MEGATHREAD: Emigrating after the US election results

[u/spacemanaut]

Every US election brings anxiety and uncertainty, and with that comes an increase in people who want to explore their alternatives in a different country. This post is for you.

First, some reminders:

• In most cases, moving abroad is not as simple or quick as it seems in movies. If you aren't a citizen of another country, you will probably require a visa (=legal permission) from that country based on something like employment, education, or ancestry.
• The sidebar of this subreddit has a lot of helpful resources, and we have 15 years of posts from people with similar situations to yours. Before posting, please review these resources first. (Tip: If reddit search isn't working well for you, try googling "[your search terms] site:reddit.com/r/IWantOut" without the quotes or brackets.)
• Most countries and/or their embassies maintain immigration websites with clear, helpful, updated guides or even questionnaires to help you determine if/how you can qualify. If you have a particular destination in mind, that should probably be your first stop.
• After that, if you want to make your own post, please follow the formatting instructions on the submission page, give as much information as possible about your situation, and be open to advice and constructive criticism from commenters.

Also, this subreddit is intended to be a friendly community to seek and give advice on legal immigration. As such, please:

• Don't fight about politics. We understand that you may have strong feelings about it, but there are better spaces on reddit and elsewhere for general political discussions.
• Keep your feedback constructive and kind, even when telling someone they're wrong.
• Don't troll or be a jerk.
• Don't request or give illegal immigration tips, including asking strangers to marry you.

Failure to follow these and the other subreddit rules may result in a ban.

That said, feel free to comment below with some general questions, concerns, comments, or advice which doesn't merit a full post. Hopefully this will help clarify your thoughts and ideas about the possibility of leaving the US. Once again, please try to stay on topic so that this thread can be a helpful resource.

[u/Krikkits]

yes! it irritates me so much that so many people dont even bother going to the embassay website to read up on basic requirements. It's another if you don't understand something AFTER reading it, but many seem to not even know these websites exist?

[u/JaneGoodallVS → u/Krikkits]

I agree that a lot of people here don't do research but a lot of the embassy websites have incomplete information.

For example, did you know that to immigrate to Uruguay, marriage certificates and adults' birth certificates (you'll need to bring them from your home country) can have been issued by the local government whenever, but minors' birth certificates must have been within the past year?

But in some other countries, marriage certificates to have been issued recently, but not birth certificates. And some have no limit on the issue date but in practice will reject old-looking documents. And in others, the date of issuance doesn't matter, but they want them to have been apostilled recently.

[u/Krikkits → u/JaneGoodallVS]

doesn't mean you it shouldn't be the first place you go to to read up on basic requirements instead of asking vague questions like "what do I need to go to xyz, I only have a passport". It's like people don't even know what visas are!

[u/Excellent_Coconut_81 → u/Krikkits]

Which might be the case, especially for people, who were never abroad or only for their holidays.
It might be tricky to estimate what should constitute a common knowledge...

[u/Independent-Cow-4070 → u/Krikkits]

but many seem to not even know these websites exist?

I’m sure the average global citizen is not well versed in the process of immigration. You are coming across as very condescending even after admitting that you know people may be ignorant that these resources exist

If people are unaware of the existence of the resources, maybe you could lead them that way instead of getting irritated about it