1). “Americans Are Heading for the Exits: Go ahead and roll your eyes at those who want to emigrate amid Trump’s second term, but it’s a worrying trend”, Feb 20, 2025, Alaric DeArment, The New Republic, at < https://newrepublic.com/
article/191421/trump- emigration-wave-brain-drain > 2). “The Americans Who Are Fleeing the United States: The rise of a violent far right is forcing a growing number of citizens to consider emigrating to other countries. Some vulnerable minorities fear they may have no choice”, Feb 02, 2023, Alaric DeArment, The New Republic, at < https://newrepublic.com/
article/170259/american- emigration-far-right-violence >. 3). “ ‘The Donald Dash’: 1 in 4 Americans Weigh Emigration After Trump’s 2024 Comeback: With Donald Trump reclaiming the presidency in 2024, a significant number of Americans are now seriously contemplating an exit from the United States. Our recent consumer data highlights what some are calling 'The Donald Dash'—a sharp uptick in Americans considering a life abroad”, n.d., Written by Immigration Advice Service, Editorial Team, Immigration Advice Service, at < https://iasservices.org.uk/
the-donald-dash-1-in-4- americans-weigh-emigration- after-trumps-2024-comeback/ >. 4). “Top Reasons Why More Americans Are Leaving the US in 2025”, Latest Update : May 8, 2025, anon, Harvey Law Corporation, at < https://harveylawcorporation.
com/why-more-americans-are- leaving-the-us/ >. 5). “escape.the.usa, I Brettxited the USA”, at < https://www.tiktok.com/@
escape.the.usa?_t=ZP- 8tqFRFRsJd1&_r=1 >. 6). “Americans LEAVING THE COUNTRY under Trump in RECORD NUMBERS”, Feb 26, 2025, David Parkman, David Parkman Show, duration of pertinent part of the video 5:30, at < https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=pDWJqybu1zs >.
~~ recommended by dmorista ~~
Introduction by dmorista: In an unprecedented development the flow of Political and Socioeconomic Refugees has been reversed and small, but growing numbers, of Americans are now leaving or are preparing to leave the U.S.to seek asylum, formal or informal, elsewhere. After a couple of centuries of being the main, albeit imperfect, destination of political, cultural, and socioeconomic refugees and asylum seekers, the flow has now reversed. The actual numbers of people physically leaving the U.S. is still small, but the numbers of people at least thinking about doing so is actually quite large. Over 40% of young people are at least seriously thinking about doing so. Of course, the flows of poor desperate people are still net positive as they try to enter the U.S. But, in line with what happened in previous societies that transformed from more-or-less democracies into dictatorships of the right, there is no question what is happening now in the U.S. And, in contrast to the flows of poor desperate people who are qualified only for the most menial and exploitative jobs, the people who are leaving and will leave the U.S. are among the best educated and include large numbers of young people in their most productive work years. This is also seen in the movement of people from the Dark Ages Red States with harsh police state laws, mostly trying to control women and their reproductive lives with Forced-Pregnancy / Forced-Birth laws and police actions. Again many of the Dark Ages Red States have net movement in of people, but when educational attainment and professional status are considered the net movement is out to Blue States or overseas.
Item 1)., “Americans Are Heading for the Exits: ….”; and Item 2)., “The Americans Who Are Fleeing ….” are both articles about the topic that were published in The New Republic. Item 3)., “ ‘The Donald Dash’: ….”; and Item 4)., “Top Reasons Why ….”, are both from law firm websites by law firms that specialize in immigration issues. Item 5)., “escape.the.usa, ….”; and Item 6)., “Americans LEAVING THE COUNTRY ….”, are both websites that have videos discussing emigration and looking at different places to go. Unfortunately, as the U.S. continues to be pushed to the right by the illegitimate fraudulently “elected” (imposed is a better term) Trump Musk regime, similar rightward shifts are taking place in many countries in “The West”.
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Americans Are Heading for the Exits
Go ahead and roll your eyes at those who want to emigrate amid Trump’s second term, but it’s a worrying trend.
In February 2023, I published an article in The New Republic about Americans, particularly from marginalized communities, who were looking to exit the country amid the rise of gun violence and far-right politics. It had been some time since I’d thought about that piece. But almost exactly one year to the day after it was published, it garnered the attention of HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher, in which the show’s titular host featured it in a segment that ridiculed the notion of people fretting about their safety in this country, imploring us instead to stay here and make it a better place. Maher took great pains to condescendingly wonder if I knew that being gay is criminalized in dozens of countries—well, duh—and about capital punishment in China. (Unlike, Maher, I actually lived there for three years, so—once again—duh.)
Still, I was more or less flattered by the attention, despite the maladroit purposes to which my original piece was put. But if Maher is reading this, then I’d like to invite him over for a delicious slice of crow pie. Because now that Donald Trump and unelected sidekick Elon Musk are taking a wrecking ball to our country and its democracy, my prediction of two years ago is coming true amid a rise in worrying signs that many people in this country indeed have their eyes on the exits, including those with skill sets we can ill afford to lose.
On February 8, German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported that the Max Planck Society—one of the world’s top scientific research institutions—is experiencing an uptick in applications from American scientists. Its president said the society regards the U.S. as “a new talent pool” at a time when the Trump administration seeks to cut billions in funding to the National Institutes of Health. There’s a deep historical irony in these recent developments: During the Third Reich, it was the Max Planck Society—then known as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society—that lost its best and brightest to the U.S. and other countries, including Albert Einstein.
A day prior, Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported that Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs has seen a 50 percent increase in the number of Americans seeking Irish passports, with some people specifically citing the new administration as a reason. Searches for terms like “dual citizenship” and “jus sanguinis” likewise saw significant spikes on Election Day and Inauguration Day, according to Google Trends. And a representative of Polaron, an Australian company that helps people obtain European citizenship by descent, told me that her firm has also “seen a steep increase in Americans wishing to leave their country, with many more keen to use their EU passport as a plan B.”
Some of the people who worked so hard to establish a new home in the U.S. as refugees are now desperate to get back out: The Guardian reported that Canadian police apprehended more than a dozen people from Venezuela, the Middle East, and Africa trying to cross the border in dangerously cold temperatures without proper clothing, as the Trump administration revoked humanitarian parole for Venezuelans, Haitians, and others, but threw open the door for white South African “refugees.”
These are small statistics and anecdotes. Moreover, most of the initial wave of American emigration will likely feature those with the means to leave—those who possess foreign passports, job opportunities abroad, or lots of disposable income. But this all points in the same direction: With Trump back in office and faithfully executing the blueprint for wrecking the country known as Project 2025 while collaborating with the world’s richest man to trash democracy and wage a war on brain cells in the federal government, a growing number of people in this country see the writing on the wall, and they’re looking for their bug-out plan. According to a Gallup poll released before the election, the 17 percent of Americans who said they wanted to leave the country in 2023 rose to 21 percent in 2024.
One user on TikTok posted a video of herself waiting in the car as her Mexican-American husband applied for dual citizenship at the Mexican consulate in Houston, noting that she plans to as well. “For me, I don’t think it’s going to stop with Mexicans,” she said in the video. “It’s going to keep going on down the list, and at some point, Black folks here in the U.S., we’re going to feel what’s happening—we’re already seeing what’s happening, so I don’t feel exempt.”
That she, her husband and others would want to take such precautions should come as no surprise. As conditions in the U.S. worsen and the country becomes increasingly poorer, increasingly authoritarian, and increasingly violent, there is a good chance that more will consider leaving. It’s not as if the Trump administration has gone out of its way to remind people that all are welcome in his America.
With executive orders, Trump has abolished official recognition of transgender and non-binary people, erasing references to trans people from the official website of the Stonewall National Monument. He has rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs—and even discarded the 60-year-old Executive Order 11246, which bans discrimination based on race and other categories. We’re now careening toward a constitutional crisis as Trump threatens to simply ignore court decisions overturning his executive orders—including a decision that barred Musk and his army of mini-me flunkies from accessing sensitive information on millions of Americans and controlling payment systems at the Treasury Department—a move that would basically end the rule of law.
And as he fired hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees weeks after a fatal plane crash in Washington, Trump posted a quote on social media, “He who saves his country does not violate any law”—a quote apocryphally attributed to Napoleon but more recently made famous by Anders Breivik, the Norwegian white supremacist terrorist who murdered 77 people in 2011—in what could be interpreted as a proclamation that he’s above the law, a signal to his followers to commit violence on his behalf, or both.
No less dispiriting has been the cavalcade of mainstream media organizations normalizing the new regime, or the corporations kissing Trump’s ring and doing a 180 on support for DEI and LGBTQ people—not to mention the weak responses from many elected Democrats. It’s things like this that have convinced some people that the shining city on a hill is experiencing severe urban decay.
Brett, a San Diego-based TikTok user who did not disclose his last name, started a channel, Escape the USA, making videos that provide practical advice to Americans hoping to leave the country. While the channel is only a little more than a month old, it already has close to 11,000 followers. Having previously lived in Paris for nearly a year in 2014 following a health scare, he hopes to return to Europe and either find a job or publish his fantasy novel. But he specifically cited the Trump administration as his main reason for wanting to leave and said he began researching how to leave the country after the January 6 Capitol insurrection, and then saving money when Trump announced his candidacy. Now, he sees the potential for history to repeat itself.
“Hitler went after those who were not the same as others: disabled, LGBTQ individuals and clearly Jews,” said Brett, who is also gay and from a Jewish family, in an interview. “[Trump is] already categorizing subsets of individuals. It may not be tomorrow, but it’s definitely bound to happen soon.”
Naturally, descent into full-blown genocidal tyranny is not yet inevitable, particularly as Trump and Musk’s actions have encountered resistance, especially from the courts. And with many Western countries, especially in Europe, experiencing their own problems with far-right politics, the number of safe havens from autocracy is depressingly low, particularly as figures like Musk and Vice President JD Vance openly interfere in German elections by endorsing the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, as Vance did in a February 14 speech at the Munich Security Conference that left European leaders stunned. Nevertheless, Trump and his cronies have clearly spent their four years out of power carefully studying the authoritarian playbook of leaders like Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán. Now, Hungarians are warning us that if we don’t stop Trump, we could suffer their country’s fate. And lest anyone think far-right authoritarians are better at economic management, Hungary is a sign of what’s to come: Their economy is teetering while it hemorrhages people who no longer see a future there for themselves.
I hope we do stop Trump and Musk’s takeover of this country. But we have to be honest and acknowledge that if we fail—and fail we might—it could be a long and difficult time before democracy returns. It took 17 years for that to happen in Chile and 36 years in Spain. The Third Reich lasted “only” 12 years, but Hitler’s spell over Germany didn’t break until after the world’s deadliest war and genocide.
Even if the Democrats retake both houses of Congress and the White House, they will preside over a profoundly broken nation, where Trump distilled centuries’ worth of American poison into a fascist movement that will remain a threat for decades to come, with a best-case scenario being a whiplash cycle every four to eight years of decency and horror.
Obviously, emigrating won’t solve this country’s problems. But many of those problems will take a lot more than an election to solve because they stem from deep structural flaws in our system of government rooted in an antiquated constitution and a political culture contaminated by selfishness, ignorance, cruelty, violence, and authoritarian white, Christian supremacy. This is why it’s seemingly impossible to meaningfully address even serious problems like gun violence, let alone have nice things like universal health care, while other industrialized nations have accomplished both feats and more with little to no fuss. It’s why this country rejected a highly qualified presidential candidate who happened to be a Black woman, in favor of a psychopathic fascist who all but promised to ruin it.
If people wish to stay here and fight for a better country, then all power to them. But it’s also important to understand that many Americans have spent their lives fighting just to exist, and they have now watched 77.2 million fellow citizens spit in their faces by voting for Trump and countless more recklessly enable Trump’s victory by voting third-party, or abstaining from voting altogether. Thus, they may conclude that leaving for the sake of their well-being and sanity is a better choice than struggling in vain to save a country that apparently doesn’t value them from itself.
It’s a very personal choice, whether to stay and fight or go into exile, as New York University historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat illustrated in a January 3 Substack post, after receiving frequent queries from Americans about the possibility of leaving. Most, she wrote, will neither stay and fight nor flee: “You stay put, keep your head down and your criticism of the government private. That way you and your loved ones can minimize any adverse consequences while you ‘wait it out.’” And life in exile is hardly romantic–it’s filled with longing for home and a lot of guilt.
But if people decide it’s better to bug out, that’s really none of Bill Maher’s business, and it’s certainly not his place to scold those who are not straight, white, male multi-millionaires like him. So why get all worked up about it?
The reason it stings some people is because the entire notion of the U.S. being a country people flee from rather than fleeing to turns American exceptionalism on its head. Much like right-wing superpatriots’ reflexive defensiveness when someone points out how far we lag other industrialized nations in areas like health care access or public transportation, it’s a reminder of the hollowness of the refrain that we are “The Greatest Nation in the World”—a pin popping the balloon that is the American ego. Maher inadvertently reinforced this when he correctly pointed out that the U.S. is a nicer place to live than China or Uganda, but had to resort to jokes about bland Dutch food and elderly Italians playing bocce when comparing us to other industrialized democracies. It shows how full of ourselves we remain as a country, even as our political conditions have degraded to the point that some of us see a better life abroad than at home.
It’s emigration, not immigration, that should worry Americans. Because people wanting to leave, even if a relatively small number actually do it, is a sign that this country is losing its capacity to address even its most pressing problems. And authoritarian countries do not typically benefit when minorities, young people, and those with valuable skills start fleeing.
So, ridicule Americans who want to flee abroad all you want. But remember, there’s a reason why Germany produced the most Nobel laureates before World War II, but the U.S. took the lead afterward. The United States’ loss will be some other nation’s gain—a lesson that we used to teach the rest of the world, but no longer.
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The Americans Who Are Fleeing the United States
The rise of a violent far right is forcing a growing number of citizens to consider emigrating to other countries. Some vulnerable minorities fear they may have no choice.
If there’s any truth to the popular superstition that a bird pooping on you brings good luck, then hopefully the pigeon that relieved itself on me on the chilly morning of November 21 as I passed beneath its midtown Manhattan perch on my way to the German consulate was sending good thoughts. I was carrying a stack of documents to formally apply for German citizenship under a law enacted in 2021 to correct gender-discriminatory provisions in Germany’s nationality law that had prevented my grandmother from passing German citizenship to my father and hence to me.
While dual citizenship was something I always wished I had as a convenience, I now had a more urgent reason to get it: I’m a gay man living in a country that I fear is slowly but inexorably backsliding from flawed democracy to right-wing authoritarian rule, turning into a place where the rights and safety of LGBTQ people and other marginalized groups are increasingly under attack by a Republican Party and right-wing majority Supreme Court that, given their way, would not hesitate to erase them entirely. In such a scenario, it makes sense to have an exit strategy—whether dual citizenship, the ability to work abroad, or some other means to escape—in the perhaps not inevitable but no longer unthinkable event that the stuff of dystopian science fiction becomes reality.
The advent of the Trump administration and the rising political instability in the United States that’s followed in its wake have spurred increased interest in dual citizenship, said Temple University law professor Peter Spiro, an expert on dual citizenship and a German American dual citizen himself. Spiro says that while people have always found that fact about him mildly interesting, nowadays he senses more of a “whiff of envy”—and more and more people are asking him how they too can get it.
“Having dual citizenship was seen as sort of a curiosity, you know, a conversation piece, but not more than that—it wasn’t perceived as having real value from the perspective of U.S. citizens,” Spiro explained. “And with Trump and also with Covid, Americans—certainly a certain demographic—are interested in second citizenships as a kind of insurance.”
Polling by Gallup of 1,000 Americans aged 15 and older indicated that in the first two years of the Trump administration, 16 percent of Americans said they hoped to leave the country permanently, a sharp rise from the 10–11 percent who said the same during the Bush and Obama years, with particularly high rates among women. Data for subsequent years provided by Gallup show that the figure fell to 14 percent in 2019–2020 but then rose again to 15 percent under Biden. The surveys under Biden took place between April 22 and June 21, 2021, and April 19 and September 1, 2022, the latter coinciding with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Also following the Dobbs decision, Google Trends indicated a significant spike in searches for “LGBT friendly countries.”
A group on Reddit for Americans hoping to move abroad, r/AmerExit, saw “thousands” of new users join after Dobbs, said the group’s 26-year-old creator, Jacob, who would not disclose his last name but noted that he and his husband moved to Europe and now live in Norway because “even back in 2019, I could tell the United States was getting more and more politically unstable, and I didn’t want to stick around for that.”
It’s hard to precisely quantify how many Americans with their eyes on the exits are LGBTQ, racial, or ethnic minorities—Gallup’s data don’t account for that—and some studies indicate relatively few Americans actually leave for political reasons. But members of r/AmerExit who do belong to marginalized groups, such as LGBTQ, African Americans, and Asian Americans, often indicate in posts a desire to leave because they see the U.S. becoming increasingly unwelcoming and unsafe for them.
This should come as no surprise. One of Trump’s most damaging legacies is how he made open bigotry and hostility to liberal values great again, freeing politicians and media figures to pump antisemitism, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia into the mainstream without consequence. Public figures can now condemn LGBTQ people on national TV and spur social media followers to send death threats to drag events—even after a deadly mass shooting in a gay bar—or party with white nationalists and pay no price.
This goes far beyond the cynical nursing of white Christian resentment that the GOP has used for decades to win votes. It’s not just cynicism anymore: It’s genuine, hate-fueled authoritarianism, the same poisonous stew of white supremacist, theocratic fascism that fueled the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and hides behind polite euphemisms like “Christian nationalism,” “national conservatism,” and “common good constitutionalism.” It doesn’t take a deck of tarot cards to discern that if someone like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wins the 2024 election and the GOP takes Congress, America could quickly become a very frightening place for anyone who belongs to a disfavored minority group and isn’t willing to accept second-class citizenship—or worse.
Massage therapist Tiana Esperanza’s immediate reason for moving to the Netherlands last year with her husband—schoolteacher and r/AmerExit member Richard Altfeld—and their two children was that they lost a house they were preparing to buy in Austin, Texas. But racism also played a significant role for Esperanza, who is Black, along with worries she had about raising biracial children in a country where she and Altfeld, who is Jewish, frequently faced abuse as an interracial couple, worries that became especially acute after events like the murder of George Floyd.
In that context, Esperanza lamented the relief she felt when her son and daughter were born with more white-looking features. “It’s fine, but I never wanted to have to navigate having a Black child, and that’s a shitty way to think when it’s like having a child that looks like me,” she said.
While Esperanza and Altfeld said they were mindful of the problems of antisemitism and racism that still persist in Europe—they have already heard racist remarks from Dutch people about Moroccans—Esperanza said her experience when they visited the Netherlands several years ago was markedly different from the U.S. “We were here for two weeks, and in that two weeks, the cultural difference was just phenomenal,” she said. “I was just a person—no one followed me around in the store, no one looked at me funny, no one bothered us.”
It was during the time leading up to the birth of her first child in 2019 that Esperanza learned about Blaxit, the movement of African Americans relocating abroad. More have learned of it since: Google Trends showed an uptick in people searching for “Blaxit” after last May’s supermarket shooting in Buffalo, New York, in which a white nationalist killed 13 shoppers, most of them Black.
There can be no doubt that racist, antisemitic, homophobic, and transphobic hate speech, violence, and state-level legislative attacks have dramatically worsened over the last few years. Consequently, right-wingers who used to pretend at least perfunctorily to oppose bigotry have now gone full mask-off.
In November, voters in Georgia reelected Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene despite her history of antisemitic rhetoric; following her reelection she appeared at a New York Young Republican Club gala whose attendees also included white nationalist Peter Brimelow. America’s most-watched cable TV host is Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, who routinely spews white nationalist rhetoric and praises authoritarian regimes like Vladimir Putin’s Russia and that of autocratic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who was a featured speaker at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. And this month, DeSantis’s administration rejected a nationwide A.P. African American studies course as “woke indoctrination.”
Carlson scored the first literal and figurative mask-off televised interview with Chaya Raichik—the former real estate agent behind LibsOfTikTok, who regularly tweets screenshotted announcements of all-ages drag events and trans-inclusive health care services knowing her followers will call in death and bomb threats—in which she called the LGBTQ community “evil” and a “cult.” Raichik is the same woman who, within hours of a gunman shooting up a gay bar in Colorado Springs, Colorado, attacked a youth drag event in the same state on her Twitter and whose tweets attacking Boston Children’s Hospital for its transgender care program led to it receiving multiple bomb threats.
It’s thanks to the “groomer” libel and false claims that LGBTQ people are pedophiles spread by people like Raichik, Matt Walsh, James Lindsay, and Chris Rufo that drag queen storytime and drag brunch events now routinely have fascist thugs show up, sometimes armed. In December, angry demonstrators, consumed with unrestrained animal rage, spat venom at a drag queen story hour event in a library in New York’s heavily LGBTQ Chelsea neighborhood, and two women were later arrested after attempting to gain entry into gay New York City Councillor Erik Bottcher’s apartment building, writing “groomer” and “predator” on the sidewalk outside. Meanwhile, bills attacking LGBTQ rights have been signed or introduced in dozens of states, including several banning trans-affirming health care, one in Oklahoma that would make it a felony to perform in drag in the presence of minors—including drag queen story time—and one in North Dakota that by some interpretations could make it possible to prosecute trans people for existing in public.
To be sure, America has yet to go full bore into tyranny. But there’s a sense that American democracy and the protections for minorities that depend on its health are living on borrowed time, that one or two election cycles or Supreme Court decisions are all that stand between freedom and fascism. It’s hard to watch hate and rage toward minorities contaminate and infect our politics and society like the putrid tentacles of a demonic slime mold, carrying the imprimatur of powerful and connected people, without thinking back to the growing political violence and attacks on minorities occurring against a backdrop of freedom and democracy during the Weimar Republic that preceded the Third Reich. It’s the air of menace in the night before everything goes dark forever.
Consider that far-right extremists felt emboldened to venture into a gay neighborhood to harass a drag queen story time event and attempted to invade the apartment building of a gay elected official, while a Times of Israel analysis found that hate crimes against Jews in New York City doubled between 2020 and 2022. It begs a chilling question: If things like this can happen in a highly progressive and diverse metropolis that is home to one of the largest LGBTQ communities in the world and the largest Jewish community outside of Israel, then how safe is anywhere in America, and for how much longer?
For trans people in particular, the sense of threat has become so extreme that some have contemplated seeking asylum in Europe. Such thinking is likely premature, as conditions in the U.S. are not quite bad enough that European nations would grant LGBTQ Americans asylum, especially when the U.S. itself remains a top destination for LGBTQ asylum-seekers. But trans people driven to such levels of desperation are a troubling indicator of where things are headed here. For the same reason that LGBTQ people have long been among the earliest victims of fascist regimes, Republicans are attacking trans people because they’re an easy target. But they’re far from the only target, which is why they’re also attacking drag queens and smearing the whole LGBTQ community as “groomers” and an “evil cult.”
Naturally, no place is perfectly safe. A far-right party descended from postwar fascist movements now controls Italy’s government; Israel now has its most right-wing government ever; a party with neofascist roots forms a key member of Sweden’s ruling coalition; far-right parties are also on the move in Austria and Spain; and Canada, perhaps the most popular potential destination for fleeing Americans, has right-wing extremism problems of its own.
But those who would throw cold water on Americans’ exodus plans are missing the point, at least as it relates to vulnerable minorities, like journalist Andrea Chalupa, who in July tweeted, “For those planning to escape abroad, there’s nowhere to escape to.” Chalupa wasn’t wrong in saying America going “full authoritarian” would have global repercussions. But if that happened, even temporary respite would be better for those who would be the first to bear tyranny’s brunt than staying here. Implicit in Chalupa’s words is an exhortation to stay and fight, but those of us who have already spent our lives fighting just to survive have a prerogative to head for the exits if we determine that our continued survival depends on it.
It is, of course, possible predictions of doom are wrong. Perhaps America will manage to get its act together. I hope that happens, but I can’t be too sure. Trump’s election and misrule, the January 6 attack and the scent of rising fascism are worse than alarming—they’ve shaken faith in our nation and in the American exceptionalist presumption that the U.S. is a country for people yearning to breathe free—not a country that people yearning to breathe flee.
Spiro noted that dual citizenship is a common aspiration among people in Latin America, where a long history of economic disaster, democracies becoming dictatorships, and violent conflict has made second passports hot commodities—and most members of the Facebook group I belong to, which focuses on German citizenship, are from places like Brazil and Argentina. It could be that the U.S., which already has the worst gun violence of any developed nation and socioeconomic inequality rivaling that of some Latin American countries, is now converging with its neighbors to the south in that sense.
Some people might think members of minority groups that have long faced prejudice, discrimination, and violence in America thinking about leaving the country because they fear for their future here are overreacting, perhaps having watched one too many episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale or read one too many pages of It Can’t Happen Here. But a pigeon in the city could also be a canary in the coal mine, and I’d rather have a mine cart than suffocate in darkness
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‘The Donald Dash’: 1 in 4 Americans Weigh Emigration After Trump’s 2024 Comeback
The Surge in Emigration Interest
The Immigration Advice Service’s latest report finds that an astonishing 25% of Americans are considering relocating internationally, with Google searches like “moving abroad” and “how to emigrate” also hitting record highs in 2024.
Interest in leaving the U.S. is particularly strong in cities along the East and West coasts, with 47% of Los Angeles residents and 35% of New Yorkers mulling over a move overseas. Demographics reveal that younger Americans, especially those between 16 and 24, are the most inclined to leave—40% in this age bracket are eyeing emigration, compared to just 14% of those aged 55 and older.
Where Are Americans Looking to Go?
So, where are Americans hoping to settle? The most popular destination is Canada, with 29% of prospective emigrants listing it as their top choice. Following closely is the UK, appealing to 19% of those thinking of moving. Other countries like Australia (8%) and Ireland (7.5%) are also on the radar, though they’re less popular choices.
A Shift in British Sentiment
The impact of the 2024 election is being felt beyond U.S. borders as well. Across the Atlantic, British citizens appear to be reevaluating their own interest in the U.S. as a potential destination. According to the same survey, 40% of Brits now feel less inclined to consider moving to America, favouring alternative options that promise greater stability and security.
The Bigger Picture: Politics, Stability, and the Quest for a New Life
Ono Okeregha, Director at the Immigration Advice Service, provided insight into the motivations behind these findings: “There’s a complex mix of factors that affect a person’s choice to emigrate and their preferred destination. However, perceived stability—both financial and political—is extremely important. The recent U.S. election has sent shockwaves through America and beyond. There is a real sense of uncertainty, and we’re seeing this impact both Americans and Brits’ decisions about where they want to live and build their future.”
The 2024 election results have clearly ignited new conversations and raised big questions about the future for many. For a significant portion of the population, the answer may just lie beyond U.S. borders.
How IAS Can Help
Our experienced US lawyers can help make your immigration from the US stress-free. We can help you explore routes, pathways and possibilities for you and your family to begin a new life abroad.
We help you navigate changes and challenges and ensure a smooth pathway from the US. Our highly skilled team has helped thousands of immigrants get the permissions they need, and they can help you, too.
Call the IAS team on +1 844 290 6312 or use our live chat service to find out more about our services.
If you have any questions about or need assistance with moving from the USA or any other con, our team is happy to assist.
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Top Reasons Why More Americans Are Leaving the US in 2025
- Reading time : 7 Minutes
- Latest Update : May 8, 2025
A surge in American emigration is reshaping the global landscape. Driven by factors such as escalating living costs, healthcare expenses, and the pursuit of improved work-life balance, more Americans are considering leaving the US for good and want to relocate overseas. This trend of leaving the US has gained significant momentum since the COVID-19 pandemic, with Europe emerging as a popular destination. Remote work opportunities, coupled with the allure of more spacious living and a relaxed lifestyle, are enticing many Americans to trade their home country for the charms offered by European countries such as Greece, France, Malta, Italy, and more.
Why leaving the USA?
To put it simple: High Cost of Living and Healthcare and Social Issues
The rising cost of living, healthcare expenses, and political instability in the United States are major reasons why Americans are moving out of the country. As financial pressures mount, many are seeking more affordable alternatives abroad. The escalating costs of housing and transportation, coupled with a healthcare system that ranks poorly compared to other developed nations, have made it difficult for individuals to maintain a sustainable lifestyle. Consequently, a growing number of Americans are exploring opportunities in countries that offer better living conditions and accessible healthcare, prompting a significant shift in migration patterns.
According to the Bureau of Labor The cost of living in the US went up in 2024. Prices rose 3.1% compared to the year before. This is slower than the increases in 2022 and 2023. However, the cost of housing went up by 5.7% and transportation costs rose by 9.4%.
Where does the US rank in healthcare?
The United States generally ranks lower than other developed nations in healthcare outcomes, cost-efficiency, and accessibility. In the most recent rankings by organizations like the Commonwealth Fund and the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. often falls below other high-income countries. Here are a few key points on recent rankings:
- Overall Health System Performance: The U.S. ranked last among 11 high-income countries in a 2021 Commonwealth Fund report. The rankings measured factors like access to care, equity, efficiency, and health outcomes.
- Healthcare Outcomes: The U.S. also ranked lower on health outcomes such as life expectancy, preventable mortality, and chronic disease management. Higher costs do not correspond with better results, as the U.S. spends more on healthcare per capita than any other country.
- Access and Affordability: Access to healthcare and affordability are major challenges in the U.S. compared to other countries with universal healthcare systems, which tend to offer more equitable access.
These factors contribute to the U.S. ranking relatively low in healthcare system performance despite its high spending.
The amount spent on healthcare in the US rose by 7.5% in 2023. This brings the total to $4.9 trillion, or $14,570 per person. The increase is similar to what it was before the pandemic. source: AMA
The soaring cost of living and healthcare in the United States is often cited as a primary reason for emigration. For many, the financial burden has become unsustainable, prompting them to seek more affordable alternatives abroad.
Limited Economic Opportunities or Job Dissatisfaction
Economic stagnation and dissatisfaction with job prospects also play a significant role. While some are unable to find fulfilling employment, others are dissatisfied with stagnant wages and limited career growth, leading them to explore opportunities in other countries.
Seeking Better Quality of Life and Work-Life Balance
The quest to move out of the us for a better quality of life for those who plan leaving the united states and improved work-life balance is a major drive for many. Countries offering a more relaxed pace of life and a stronger emphasis on family and leisure time are becoming increasingly attractive.
Political and Social Unrest
Political and social instability in the US has left many seeking more stable environments. The desire for safer and more predictable living conditions has led to an increase in Americans leaving the US.
Attraction to Greater Tax Efficiency and Affordable Education
Countries with alternative tax obligations and affordable education systems are also luring Americans abroad. The opportunity to adopt new tax responsibilities more suitable for individuals needs and to provide children with quality and affordable education is a compelling incentive.
Request a consultation with our legal experts for professional guidance.
The 2024 Election Result: US Citizens Leaving the US
The re-election of Donald Trump in 2024 is poised to amplify the ongoing trend of US citizens leaving the U.S, as many individuals, disillusioned by the political climate and seeking alignment with their personal values, consider relocating abroad. This trend echoes sentiments from 2016, when a significant number of Americans expressed a desire to escape the divisive atmosphere surrounding Trump’s initial election.
Motivated by a combination of political discontent, a quest for cultural resonance, and the pursuit of better economic opportunities, individuals are increasingly exploring residency options in countries known for their progressive policies and quality of life. Following Trump’s decisive victory, search activity related to emigration has skyrocketed by 1,514%, indicating a dramatic uptick in interest among Americans looking to leave the US.
Concerns about stricter immigration laws, heightened political tension, and potential rollbacks of progressive policies are fueling this surge. As history suggests, the political climate can significantly influence migration patterns, Potentially leading to a notable demographic shift, as more Americans look to escape the US in search of fresh starts in more favorable environments.
How Many U.S. Citizens Are Moving out of the US Each Year?
Based on the available information, it’s difficult to provide an exact number of U.S. citizens who moves out of the us each year but what we know is that the number of people giving up U.S. citizenship has been rising in recent years, with a record 5,411 individuals doing so in 2016.
Moving to Europe from America
Several countries have emerged as popular choice destinations for Americans looking to emigrate in Europe, particularly those offering investor visas or Citizenship by Ancestry (CBA):
- France
Talent Passport: Through the France Talent passport program, qualifying investors and their family members can obtain a 4-year renewable residency card. This can lead to permanent residency or citizenship after 5 years, subject to language requirements.
French CBA: Applicants who can present documentation to prove their relationships with their French parent and the citizenship status of their French parent may be eligible to secure French citizenship through ancestry.
- Portugal
Portugal Golden Visa program: With a qualifying investment, non-EU investors can be granted the opportunity to reside, work, and study in Portugal. Applicants can qualify for permanent residency or citizenship after 5 years.
Read Also : Portugal Golden Visa: A Strategic Investment in 2025
Portuguese CBA: Individuals who can trace their lineage back to Portuguese ancestors may be eligible to secure Portuguese citizenship through ancestry. - Greece
Golden Visa Program: With a qualifying investment in real estate property, non-EU investors can be granted the opportunity to reside in Greece under a 5-year renewable residency permit. Applicants can qualify for citizenship after 7 years, subject to requirements.
- Italy
Italian CBA: Individuals who are of Italian descent and meet certain requirements may be eligible to apply for Italian citizenship without needing to buy property or invest in a business in Italy.
- Malta
Malta Golden Visa: Investors can be granted permanent residency, which includes the right to live, work, and study in Malta. This program grants a potential path to Malta citizenship under Maltese Citizenship Act, Chapter 188 - Switzerland
The Swiss Lump Sum Taxation program offers high-net-worth foreigners a fixed annual tax based on living expenses instead of global income, providing fiscal predictability. It grants access to Switzerland’s top-tier financial system, exceptional living standards, and global mobility advantages.
find out more about the Swiss Residency Program - New Zealand
New Zealand offers Americans an attractive alternative through its Active Investor Plus Visa program. Google searches for “move to New Zealand” from the United States have doubled since 2020, with the country consistently ranking in the top ten for quality of life worldwide. The visa requires investments ranging from NZ$5-10 million (Approx. $3-6 million) with minimal physical presence requirements (as little as 21 days over three years). New Zealand appeals to Americans seeking political stability, excellent healthcare and education, work-life balance, and a straightforward business environment, all amid stunning natural landscapes.
These countries offer attractive visa programs that not only provide residency but may also pave the way for permanent residency and citizenship, making them appealing options for long-term relocation.
The Move to the Caribbean
An increasing number of U.S citizens are willing to move to the caribbean islands, especially the countries with investor visa programs or citizenship by investment visa programs such as the Caribbean islands of Antigua, stand to benefit significantly. The influx of capital and talent can stimulate economic growth, drive innovation, and enrich the local culture with diverse perspectives and skills. In addition, the introduction of American emigrants into new environments can bring fresh perspectives and skills, potentially influencing the social and political landscapes of their new homes. This fusion of cultures and ideas can lead to dynamic changes, fostering a more globalized community.
The move to Canada from USA
Among the most popular destinations for Americans wishing to move is Canada, particularly in light of the recent election results. The Canada Startup Visa (SUV) program has gained traction as an appealing pathway for entrepreneurs looking to establish themselves in a new environment. This program allows individuals to secure permanent residency in Canada while launching innovative businesses in the country.
Read also: Addressing Common Myths and Confusions in the Canada Startup Visa Industry
Our Thoughts
If you are planning on leaving the US and are interested in learning more about investment immigration to acquire residency or citizenship abroad, please contact your local Harvey Law Group (HLG) office here for more details. Founded in 1992, HLG is a leading multinational law firm with offices across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, ready to cater to your specific needs for immigration and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are more Americans considering emigrating?
Key reasons include high cost of living, expensive healthcare, limited economic opportunities, job dissatisfaction, seeking better quality of life and work-life balance, political/social unrest, and attraction to greater tax efficiency and affordable education abroad.
How much did the cost of living and healthcare spending increase in the US?
In 2024, the cost of living rose 3.1% (housing +5.7%, transportation +9.4%). Healthcare spending increased 4.1% to $4.5 trillion ($13,493 per person) in 2022.
How does the US rank in healthcare compared to other developed nations?
The US ranks lower in healthcare outcomes, cost-efficiency, and accessibility according to the Commonwealth Fund and WHO.
How did the 2024 re-election of Donald Trump impact American emigration?
Trump’s victory amplified the trend, with emigration-related search activity surging 1,514% as many became disillusioned with the political climate.
What European countries are popular for American emigrants and what programs do they offer?
France, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Malta are popular, offering investor visa or citizenship by ancestry programs providing paths to residency and citizenship.
How can Americans gain residency in Portugal or Greece?
Portugal’s Golden Visa grants residency for a qualifying investment, leading to permanent residency or citizenship after 5 years. Greece’s Golden Visa provides a renewable 5-year residency for a qualifying real estate investment, with citizenship possible after 7 years.
Can Americans pursue Italian citizenship without investing or buying property?
Yes, Americans of Italian descent meeting certain criteria can apply for citizenship by ancestry.
Why are some Americans moving to the Caribbean?
Caribbean countries with investor visa or citizenship by investment programs are attracting Americans, stimulating economic growth.
How does Canada’s Startup Visa program benefit American entrepreneurs?
The program grants permanent residency to entrepreneurs launching innovative businesses in Canada.
Is leaving America worth it?
Americans are increasingly emigrating due to rising living costs (3.1% in 2024), expensive healthcare ($13,493 per person), poor work-life balance, political concerns, and limited economic opportunities. Popular destinations include countries with investor visa programs, Caribbean islands, New Zealand and Canada. The decision depends on personal circumstances and priorities, with thorough research and possibly legal consultation recommended before leaving the USA.
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