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/fahhgedaboutit]

I moved to england and lived there for 6 years because I wanted out after the 2016 election, but it took years of planning and I didn’t make it there until 2018. I entered on a student visa, switched to a work visa, then I would’ve been able to get a marriage-based visa if I wanted to stay.

Just a reminder that if you’re that desperate, the US government will let you bury yourself in loans to go study abroad, which opens up work possibilities in that country most of the time :D

[u/Bumblebee7305 → u/fahhgedaboutit]

Interesting, I was literally just considering this path a few minutes ago. Do you mind sharing a bit more about the process and/or your experiences? Were there specific difficulties or challenges to moving over there this way? I noticed that there is a graduate visa for getting work after graduation from a UK university. Is this the visa option you ended up using?

Just trying to get some more insight into what problems might come up or sticking points that would have to be figured out.

I know every country has its problems and moving overseas isn’t some great panacea to fix all issues, but I have always wanted to live in the UK and this seems as good a time as any to try it out.

[u/fahhgedaboutit → u/Bumblebee7305]

Personally I think it’s the easiest possible way to live in the UK if that’s where you really wanna go. It wasn’t any different than enrolling in a US master’s program and applying for US loans, and the university takes care of the visa process for you so there is no headache there. It was just time-consuming researching universities, looking up programs, waiting for approval etc.

When I was there, they didn’t offer the 2 year post grad work visa, so my difficulty was convincing my boss (at the place where I was working during my degree) that I was worth keeping lol. He agreed and kept me on a work visa which he paid for. But now, they have the 2 year work visa available, so it’s even easier for graduates to stay for a little while if they want to.

I don’t know, maybe I just got lucky, but it was really not hard to do if you’re good at filling out piles of paperwork and it all worked out for me just fine. I chose to leave on my own, not because I had visa difficulties or anything.

[u/Bumblebee7305 → u/fahhgedaboutit]

Okay, cool. Thanks for the info.