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America, Don’t Succumb to Escapism
(newrepublic.com)
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this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2024
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Yeah, no, I'm literally making escape plans. Just this week the street between our house and our kid's daycare got shut down in the middle of the day for an unannounced parade, and my wife had a fucking panic attack thinking it might be some sort of Proud Boys or Oathkeepers-type march and they were gonna run amok and we'd be cut off from him. I don't plan to stick around long enough to see that happen for real when Project 2025 kicks off, thank you.
Where are you planning to go? I'm inclined to want to leave, but I have no idea where to go.
The "easiest" would be Israel since my wife qualifies under the Law of Return, but we're both staunchly anti-Zionist, so... ugh. Right now I'm looking closest at Ireland, since my profession is on the Critical Skills Employment Permit list and I work in a niche that is well-matched to the Irish pharma/life sciences sector. In a pinch I'd lobby for a transfer to my company's Canadian branch office, but that's not optimal for a few reasons.
ETA: for permanent emigration, the thing you want to do is find a country where you can speak or at least quickly learn the language, and where you can get employment in a sector that's on their list of critical needs. In most cases you can't get a visa that lets you stay and work long-term without first getting a job offer. In terms of flexibility, someplace in the EU has a lot of appeal, since you can work basically anywhere in the Schengen area after you gain permanent residency. Australia and New Zealand are attractive mainly for being well-isolated from all the regional wars that seem like they're waiting to kick off just as soon as American muscle isn't backing up NATO or Taiwan, but it's a lot harder to get those visas.
Canada's not far behind the US in terms of stupid, especially if Bitcoin Milhouse wins the next election, as he is widely expected to. Our house prices are even more fucked than yours too, so if you come here, bring caaaaaash.
Might as well look elsewhere so you don't have to repeat the exercise in a decade when it goes to shit here too.
Eeeeexactly. My wife is lobbying for it (because she loathes air travel, mostly) but I have no interest in moving to Cold United States just for a marginal and temporary gain in freedom. It'd be a last-ditch option.
Yeah I second EU for right of travel and work as OP mentioned. Also countries like France have artist and business owners visas like US' H-1B visas. Application for residency process is relatively painless compared to US/UK/CAN. Sponsorship by a company from your country that does business in the EU is also a very popular way to get in.
Yeah no, don't go to France, seems like we're trying to speedrun the road to fascism, so might not be a great plan either...
EU politics generally seem to be taking a sudden rightward lurch of late, with immigration being a major driver. All that history of African colonialism coming home to roost is making people with a fixed, racially-homogenous sense of their national identity into very unhappy campers. Of the countries not actively sliding into fascism, Putin seems to be ogling with hungry eyes in anticipation of NATO's defanging. Things look pretty dire across the board, to be honest -- between fascism, looming war, and climate change it's all about least-bad options right now.
...but seriously, I've been learning French for almost four years now (a) in order to widen my options beyond the Anglosphere in general, and (b) because a whole bunch of tropical islands are part of France (including Tahiti) and I'd like to get a liveaboard sailboat and visit some of them.
I figure having a specific destination planned becomes less important if you're taking your home with you. It's really being able to get out before the shit hits the fan that's the issue, and not having to worry about finding a job willing to sponsor a work visa in order to settle in a particular place seems like it would make that easier.
Worst-case scenario, if the boat's cheap enough your living expenses can be low enough to support yourself bouncing around from port to port working odd jobs.
Come to California. We'll fight.
My wife is a 3rd generation Irish immigrant, meaning she can apply for dual citizenship and I can get Irish citizenship as a "needed specialist."
It's not the easiest escape plan, especially since it would mean abandoning her aging father, but at least we can get out of here if/when the Brown Shirts come for us.
We're looking in the same direction, since I qualify under the same program. I'm looking at companies to start communicating with about job opportunities now.
Wait 3rd gen can get dual citizenship in ireland?? I thought it was only up to 2nd gen
I might have put my generations wrong, her grandfather was born in Ireland, so I think you're right in that she's actually a second generation immigrant.
Exactly. Just actually do it. Remember the people who escaped Germany left before the election. Those who left after had a much harder time.
It is much easier to move without stuff whether that means selling or storing your collection of mostly junk. I took a leisurely route and brought about 40 suitcases total to the other side of the world in a few trips. The rest of the crap I bought over the years is rotting in a cheap storage unit. Your ancestors somewhere down the line immigrated with just the bags they could carry in one trip or nothing.
Depending on your financial situation and if you have at least one family member with a secondary passport there are options. Just don't poison them by "moving" as a tourist, trying to work, and then getting deported. Immigration is difficult, even for Americans. But it is possible.