about this fucking mess that we all made.
Canadas : because of the current political climate which I honestly don’t think will change until after I’m dead. Been fighting against it for almost 30 years now. I’m burnt out.
I want to move to Germany but I don't see it happening anytime soon
Yeah. My wife and I bounced from the US 2 years ago. We cashed out our 401ks at the start of this year and bought a house. We're currently in the nightmare stage of remodeling where everything is twice as expensive as expected and takes 4 times as long as we were told. Outside of everything currently being hell, we feel it was the best decision we could have made.
These might help you choose a destination: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_citizenship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_sanguinis
I have Italian heritage and might qualify for citizenship that way, but the rules have been changing.
I'm told Portugal and Spain are "easier", but language might be a problem. Ireland would be great, but I'm told that's hard.
I'm only a few years from retirement, so perhaps that may open doors.
Finally, my company is expanding into Europe, so I may be able to transfer.
I looked into it after the 24 election, Canada and a few European countries. The big impetus was RFK jr talking about how he was going to put the autists in labor camps, because my partner and I both have ASD diagnoses. Also genderfluid but fortunately there's no paper trail for that. But 1) it's a lot of work, 2) for better or for worse my skin color protects me from the worst of it and 3) my family is here, my friends are here, my farm animals are here, and I'll be god-damned if I'm gonna abandon them without a fight. Liberty or death ain't just a bumper sticker removed.
So far things are well enough in my part of the US that I haven't felt the need to seriously consider it. If I did, I'd probably end up in Canada. Would rather there than Mexico because I don't speak Spanish. If I did need to escape, I'd rather remain on continent at first because I think it'd be easier to escape to somewhere like Canada and then hop on a plane to Europe, if needed.
My wife and I have dreamed of possibly moving to Australia.
I would consider moving to Belize.
I've heard there is high levels of crime, but to be honest I haven't done a lot of research on this. Any comments on that?
If things go south in the US it’s unclear how safe anywhere in the Americas will be due to their hegemony.
Canada. And not the typical "I'm running away to Canada!" that you usually hear, I've genuinely wanted to move to Canada since I was in middle school back in the early 2000s. I grew up in the mountains and cold climates are always my favorite so it wouldn't be a huge change. Canada is such a beautiful country too and I find it more culturally interesting than the US. I've always thought of Canada as the responsible and better put together sibling of the two (relatively speaking, of course. We all have our problems)
Unfortunately, I can't afford to live in the US or Canada right now so I'm kinda shit out of luck. Plus they all, and understandably so, hate Americans. I'm not worried about not being welcome, but more that It'd feel rude to show up after everything that has happened. Like your friend that ran over your dog but still wanted to come over and hang out. Minnesota is like half the price of where I live right now when it comes to housing so I feel like if I moved there I could get the best of both worlds. Who knows, maybe I'll do that instead.
I've half-heartedly looked at Australia and New Zealand. Many parts of Europe are also appealing, as are Chile and Canada. Though between finding employment, language barriers, and the logistics of moving my whole family, leaving is an intimidating proposition. It's much easier to live in a blue state and work to keep my corner of the country a decent place.
The people I know who left the US either did it as students or they married foreigners. Either of those paths tend to make the initial visa process soooo much easier.
I’d leave in a heartbeat. I wanted to leave the US well before all this madness. I know Italian pretty well and a little Spanish, so I was considering moving to a country that speaks either. I don’t really have any professional qualifications though, so I kinda worry I’d just be a poor foreigner wherever I went.
No country will take me. I have no skills.