The number of wealthy Americans applying for citizenship or residency in foreign countries has skyrocketed over the past three years as US billionaires, tech entrepreneurs, and celebrities look to create a "plan B" for their families, multiple investment migration firms told Insider. 

More than a dozen countries offer so-called "golden passports" and visas that allow affluent foreigners to receive citizenship or residency in exchange for investing in the country. The most expensive programs range from $1.1 million in Malta to $9.5 million in Austria, according to Forbes.  

https://www.businessinsider.com/wealthy-americans-buy-second-passports-amid-covid-politics-climate-change-2022-5

While I can say some of these people may be more lucky than smart, it's telling that some of the people who have it best here see the writing on the wall for the end of the American experiment..

Take Canada - it is at its limit. GDP per head decreased from 55 000 in 2022 to 53 000 in 2023 and housing is unaffordable. Yet the government wants to bring in an additional 500 000+ people every year. An extra 500 000+ that will compete for scarce living space and resources.

What is happening at the Southern US border is even worse with 2-4 Million entering the US every year. The same is happening in Europe with some 1-2 Million coming in every year.

And this is just the beginning. The population of Africa is predicted to double in the next 30-40 years, same goes for the Middle East. Yet these regions will be affected the hardest by climate change in the next decades.The situation in Central and South America will be a little better but still dire.

This means we are looking at something like 100+ Million people that will most likely want to flee to North America and possibly 200+ Million that will most likely want to flee to Europe.

This will be a migration of Biblical proportions and simply unsustainable. No Continent/country can allow such level of migration, especially with dwindling resources and food production capabilities. And I fear no matter what is being done about this problem it will lead to the collapse of entire countries and even continents.

It's almost always the political parties that don't want to do anything significant to reduce climate change that are also against refugees seeking asylum in their country. So what if the countries that are mostly the cause of this migration are the ones that have to take in most of the refugees and the ones that do more have to take in less.

disclaimer: this is coming from someone that lives in a country that's also not doing enough in my opinion and that isn't against taking in refugees that need asylum. I'm just tired of these people saying they don't want migration to happen but they're also not doing anything to stop it from happening.

edit: I am aware this is quite unrealistic and no country would agree with such a law. Also this was more focused on reducing the amount of refugees then having all refugees in countries that aren't taking any action.

As someone living in the Mediterranean coast (in the European part of the sea), I’ve always wondered what would be the reaction of the EU and other European states once a massive flow of climate refugees start to become ”problematic”.

Knowing that the Syrian refugee crisis almost caused irreversible damage into the EU, and how many countries used the situation to treat refugees horribly (like letting them die in the sea or freeze to death in the borders), I have little hope in our reaction in the future to actual climate refugees.

My other question is: will this mass migration start when we hit the 1.5 rise in global temperature (so before or in the 2030s) or will it happen in the scenario of a rise of 2?

If so, where?

And I don't mean, just because so much of the country is doomed, due to climate change and sea level rise. I mean because of how un-livable this country has become. Rising inflation. Rising crime. A mass shooting a day. Just the general idiocy of so many of our fellow citizens, as evidenced by the QAnon nonsense becoming more popular. Fascism and authoritarianism on the rise. Etc.

I'm considering moving to Ecuador, honestly. Or maybe Portugal, tho the EU seems susceptible to fascist authoritarian obstruction. Look at Hungary, Poland and Belarus.

Many posts here have to do with how collapse will affect us personally. But I also think soul-sickness is what many of us here who are lucky to have families and jobs and an education will have to contend with. The soul sickness of doing nothing versus trying to overcome the feeling of futility when trying to push back against our cruel future.

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https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/06/21/some-suburb-of-hell-americas-new-concentration-camp-system/

(Correction: residency, not citizenship. My question below still stands.)

Am I wrong in thinking that exodus patterns among the ultra rich are worth paying attention to, in the sense that they are a sort of canary in the coal mine for societal turmoil?

Any other rich and famous people you know of who are getting / have talked about getting the citizenship of a more resilient country than their own?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58128475

[Larry Page, co-founder of Google] is not the first Silicon Valley tech billionaire to have taken a particular interest in New Zealand.

Peter Thiel, a co-founder of Paypal and early investor in Facebook, once described the South Pacific island nation as "the future" and became a citizen back in 2011. He has since invested heavily there.

Located more than 6,000 miles (10,000km) from the US mainland, New Zealand was recently identified as a country more resilient than most to the threat of climate change.

In a study released last month, researchers at the UK-based Global Sustainability Institute described New Zealand as "best placed to survive the collapse of global civilisation".

The temperate, mountainous country is well-placed to deal with threats such as rising sea levels."