Ask Lemmy

It must be nice to have the privilage to immigrate to wherever you want lol.

I mean I wasn't even supposed to be here. It's only pure chance that my family had relatives in the US. Less than 5% of Chinese live abroad, so... like imagine you ask a question like: "How many of you are actually fine with living in China"

I mean the wording implies that people living there are automatically supportative of the government or something.

Moving is hard, pal.

I had the advantage of being a child and learning English; now as an adult, I'd struggle learning French, German, or Norweigian.

I uprooted my life and left. It's far too dangerous for me. I'm a trans latina. I grieve over the friends and community I left behind daily

There are multiple reasons why most people don't shift countries willy-nilly.

Moving, even within the same state is a difficult, stressful, and expensive prospect. Moving to a different country is even more so, and that assumes you have a job lined up when you get there or substantial monetary reserves. Then there are the legal hurdles, which depending on the destination country can be downright daunting. In many countries unless you are a top earner with an in-demand skill-set you are likely to experience significant legal challenges to even achieve temporary residency. And then there are language and cultural differences that can make life difficult once you get there. Unless you have friends/family already in the destination country and/or know the language you can expect it to be rough going for quite a while.

All this would be compounded if you have a family. Not to mention the added difficulty and expense involved with visiting or supporting extended family members or friends back in your original home country after leaving.

Simply put, most people simply can't move countries whenever the political situation in their home country gets dicey. It's only after the fighting starts do you see people doing that in significant numbers and at that point they are refugees.

I've read a lot of novels set in Germany/Europe in the Hitler Era.

I always used to be amazed at the people who would see what was going on, and who stayed.

One of my favorite series is the Bernie Gunther [Berlin Noir] novels by the late Phillip Kerr.

Bernie stays in Germany because he's a German. He was born and raised in Berlin and it's his home. No strong family ties, he just stays because he can't imagine living anywhere else.

This question is asked as if there is an obvious destination. Where do I move? Europe/UK isn't exactly killing it lately, so that's out. That leaves Australia and NZ for English-speajing countries, but I know nothing about them. I could move to Japan since I know some Japanese, but the Japanese are not well-known to be accepting of foreigners. The PM is literally trying to limit immigration. So where should I be moving as an American?

Thing is I uprooted my family to move to the US 15 years ago and loved it here, and still do. I hate the current everything of course, Ikbut 'm still a bit idealistic and still believe the country will right itself. How long it will take, I don't know, but I still believe it.

(... ok back to the job search, yay layoffs)

Are you going to help me immigrate out of here? Will anyone on Lemmy?

For all the political posturing and holier than thou attitude I see on Lemmy not a single one of you would do anything to help me.

I'd like too but I don't think it's a possibility. I don't have the money or the skills.

Already left and in Europe but in a bit of a grey area with residency between two countries here. Doing my best to get sorted more permanently and to stop sending my tax money to the US and instead send it to one of the two governments (whoever is willing to let us continue as a family to live).

It was stressful and expensive over the last year+ but wife and I are both in high risk categories for detention, persecution, and possible separation from our new baby in the US, so not much choice. We are liquidating assets there which is not good for our financial future but hopefully we aren't too old to rebuild stability in Europe somewhere, or failing that, the Philippines where we have much better residency privileges.

I’m fine. I live in a dark blue state that is fighting, ignoring, offering sanctuary as they can. Depending on your assumptions we have the highest quality of life in the us. We’re trying to hold to our environmental commitments despite the federal government reneging on commitments to power transmission, power generation, transit upgrades, and ending the California waiver that let other states set higher air quality standards. We’re holding to health coverage for all despite the federal government ending funding. We’re holding to public health standards by leading a regional cooperate for fact-based vaccination standards. I’m proud of the number of my fellow citizens participating in “No Kings” and similar protests. I’m proud of colleges and corporations holding to standards for education, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Things are getting even more expensive here, due to the policy chaos and federal rejection of anything that might look to the future or to care to people, but we’re holding together. It certainly helps that I make a good income here.

However this is the first time I really worry about the future my college kids will live in. I keep telling myself history will reassert itself, our current situation is an outlier. I tell myself this is a national version of a mental breakdown: we will recover and spend the rest of our lives fixing the damage. There is hope

If I had to move somewhere, Canada would be the obvious choice. Ive visited so many times and it’s always been great. Canada has always been a great neighbor, putting up with our bullshit. Realistically from my interests and job, I’d be most interested in Vancouver or Toronto areas. Toronto is closer to my family, and my company has an office there, so it would be an easy transition

If I had the money to I'd leave in a heart beat.

I have family here, I have a house here. I’ve built a life here.

Canada’s great but cold. Europe would require me to rebuild everything in my life. Plus, Europe is dealing with their own problems at the moment - its own rise of the right; the threat of Russia. In Australia, everything wants to kill you or cause you great pain, even the plants. South America seems enticing, but the US affords more opportunity for now, so maybe when I retire.

Everywhere you look, the deeper you look, you realize that everywhere has their own problems. Times change, seasons change. Right now we’re in a conservative phase. We’ve been here before. So instead, I’ll stand my ground and weather it out with the allies I have around me. I’d much prefer to be part of the resistance anyway.

Can’t move. Too old to qualify for visas anywhere else and my occupation isn’t a valued need.

I tried to get out in 2013, failed, tried again, and succeeded in 2015. I now have permanent residence in Japan. If I had it to do over again, I probably would have gone somewhere in Finnoscandia instead (and indeed I'm working on Norwegian now as a backup plan). When my parents pass, I will probably renounce my US citizenship entirely; I have zero plans to ever live there again and, at least for now, zero plans to visit unless someone is dying.

I learnt Japanese in my 30s. It blows my mind seeing threads where people just give up if there's not English or they must learn another language.

If I can afford to I'd love to leave the USA at some point.

I do like living in the USA. There is generally a reliability and safety that I haven't seen in many other places. There are big problems for sure, and being married to an immigrant is worrying at times. We absolutely have backup plans but so far we have not seriously considered leaving.

I'd love to move and could probably swing it but I have a lot of pets that cannot cross the country. I have made a lifetime commitment to them so until they pass I will not leave. When I do will be to Japan or Uruguay. I have no problem learning languages quickly. I just can't leave these animals behind.

when u want to move but you're autistic with severe anxiety 😭

I would love to move out to an EU country like Ireland, Germany or the Netherlands.

The big issue is getting accepted into other countries. What options for visas that go beyond a year have specific requirements that must be met, and many of those requirements are entirely circumstantial and dependent on people in those countries you've never met.

Born/raised in the US but I also have Swedish citizenship and I've lived there as an adult. My American girlfriend is spending a lot of time learning Swedish and we expect that we'll move there sometime in the next few years.

FYI the USA is one of the very few asshole counties that tax expats. Yes there is a 110k exemption, but still it's such asshole behavior.

I forgot which other countries did it, but it was just a handful.