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[-] DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf 19 points 2 months ago

Dude, I would flee the US in a heartbeat to somewhere that isn't a fascist state if I feasibly could, as I kinda don't feel safe here as a citizen, let alone what anyone visiting the country may feel like.

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[-] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 months ago

Us citizen here recently moved to Sweden. I have a lot of things going for me: I was able to save up money working in tech, I'm using that to pay for living and tuition on a study permit, recently divorced and mostly estranged so I don't have a lot of ties holding me back, I have a sought after skillset and enough savings to basically be guaranteed I was accepted.

I'm still struggling with everything. There was and is so much paperwork, so many loose ends, even after getting here it's just been months of hardship trying to get stuff lined up. Trying to get my savings out of USD without interrupting being able to pay for things and not risk being flagged for money laundering is an ongoing battle. Housing here is wonky and I'm risking homelessness next year if I can't get it figured out in time. I have no strong community ties here yet so I'm toast if I stumble too badly. The US has their grubby hands all up in my business still so I'm answering to two countries at any given time instead of just one.

There are certainly avenues people can take to get out of the US that are easier than what I've done but anyone who says it is easy is full of shit or incredibly privileged.

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[-] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 11 points 2 months ago

In addition to immigration laws, there are lots of other reasons that make it difficult to move. Aside from obvious financial considerations, it is difficult to just walk away from one's social circle. People often underestimate the importance of social support (I'm talking about friends and family here). Cultural differences compound this social isolation further.

[-] Witchfire@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Precisely this. My partner and I uprooted our lives to move to a new country. I left a loving community, a strong career, and so much more. I absolutely miss my home but didn't feel safe continuing to live in the states. I pulled the trigger first chance I could and I'm glad I did because there haven't been any since then.

We cry very often because there is so much just trauma and grief that we haven't been able to process. No one tells you just how hard it's gonna be. To give an example, I frequently hallucinate seeing or hearing my friends around my new city. Every time I do I have to hold back tears. I absolutely choke up whenever I video call them. Getting a visa is just the start of the process.

(Don't get me wrong, I also LOVE my new home, this country has been nothing but welcoming and we have had a super easy time assimilating and making friends)

[-] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago

I never had friends in China, I never missed anyone "back home" (well... its not like I got to know any of the relative very well, so I didn't miss them being 8 at the time) but I constantly think about the hypothetical alt-universe where I never left China... like for better or worse... its hard to stop thinking about it.

I feel like I belong in neither places.

Like existential crisis stuff.

On the surface, in 2010, the US was also seemingly welcoming, but you have subtle casual racism stuff, especially when you move to less-immigrant cities like Philly. Kids here wete just horrible. The Elementary school I went to had not much Asians so racism was common, worse in middle school.

Like you had no idea how much shit I had to go through, and identity crisis. Who the fuck am I. I don't know if I can do this again, especially the learning a language thing, now I don't have the advantage of youth again. And I'm the adult now having to plan everything, instead of everything already being done for me.

Like... it'd be so sad if I pick a place, miraculously get an immigration visa, then that place goes to shit AGAIN, then I'd have to do this v3.0 lmao

Depression is killing me lol

I think for me, its not just "move to EU" that easily. Like... the population of Asians in EU is much lower afaik, I would feel even less "belonging" there tbh.

[-] slowtrain33@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 months ago

US citizen here, have been actively preparing for a permanent move to Japan with my Japanese citizen spouse, dual citizenship toddler, and our dog for the past 6 months. We are fortunate enough to have the money and legal pathway to do it, and it has still been one of the most stressful experiences (if not the most) of my life.

We’ve had to:

Sell our house, Sell our two cars, Get rid of all our belongings (gave most of them away because it’s just too time consuming to try and sell everything), Apply for a certificate of eligibility for my visa Apply for my visa, Get all the vaccinations and paperwork for our dog and wait 6 months after getting them done, Make arrangements for the dog’s overseas travel, Buy our airline tickets, Find an apartment in Japan without being able to see it in person, Find work in Japan, Find a preschool for our kid in Japan, Have to enter Japan within 3 months of my visa being issued (but NOT sooner than 180 days after the dog gets his 2nd rabies shot and bloodwork results), Etc.

And if we make a mistake on any one of those steps or get delayed and miss our 3-month window, we have to do half of the steps again.

All while continuing to work full time and with a move from our house to the apartment in the middle.

We are close to the finish line, but it has pushed us all to the absolute edges of our mental and physical limits. And again, we are extremely fortunate to have enough savings and equity in our home to even be able to try this…

For the average US citizen, I’d say it’s nearly impossible.

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Could have been worse, you could be a white person trying to find a place to live in Japan in person. There are lots of places that would not be open to you.

[-] slowtrain33@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah, I’ve certainly experienced my fair share of racism in Japan. Mostly micro-aggression / implicit bias type of stuff, but a few intentional instances as well.

Not looking forward to that.

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[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Immigration is only easy if you're wealthy.

[-] notabot@piefed.social 4 points 2 months ago

Not everyone will be able to move, it's true, but a lot of countries have provisions for reclaiming citizenship if you can show that an ancestor (usually only in the last couple of generations, but not always) was a citizen.

For instance, Ireland: if one of your parents was an Irish citizen, born on the island of Ireland, you can claim citizenship and a passport with minimal paperwork. If your parents weren't born there, but a grandparent was, there's more paperwork involved, but you can still get citizenship and a passport.

Once you have a passport for an EU country, you have a lot more freedom to travel, and settle, anywhere in the EU.

Many other countries have similar systems, so, if you do want to leave, it can be worth studying your family tree to see if there are any recent immigrants.

[-] smh@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 months ago

I tried that route, but it turns out my folks left the Poland before it was modern Poland, so never held Polish citizenship. If only they'd sucked it up and stayed through World War I. /s

[-] miked@piefed.social 1 points 2 months ago

My great grandparents are from Ireland. My understanding is if I can fully document our relationship I could be eligible. I look into it every few years but cannot find anything linking them to Ireland.

Even reached out to my cousin in Ireland that had done her family tree years ago. No help.

Another set of great grandparents are from Italy. Italian law currently blocks my citizen claim because their is a female in the lineage.

[-] notabot@piefed.social 1 points 2 months ago

The best documents would be birth certificates for each generation, but there was a massive fire at the Dublin records office in 1922, which destroyed a lot of genological records from before then. If you have any information about where in Ireland your great grandparents were from, you may be able to find local records however. Things like parish registers and birth records for sone denominations were stored outside Dublin, so you may be able to find them, although it'll probably mean going there, or hireing to go there, as most of those records haven't been digitised.

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[-] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 months ago

On top of that, people have families, jobs, and other commitments that hinder their plans. Moving to another town is already hard enough as it is, but relocating to another country is even harder.

While it’s certainly possible and perhaps even advisable, it’s not a realistic option for most people. If your life is in danger, remaining isn’t really an option, so any associated difficulties with moving and starting anew are the lesser evil. However, for everyone else, the situation gets complicated.

[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Americans have probably the easiest migration path in the world. Strong passport, very high wages and currency value, strong migration support and programs, remote friendly economy etc etc.

[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago

No, we can't just move some place. Most countries require a substantial income or huge investment. Incomes require jobs, and countries require employers to make an attempt to hire citizens first. Most of us speak one language too, so even if we go to the shittiest countries, we'll be vulnerable to scams.

[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Nope. I'm literally a digital nomad myself though mostly settled in Thailand these syas. Americans absolutely have an unmatched privileged here very few countries come even close to matching and can relocate relatively easily.

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[-] D_C@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

I don't want americans to leave the united state of fascism. I want them to stop voting in imbecilic tyrannical genocidal despots that are convicted rapists who like to fuck children so much that they are compromised by the russians.

Now let me be clear, the orange buffoon that's in 'control' now is all of the above, but any one thing of the above list is bad.

If a fair election ever happens again -because, let's face it, it's not guaranteed- and you feel that the person you are about to vote for is a russian stooge, or a kiddie fiddling rapist, or an imbecile etc etc then STOP ...and then vote in the person who will most likely not rape children, or try to overthrow your government for their own personal gain 👍.

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[-] etherphon@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

It's not even just the laws, it's very expensive to move.

[-] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah. Apparently to these people, America is the only country that people can think of that has strict immigration laws. Everyone else is apparently open borders without question.

[-] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I could have gained citizenship in Spain or Portugal based on my family name alone (and like €600 or so) when they had the citizenship path for Sephardic Jewish heritage. I found out too late though and they had closed the door before I even knew about my distant relatives in the first place.

Wife is Irish enough to claim her passport so we're working that path currently. Those things are just your right to establish a life there, though, and don't include figuring out housing, source of income and everything else.

It certainly feels like we're going to miss our chance, but it's definitely worth it to keep working toward IMO.

[-] 1rre@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 months ago

Immigration is very possible to a lot of countries via employer sponsored routes, generally for highly developed countries the requirement is "you have to be earning above average for your industry," so essentially if you're in the top 50% by skill/experience you should be allowed in. Others require certain levels of education, etc. but for US citizens those levels should generally be achievable.

Relatively, moving to the US has been so much harder than moving out for a long time now, which is why people are saying "just move out."

[-] j4yc33@piefed.social 1 points 2 months ago

This reply has some pretty strong "Git gud, Scrub" Energy. It is not a helpful Thing to suggest, and it's not exactly "generally ... achievable" when the entire society is built around forcing people into Mountains of debt.

[-] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Emigrating and immigrating as they are, poor people mostly cannot.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 2 months ago

I've always wondered how easy it would be to just move to Mexico or Canada, since either is possible to drive to. Like, legally or not.

[-] favoredponcho@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Mexico is pretty easy. I think you can get a 5 year residency permit easily with no income or requirement to stay in country. Canada is harder and probably requires you to have a job lined up with an employer willing to sponsor. Or, you can go to school.

[-] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

They can deport you. Unless you try to claim asylum, but then you need to "prove" that the US Government is actually persecuting you, do you even have such "proof"?

[-] Shanmugha@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

If it's not sarcasm in response to americans telling other people to just move to another country/overthrow government, it can be a common misconception. Yet I struggle to see where it comes from: as far as I can tell, "just moving to another country" is not something most people who work for a wage can easily do

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I actually looked into migrating a bit under Bush and they were more lax then. It was at least a year waiting list, you often had to have a marketable skill of some sort in demand in the country or enough money to basically never work again there. You had to have a clean record, pay several thousand for paperwork and lawyers, wait for approval, some wanted you to try and find employment before hand. It's probably much stricter no as I doubt I could immigrate to Canada from the USA. They're looking primarily for healthcare workers now and a lot of places because of their aging populations and lower birth rates. It's nuts.

[-] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Yeah, some countries do have very strict standards for entry as much as the US; they'll choose only those they deem worthy by their standards -- entry is only possible with either level of wealth, skill sets, pedigree, language, or a combination of those.

However, there are some people in my country who envy and would even fight to get a chance to be American, despite the ongoing horrors in there, because they still equate citizenship in a developed country with wealth and supposed freedom from corruption.

[-] S_H_K@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago

There are people who helps.

And even then some countries like mine Uruguay are very easy to emigrate to.

[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago

You need income. If you have a job in your country, you can't take it with you unless it can be done remotely. I have looked into moving there. I still have not figured out if command terminals are in Portuguese if a person works as an IT admin somewhere.

[-] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 months ago

How do you like Uruguay? Would you recommend it?

I don't think I can move out of Estonia any time soon, but sometimes I would like to escape to a warmer, but not super hot place... and Montevideo looks beautiful

[-] Today@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Stay and vote!! Talk to your neighbors and vote!!

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[-] Stormstout@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

If you want to start a business in the Netherlands as an American, you can get a visa under the DAFT program. You do need to bring the substantial investment of at least 4500 euro into the business.

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this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2025
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Showerthoughts

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