Ask Lemmy

I was going to say Italy but they seem to be going fash again so... north sentinel island?

Honestly the Netherlands seems pretty great.

I always wanted to live in a country that was totally different from America when I was a kid. I thought either India, China, or Japan back then, but now I’m not sure I’d want to live in any of them right now.

I guess I could go to nearby countries that don’t have global headlines like them say like Bangladesh, Thailand, or Indonesia, but I don’t really know anything about them.

I think the smart option would be somewhere in Europe, but I kinda want to get away or at least take a break from “western” culture.

I guess I can’t name a dream country, but somewhere with a totally different culture. I’d also want it to have a bunch of ruins and historical sites to visit. I’ve never seen anything older than like 150 years in person.

Narnia

The kind of american that usually comes to Mexico is very nice, very welcome. Maybe the exceptions are the very loud and self absorbed ones that go to resort locations and act like they're better than everyone there.

As long as people want to integrate and cooperate they are more than welcome.

Now, the sad part is the gentrification that comes with a lot of people moving and outpaying rent vs the locals. Now the average cost of living in Mexico city is about 50% higher than the average salary, and about 100% higher than the median salary. Another very negative thing is that now a lot of locals have to communicate in english because American people will come and not learn spanish over multiple years living here. There are zones where everything is in english now. It's okay speaking english, it's not okay expecting english from everyone.

So a few pointers:

1. Integrate, pay taxes, consume locally
2. Try and move into already gentrified places, avoid displacing more people
3. Push for social policy, increased affordable living spaces, invest in the country where you move into to improve the locals' life

Be friendly, but that's always

Anywhere cold, with decent social services, good shipping, and people that leave me alone on the whole.

As a member of the CAF, if the US Armed Forces are getting rid of LGBTQ folks, I would be proud to welcome them as my comrades in arms.

If I wasn’t locked into this contract with my house I would be applying for work programs in New Zealand on my way to citizenship. When Trump was elected, the first thought that went through my head was, I don’t like winter, so Canada and the Nordics are out. Europe is 0-2 for getting destroyed in World Wars and WW3 is heating up. Africa has its own problems right now, as does South America, and regardless of where you go in Asia it’s not looking good for WW3. So options were Central America or Oceania. I know passable amounts of Spanish, and lived in Central America for a while and I would definitely be OK going back. But if I’m going to move somewhere might as well be somewhere new.

I’ve lived in NYC for 20 years, I’d only give it up for Barcelona

Americans would do anything to not call a general strike.

Here in Canada we're trying to catch America's brain drain. We especially need doctors quite desperately.

Germany here, only the smart once please. Dont need the idiots. Already got enought here

Morocco or Jordan. Been trying to learn Arabic for a few years and would love to be forced to take it more seriously. Mostly can just read the letters. They are relatively safe countries that are in areas of the world I have studied extensively. Also means closer travel to many of the old cities I want to visit.

Californian - i want us, oregon, and washington to join canada.

Costa Rica 🇨🇷

Our country attracts a lot of American tourists, they mainly go to the beaches and national parks but I have seen them on my city sometimes

I'm fine with it, I highly suggest you learn Spanish since we are a Spanish-speaking country, and you can only see English on the tourist areas

Also if you want to become a citizen you need to do some sort of exam that for most foreign people is hard. Just so y'all know

For anyone who's thinking UK, I'd advise not - we're about 4-5 years behind you in terms of imminent fascism and whilst there's still technically a chance to avert it, its very unlikely - especially since Starmer is being even more awful than the Tories.

So, it's not just theoretical for me. I left the US earlier this year and moved to Iceland. Planning started almost a year before that. It is hard for Americans to move to a lot of European countries, and Iceland isn't an exception.

I hired an immigration attorney in Iceland to help make sure I did everything correctly. That cost about $10k as a retainer. It was worth every penny. If you're taking notes, that's pretty much the only one you need. Every country has different rules and laws regarding Americans moving to their country. And just like in America, if you have an issue with the law, you need to hire an attorney. They will help you understand every relevant law that exists that applies to you that may very well not be available in English. Hire a local expert.

I'm not very young, so I paid to move my stuff here. I also paid to move my electric vehicle because gas costs the equivalent of about $10 per gallon, plus there are some serious CO2 taxes here. That cost about another $20k. About two thirds moving the stuff, and one third moving the car.

In retrospect, moving the stuff was a good idea. I have lots of things that are just incredibly hard to get here, or take forever to get if you want them. And I saved enough money to be worth it. If you look at something like a KitchenAid mixer, it costs the equivalent of $1k here. If I sold my old one for used price and bought a new one here, I'd lose most of a thousand bucks. So you only need to do that a few times to make moving your stuff worth it.

I also saved money on importing my car over just buying a new one, but it was such a fucking hassle that if I were to do it again, I'd have just bought one here. I didn't save enough to make it worth it.

I'm not sure how useful my experience will be now. When I started talking to my immigration attorney, I explained that it seemed likely to me that after trump was reelected that Americans were going to panic and rush for the exits. I felt that it was likely that the countries would respond by doing exactly what America does: freak out about having too many immigrants and change the rules to make it harder to get in.

Based on a recent conversation with my attorney, it seems that I was right. The rules have changed enough that the path that we used for residency has now been more more seriously restricted. The attorney's office was inundated with requests from Americans and they were working 12+ hour days for a few months just trying to respond to all the requests.

I know some folks have strong feelings that people should stay and fight. But I feel like we have fought the good fight for a long time. That went all the way from starting non-profits, to being involved locally, and all the way to running for public office. I'm not interested in identifying myself too much, but I will say that that the person we lost that election to was openly known to have been fired previously for having embezzled money, but voters didn't care because they got to vote for team (R) in our red state.

So from my perspective, there is a cancer that is eating America. I've tried hard to remove it. I've tried hard to treat it. Ultimately, it seems to have metastisized to the point that it is incurable. You can either keep up with the radiation and chemo and be miserable until you die, or you can stop treatment and do your best to enjoy the time that is left.

For me, moving to Iceland is my version of stopping treatment to enjoy what life I have left. And if you want to fight to the bitter end, or if you want to search for a better life in another country, I wish each and every one of you the very best on your journey.