A lot of us in America are desperate to escape and are putting other nations on pedestals. I personally know I need someone to remind me that other countries have problems as well.
Please enlighten this ignorant American, why shouldn’t I want to move to your country?
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Because you don’t want free education and free healthcare? Oh and regulated food industry so your food can’t have hormones and antibiotics
I won’t move to South Korea even though I was technically born a citizen because the culture has rampant misogyny and basically allows the elderly to work themselves to death.
I’m in australia. There is a housing crisis and the price of housing has gone so out of control that the decades long, bi-partisan belief in the importance of strong population growth from migration and birth has reversed really really suddenly. There is now a bi-partisan view towards slashing migration rates. So even if you wanted to, you might struggle to get a visa.
I’m in Australia, and I was reminded in conversation with one of my colleagues yesterday how badly our universal healthcare isn’t actually universal. Not only does it not cover dental, but a lot of the time it won’t cover things with the urgency actually needed so people are forced to pay to have something done privately, or things like heart echos are only covered once every 3 years, which means that if you have a condition that means you need more frequent echos, you have to pay a few hundred dollars to get one. The fact that there is somewhat universal healthcare does mean covering something privately is much cheaper than it would be in America is still there, but it is a solidly imperfect system. Much much better than America’s system, but solidly imperfect.
I think if you’d asked this question while Biden was in office, I maybe would have been like “I’ve never lived in America so I can’t speak to it being better here” but right now, America does seem really terrifying. Like, Trump is doing a lot of terrifying things and I can’t see it stopping any time soon.
But also, we have an election coming up on Saturday, so we’ll see how that goes. Maybe we’ll elect Temu Trump (Dutton), although I am more confident in our system for stopping total lawlessness of our leaders than I am in America’s.
Because your country is planning to invade ours and I’m sorry but we’re sick of jokes about how polite we are.
Also, housing is expensive, winter is long and I guess some people hate that, and if you’re not lucky it will take you a while to find a doctor. Oh, and because we’re a smaller market than you some of our trade goes through big American distributors, so if you enjoy certain things (coffee comes to mind, I’m glad I’m not into it) that’s going to be an issue. And you’ve exported your ridiculous culture war to use so we gotta deal with that shit too.
In Canada there is a family doctor shortage. It can take years in some smaller cities/towns to get one. Though at least you can go to the ER if you need to and not pay a cent.
We’re also currently under threat of being made the 51st US state.😉
Cost of living, to immigrate its actually way harder than people think and the process is hella delayed right now. My boyfriends PR took 5 years. Some other friends who did it took like 2-3 – even for Americans. We also live next to Trump’s America, and even though we are not IN it we feel every single thing that happens. Like what former PM Pierre Trudeau said about America thats true today: “Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”
I also wouldn’t say they’re friendly anymore cause we get annexation threats almost everyday now. When you’re IN the country getting threats you also have to think about a possible future where they actually do something insane like invade. The whole reason why Carney won so big was cause Canadians were terrified PP was gonna sell us out. We feel a bit better now, but fuck the last few months did something to us. Theres a trauma there from the betrayal. It took us a few months to move past it.
Germany: Speaking the language is essential for your career, to make friends, to navigate the health care system, to survive bureaucracy, and to understand which track the delayed train will really leave from.
Aside from the attack from our neighbours to the north, I don’t have any issues with Canada that I believe are specific to us. I think everywhere is dealing with inflation and housing issues. I love this country, it’s a wonderful and safe place to live.. as long as the U.S. doesn’t invade which is not a 0% chance like it used to be.
Uk. Our country is trying very hard to be america’s echo.
Canadian, housing is expensive, the weather is miserable, we have maple magas (don’t ask me why, but they exist), plus our neighbour is nuts might try to nvade us.
As a woman of color who grew up in Europe, I tell you that Europe is not a liberal diverse heaven some might think. There was always racism and exclusion. I wouldn’t say there was an institutional racism. But the “otherness” was always there. Until I came to California, I never quite knew how diversity was. Nobody cares that I am not white in California. Nobody asks me where I am from in California until they notice a slight peculiar accent. America has a lot of problems, but at least I feel accepted here.
Aussie here.
The state of Queensland has just elected a conservative government who are trying to reduce access to reproductive healthcare.
We have a federal election tomorrow, one of our candidates (Petter Dutton) is nicknamed Voldemort, Temu Trump and Mr Potato Head because he’s both evil, stupid beyond belief, and emulates the Orange Man.
Crime appears to be reducing in all areas except for violence against women, which appears to be increasing (and not just by increased reporting).
We have a major, major alcohol problem which is likely a factor in the above. Men get on the piss and beat women. It happens more than anyone will talk about without minimising it as blokes being demonised for blowing off a bit of steam.
We have still only had one female PM and she was treated just horribly even though she was probably the most competent leader we have had since the 90s.
Our country pretty much goes up in flames every 7 years on average. Last time was 5 years ago. Summer is terrifying.
I’m a woman in the US who luckily has birthright citizenship in another country. I have started the process to finalize my passport there. However. That is honestly for the absolute last resort of if the US end up as The Handmaid’s Tale.
Housing and jobs are scarce everywhere. In fact, the US has better employment opportunities vs a lot of countries. There’s a reason why brain drain is a very real thing from overseas to the US. We are a country that is not under the threat of actual war. While protections for disabled people are fast disappearing, they never existed at all in many countries. And for women, abortion is not a right many countries have. Racism is rampant, especially in ethnically homogenous countries. Outside of a few select Western countries, the US is definitely still a better place to be a woman. It’s also a better place to be an immigrant.
Canada here.
Our health care system is slowly collapsing. Many Canadians do not have a family doctor.
We have a housing crisis for a number of reasons. House prices fluctuate dramatically country wide.
Our infrastructure, housing, healthcare, and other social services are overloaded with too many people coming in too quickly and those systems were not given time or budget to keep up.
Employment can be tough to find for people right now.
Depending on your province your government will be hit or miss more or less based on personal views.
Much stricter gun laws which may be an issue for some.
Depending on region your weather may be pretty damn cold. Lots of snow. Plus very long/short days and nights with the seasons.
We don’t have an infrastructure system like the Interstate.
Because there is racism everywhere, in varying degrees. I lived in Asia tier 1 cities for some years, and my white expat friends generally was astounded by some of the racism. It’s either racism or white worship in that part of the world. I had an easier time because of my East Asian heritage.
Also Americans especially found it challenging to understand and accept that rules are thoroughly enforced. So there’s that too.
Bottom line, grass isn’t always greener, but putting some distance between yourself and your home country can sometimes help with the stress or despair you feel about the politics etc. at least that’s what it did for me.
As a 39 year old woman in America I feel doomed. 😭
I’m from the US. As a black woman who has lived in two other countries and traveled in even more…. I’ll just say the closed mindedness did not originate in the US. No country is perfect. And I find this question odd and lacks any real knowledge of the US or the world. 🤷🏾♀️
And I don’t even like the US that much!
I live in New Zealand. Groceries here are expensive as hell. We make and grow a lot of our own food but we also can’t afford it. Yesterday, I went to buy a 1kg block of cheese and bought the one that was on special for NZD$12 (approx. US$7). Right next to it, there was a regular plain old block of cheese for NZD$24 (approx. US$14). There have been massive lay offs, especially in Wellington, the capital city. There have been so many lay offs that business which service offices (like lunch spots, coffee etc.) are suffering and needing to close.
Rent is also extortionate, but house prices are also insane and out of reach for many. I pay close to NZD$500/week by myself (US$295/week) for a small 1 bedroom flat, and that only gets me rent. I still have to pay for wifi and power separately. On top of that, renters don’t have nearly as much security and rights here as they do in other countries. A lot of our housing doesn’t stand up to the weather and most older houses aren’t insulated well and many have issues with dampness/mold. Double glazing hasn’t been much of a thing here and people only have it in new builds (maybe) or if they can afford to install it. So most rentals aren’t double glazed.
Some of these things would be less of an issue but generally speaking, people earn less money here in New Zealand, which is why we’re seeing so many Kiwis fly off across the ditch to Australia. Better pay and you get more bang for your buck in terms of living costs.
Public transport barely services the country’s needs. I live in a city that has the best public transport in the country, and it’s still not great. The country is barely connected by railway, but even to take the train to other cities would cost you about as much as a flight would. Don’t get me started on domestic travel… sometimes it’s cheaper to buy a return ticket to Australia than to fly domestic. Fuel is also pretty damn expensive and because of shitty public transport, most people need cars to get around.
That being said, it’s still not America, so I’m happy. It can be really tough for some people here though, but that’s not unlike other countries.
I know this might be a surprise to Americans, but your American citizenship doesn’t just open direct pathways to legal immigration. You can do what you like, but in Canada, unless you have a desired background, you’re not getting in. You’re welcome to visit of course. And no, Americans don’t qualify for asylum. (And for those who say, but what if you’re trans, autistic etc., your current government’s hostility isn’t enough to qualify.)
Ugh I just wanted to say I feel you so hard on this. I’ve been dealing with tons of jealous towards several people I know who have recently moved out of the US. It’s so frustrating that it’s so difficult to move to a different country.
Such an interesting thread, thanks for posing the question! I’m a Taiwanese-American living in Taiwan. It’s a *great* place on so many levels: safe, convenient, friendly, clean, with universal health care even for non-citizens, subsidies for fertility treatments and childcare for citizens, and so on. Not to mention stunning natural beauty accessible by train, bus, metro, and just walking out your door.
But there’s a reason so many people left Taiwan for the US: from 1945-1996, it was essentially a one-party authoritarian government; and today, as a liberal democracy, it faces annexation from China (a problem that will only get worse for Taiwanese specifically as Trump alienates the world from the US and China benefits). On a quality-of-life level, salaries are much lower here than in the US and people work shockingly long hours. (I moved here for my husband and took a 2/3 pay cut to do it.) Housing prices are very high relative to salaries, the birth rate is low (a problem throughout east Asia). While I’m glad women of my generation have choices about motherhood that our own mothers lacked, as a society, it does have downstream effects, since systems are now oriented towards the later middle-aged and elderly instead. Taiwan actually really needs immigrants who are granted permanent citizenship and full civic rights, but so far has not accepted this reality and instead relies on more exploitative ‘migrant worker’ recruitment.
The relatively open and accepting post-1965 immigration regime that the Trump admin is trying to destroy and that many white Americans never fully accepted is in many ways a very special feature of the US and almost reflexively rejected as an option for their own countries by many people living elsewhere in the world.
There are marginalized communities within the United States that don’t have money or privilege to leave United States that have suffered for many years. Way before Trump became president. My ancestors were enslaved in America and fought for their rights and others instead of just fleeing to elsewhere. I am black American woman btw. So if you are against what’s happening why flee elsewhere instead trying to change things here? If you don’t care to understand , just know no country is perfect. But I guess it depends who you are. It may be different depending on how privileged you are.
I have done my research on being expat abroad. I know people that have done it. To move abroad is not easy as people make it seem . Expats are typically upper middle class, skilled workers with a college education, have a work from home job that allows them to live where ever they like, or small business owners.
Think about the locals. Many expats are causing issues for locals and gentrified their cities. Look up what’s happening in Portugal because Americans are moving there. It makes it hard for locals to afford everyday life. Another issue is Americans don’t want to learn the culture or language of the country they want to move to. They expect people to cater to them.
There are countries older than America . Research the history and politics. Many people in other countries suffered for many years to change things within their countries, it did not happen overnight. Look up histories of Germany and China through different time periods to understand how they got to where they are now. But there are pros and cons to living in any country. Anything can change at any moment. Do what you desire but understand the pros and cons.
I didn’t scroll too far through the comments, so forgive me if I’m repeating a comment already made, but from what I saw, this has yet to be mentioned.
Expatriating to another country IS part of the problem. The foundation of the America we know was built through colonization (exploitation, control, genocide). Leaving to go somewhere else is just repeating this process. For the folks that are finally seeing what’s happening here to be problematic (and it really has always been happening here, it’s just more blatant now), it’s so imperative that you stay and fight against it instead of leaving. The only folks that can leave are privileged, leaving behind the marginalized communities that have had to put up with the injustices far longer than most recognize. We should not leave and start the cycle over elsewhere, but rather stop it from continuing on here in the US.
Americans should be wary to emigrate here because if your stupid president invades, he’s the type to send you to prison in El Salvador for being traitors.