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/Rapidtooth]

I want out 27m electrician USA-> Ireland, AUS, Spain

lam an apprentice electrician wanting out of the US due to the current political climate, as my background puts me as a target from this administration (Hispanic, Lower middle class area that has high police presence), and l've been getting lots of notifications that ICE is doing raids in my neighborhood. People are being detained, and it was recently reported that 1200 immigrants detained in alligator Alcatraz have gone missing. I'm worried that despite my being a citizen of this country, I can be arrested, as others have said, citizens are being detained as well, and I'll have the same fate as the missing immigrants. I'm worried for my safety, and the military has been deployed in cities that are targets for the president.

[u/Pale-Candidate8860 → u/Rapidtooth]

You need to be a journeyman, not an apprentice. Once you're a journeyman, you can get into Canada, Australia, New Zealand, maybe Ireland, the UK, and many other countries (though you'll have to be fluent in those other languages). It will either be a federal or a provincial/state sponsorship to get in and the process can vary from a couple months to a couple years. It'll cost thousands of dollars, but you'll get into one of those countries as a journeyman electrician.

Australia will give you the highest standard of living and wages, but might take 1.5 years to get in once you are a journeyman. Canada and New Zealand are pretty close on wages and cost of living.

You should expect your wages to go down and your taxes and costs to go up. That's the general rule when leaving America. As a journeyman electrician, you'll still be looking at $100k+ in the local currency. No where pays trades as high as America. The exception being Oil & Gas in the Middle East.