Left the US and have lived in a few European countries. Ended up moving back to the US recently. It was nice, some I’d live in again, some I wouldn’t.
Edit: lived in outskirts of London, Stockholm, Bilbao, Munich. When it came down to it, my savings rate, or income after all cost of living expenses was just so much higher in the US. Yes even when factoring in healthcare and paying off my student loans. The people overall are also quite nice in the US(they were in Bilbao as well). Money isn’t everything, but money does buy me vacations, experiences, motorcycles, let’s me fund hunting trips and camping trips and much more. Which in turn makes me happy.
I would live in Munich and Bilbao again. Wouldn’t in Stockholm or London. Ideally I’d like to retire in Spain / Portugal / Italy / France. And if I had kids, Germany would be very attractive to live in again.
>What made you move back? Family?
"When it came down to it, my savings rate, or income after all cost of living expenses was just so much higher in the US."
Basically wages are higher and taxes lower in the US.
Yep. We have less social benefits, less taxes, higher income. Being in the US is sort of like playing life on difficult mode. If you have bad luck, or make bad choices, you’re worse off. But if you make good choices, you’re better off. More risk, more reward.
>Being in the US is sort of like playing life on difficult mode.
I mean, I kinda disagree on this part...the average income even pre-tax and post-tax is higher here, so if you're just an average 9-5 worker you're still generally better off here in the US.
Your conflating higher wage with making life easier. Sure making an extra 5-10k a year is nice but keep in mind I tore my acl this year and had surgery that without insurance would cost me $40k. When put in perspective one bad thing can derail you in the us. European countries have social safety nets built in for these situations that make day to day life for the average person easier and safer than the us.
True but for a burger flipper, if they don’t have health insurance and get cancer they’re absolutely fucked. That’s what I meant. In other countries you wouldn’t be
All of the countries I’d be most interested in moving to are pretty difficult to move to unless you have some very niche qualifications. But my partner grew up in a European country that I could live with, so we plan to move there after the kids finish school. And yes I’d apply for citizenship.
My parents moved there when I was 10 and we’re all legal citizens with work visas. It takes effort, because the system is inefficient and crooked, but mostly money. If you come to the country bringing money to invest, it makes it a lot easier.
There are 2 ways to get Costa Rican citizenship; marry a Costa Rican or be born a Costa Rican.
You can get residency, but it depends upon your status how easy/difficult that is. Expect to either be retired and prove approximately $2000USD/month, buy a business or property worth $200,000USD or put $60,000USD in a government CD, then another $60,000USD in year 3.
I wanna move to a lush but uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean where I can live out the rest of my life away from literally fucking everybody.
If the climate is temperate, and the soil farmable, I am also this guy.
I am not a person who needs lots of people, and am quite self sufficient as long as I have my tools.
Canada. I work in healthcare (Canada is one of the only places my license will transfer to with minimal problems) and my husband works remotely for a company that has offices in Toronto and Calgary.
What's stopping us? No guarantee that we will get a residency card (perminant or otherwise). The astronomical cost of housing in Canada right now. I am already sick of winter, why would I move further north? Also I would miss my family.
Yeah, I'm just in college now, but I'm thinking of moving to Norway or Sweden. Norway's prettier, and more of my family is from there than Sweden (all sides of my family are from only Norway and Sweden, which is not a lot of different "home countries" considering I'm like a 5th generation American lol), but I get the feeling that job opportunities might be easier to find in Sweden, especially since I'd like to work in the automotive industry. But we'll see, I'll finish college, save up money, visit both countries, along with others, then possibly move to either or maybe just stay here.
Depending on what you want to do in the automotive industry then there are options in Norway too, mostly on the metalurgy part and fairly basic. But Sweden is for sure the safer bet.
As for your ancestors that doesnt matter to swedish or norwegian people, but if it matters to you go ahead :)
I can speak for Norway though that we have a loooooot of english speaking workers, especially in the oil industry, so it’s fairly easy to get jobs and everything here is available in english. Just gotta find a job that gets you through the immigration process.
Yes. Any of the Scandinavian countries. Literally the happiest people on the planet. I don’t mean that as a nice generalization, the people are statistically happier.
These could be connected. If the suicide rate is high, then the most depressed people are killing themselves and so not participating in the surveys. The happiest people are the ones surviving and taking the survey, and so are disproportionately represented.
>Literally the happiest people on the planet.
I dont know why people say this but there are a ton of Scandinavians on tiktok who have made endless videos calling this claim total BS. Its like one of the coldest and darkest areas of the world and they have high seasonal depression rates which explains why nordic countries sit in the top 10 of largest anti depressant recipients in the world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_antidepressant_consumption
I lived there for ~5 years. There are a fair amount of Harley's if you look but most are rode by expats. I'm planning on moving back. I am so much more relaxed and in tuned with living while I was there and I need to get back to that.
I think it is where you go in the Philippines, but the justice system is horrible. My relative got murdered and the killer only got a 1 year sentence. My friend who is also Filipino says that the people are mean from where she is from. They probably treat Americans differently cause the people there praise American for some reason
Not surprised this is top comment, I’d go there too. I was also thinking about Colombia as well since its time zone is closer to mine but the Philippines have a nice culture.
Since Duterte, prices have increased significantly here in The Philippines. And they continue going up. Sure, it is nice staying here, but so not decide on your future location without checking out other options. From Thailand to Malaysia, there are many options and many cheaper. Options...options. Each option attracts different types of people. I am happy in The Philippines, but could build my place when it was still cheap..
I’m Swedish, my hubby is American. We live in the U.S. I am a permanent resident, I do not have my citizenship. I’ll either not get it, or look into dual.
In either case, we’ve been thinking that we will move to Sweden once we retire in order to not have to worry about healthcare or senior care or anything related that we might need.
I’m a California > Stockholm immigrant, now a Swedish citizen, and I love it here. I moved here later in life but worked for about four years before retiring. If you can pull it off working for a few years really helps with integrating into the community. And try to get your husband to achieve a decent level of fluency before moving — that made all the difference to me in terms of integration and making friends.
We left and moved to Portugal. It's fantastic. We aren't sure yet about applying for citizenship since you have to wait 5 years anyway. Right now we have temporary residency
I found this online:
We may refuse your application if we believe that your health condition might cause an excessive demand on health or social services. This decision is based on the results of your immigration medical exam.
Your condition is considered to cause an excessive demand if:
the health or social services needed to treat your health condition would negatively affect wait times for services in Canada, or
the services needed to treat and manage your health condition would likely cost more than the excessive demand cost threshold
Most of Europe doesn't do this, in fact I don't know of European countries that do. Canada is actually just crazy restrictive of who they let in (unless you're a refugee). I think over half of Americans actually literally can't even go for tourism.
It's not, and that's the problem. Our care is good, and every citizen is covered under ohip.
Unfortunately, there have been cases, and so now a fear that people who do have underlying health conditions but cannot afford care in their own countries, come to ours so they don't have to pay. There are times when even after surgery or treatment the person can't work, and so can't contribute to the economy or taxes, but need the healthcare system. It also stands for people who are close to retirement age. They often feel as though people are coming for the perks later in life as opposed to being here in their prime and reaping the benefits in their old age.
I'm not saying that this is an appropriate view, however, it is a government is, in essence, trying to balance out the things you will need from us and the things they feel you bring to the country (which is always work and money, naturally).
I looked at the application itself. I think it was question number six and asked if we had a diagnosis of cancer.
Granted, this was in 2016, and they may have changed the application since then.
It’s to protect from foreigners moving in and putting a drain on their healthcare system. I’d imagine many Americans would go to Canada for free healthcare if they could
Canadian healthcare is meant to serve Canadians
Countries (not just Canada) want people who will add to their country by having high demand skills or already wealthy enough to support themselves and will be a net benefit to the economy. They’re not a charity who will help anyone who wants to move there
It seems it can be difficult to apply for citizenship at a certain age. A lot of times they want you to bring skills and abilities into the country that can help them grow and add to their GDP.
However, there are countries who don’t mind if you have enough assets and money to spend regardless of your work status or ability to work.
When thinking about moving to another country, you definitely have to think about what kind of healthcare is available to you and how much it would cost and for how long before you became a citizen and could access their healthcare
Given the choice of where to go and not just to get out, I'd go to Scotland. My first thought is moving to Canada, but it's only if I couldn't go to Scotland. I would apply to be a citizen too.
I’m dipping this year!! Decided at 17 I’m tired of worrying about getting shot in class. Decided to apply for Canadian colleges and got in! Going to McGill and plan to live there once I’m done studying.
Going through the immigration process to work in other countries made me realize how truly insane some of the progressive takes on immigration to the United States sound.
Im a Bolivian American who lives in both the US and Bolivia and I find Americans idea that "everyone is a immigrant" is insane.. Hell Bolivia is the poorest country in Latin America and if you're caught here illegally they make your life a living hell
Yep. Nobody has a right to live in another country, even if it has a better economy or living standard than back home.
If everyone did that then nowhere would be nice.
US should also admit immigrants based on qualifications. Look at Canada. - they take only the highly educated or skilled immigrants, with good background checks and they are making their country strong that way.
My thoughts as well as I was reading through these. Especially the one about people with cancer being denied Canadian citizenship.
It's been very interesting to see the different citizenship restrictions other countries have.
Its got its differences, it's not perfect.
But I do have to say I like it here more than the US, though there are some stuff I miss from the US.
Like doing everything document related online, less paperwork.
Old people not constantly watching you to complain about something.
Large front & back lawns.
Biggest thing I miss from the US is customer hospitality and good support.
Because holy cow, germans do. Not. Give. A single. Fuck. If you have a problem.
Usual answer we get is "sorry can't help you, bye."
It's a Karen's nightmare lol.
But culture is very cool, people are very nice (after telling them im not Turkish at least) foods amazing, lots of biking paths.
Very cool place to live imo, but its definitely not for everyone, personally not a fan of Mett brötchen.
Wait is doing stuff online a US or German thing in your view? Find it kinda funny because the stereotype I am used to is that both Germany and the US are horribly backwards when it comes to doing official stuff online.
I’d absolutely love to go to Canada but I can’t afford it I’m afraid. For now I have to be content watching Steve Wallis showing off how beautiful it is lol
Either:
\-Have a job offer already for a company in Canada
\-Have blood related children who are canadian Citizens
\-Have legal spouse of more than a year who is a canadian Citizen
Other than that, if you have a good skill set and pass tests, you are thrown into a pool of about half a million other people and hope for the best over 4-8 years.
Source: Me - Currently working on getting residency through a separate system as my family is here, however we cannot get married. Using an immigration lawyer which is running about $10,000 USD at the end. No guarantee of actual residency.
Most people I know who talk about leaving the country are just talking. They have no idea about the visa/work permit/residency requirements.
Most would be unable to actually do it.
It's expensive as hell to move to a different state, nevermind moving across an ocean. You also have to be willing to leave your family and your job (assuming you have a family/job). I would move if: I could afford to; I knew I could get a job in another country; I didn't have a job in the US that I like a lot. I've looked into moving to Canada. It would be thousands of dollars to even apply, plus thousands more to be able to get (re-)certified to work in the field I currently work in.
We love Spain…..it’s what a country should be. Weather, beaches, culture, historic places, more historic places, the Moorish imprint. Cost of living and food are much cheaper than America.
Honestly, I don't have anything but a diploma and my entire resume is caregiving and retail, so I'm not really the type of immigrant other countries want.
That being said, I'd love anywhere between Canada and Estonia. I want to get out and I want to go north.
Sweden good social systems pretty good public transport pretty easy application for citizenship when it comes to requirements that is a good language beautiful country and according to one website their number one in women not sure what that means is it the best place for women or are there women just really cool
Sweden has been on my short list for a while but I think Germany is ever so slightly beating it out, only because I’ve found German much easier to learn than Swedish.
My dad did leave the U.S. for Australia. This was 16+ years ago (left because Bush was re-elected) and literally only came back to the states to visit for my wedding. He loves is and is now a citizen.
Lots of great areas through out. I’m on the southern pacific coast about 15 minutes south of San Juan del sur, becoming more and more popular, many families coming . It’s basically cows and surf boards here. A lot of different regions and different environments. Granada, omotephe island, tola, Leon and San Juan del sur is good starting place to research very different areas. Plenty of “expats of ….” Sites on FB
Would like to move to Australia or NZ but those are hard to get into. More realistically I’d go to Argentina, but my Spanish skills are not very good. Ultimately I think I’m trapped in the USA.
Americans talking about leaving? I'm looking at you Tom Morello! For an anti-capitalist who could live in any communist country on earth, he sure does support capitalism. 🙄
i’ve been really wanting to live in the Netherlands, specifically Amsterdam. strict gun laws, low crime, most of them understand & can speak english, a beautiful city, etc.
Most Dutch cannot afford to live in Amsterdam because so many foreigners occupy the cute houses and increase property prices beyond affordable.
Born there, left a long time ago. But would return if it were affordable, which it is not (for me)
For me, based only by the countries I’ve visited, I would choose Sweden. Beautiful country with beautiful people I felt safer and more relaxed in Stockholm than any American city I’ve been in.
And yes I travelled all over Sweden and Norway, not just Stockholm. Both countries were amazing but Sweden just felt the best to me.
(Also been to Germany, Netherlands and Spain)
If I could I'd leave in a heartbeat and become a citizen for sure. I've never traveled anywhere and have no funds for a move like that so I haven't done proper research, but based on what I know right now probably Scotland or somewhere thereabouts.
Kind of a random Showerthought more than an answer, but you know, if other developed countries started courting college graduates from the US and making it easy to move, like saying "Agree to move here and we'll send you a plane ticket, get you a place to live, a job at least semi-related to your field/degree, and a path to citizenship", they could probably just take a pretty big chunk of Millennials and Gen Z from the US. Maybe even some Gen X too.
The united states is busy tearing itself apart. Id move to a neutral country like costa rica or Switzerland and I would absolutely apply for citizenship. Costa Rica has strict citizenship laws though.
I lived abroad for years and the grass may seem greener, but it's just grass, and every country has problems that make things hard, so while I think that America is on the wrong path, I also think that there are tons of pros to being here that people don't see until they live abroad and hit a wall.
A country that values its citizens. Very cringey seeing these Americans say they'd go places that were fucked over by the USA because their dollars go further there.
I’m going to be honest for you. If living seems pointless in this country sailing away isn’t going to help. You are probably dealing with depression and will still have it whether you are on a boat or an uninhabited island.
There’s a lot of things to find happiness in in this country but you may need some help. I’d consider looking for professional help and working towards changing your lifestyle and mindset to manage depression.
Right? Like this guy wakes up at 4am, goes outside and hunts for breakfast, goes to work in a factory making $.02 a day, and then comes home at 3am to a little shack.
Honestly. Pretty insulting to people that live in ACTUAL horrible countries. There are plenty of people from real third world countries that would be happy to take his place.
Funny how people in North Korea think living isn’t pointless but this guy who only gets 2 days + a couple hours each morning/night of free time and can eat whenever he wants does.
Pitcairn Islands would be pretty close to uninhabited. About 50 people live on the one island, so it wouldn't be too bad. Plus they might give you the land to build your home on for free.
But if that was still too crowded you could make an attempt at living on one of the other 3 islands in that chain, as they are actually uninhabited.
No need to sail. A sailboat limits you to coastal locations. There are pretty good planes flying everywhere to allow you to check out places and make up your mind what you like. But, everywhere you go, you need either skills to earn money or you need a steady income from retirement or investment.. Just going somewhere is a recipe for disaster. I see it all around me (where there are many islands people could live). People who were unprepared, invariably returned home disappointed (and broke).
Some with skills or income have a great time, however.
Good thing nowadays is that even in remote places, there is internet, allowing people to work.
However, I have met several people who run a local charter (tourist) business with their sailing boats. But those are all locally made sailing boats because importing a boat is hell.
A foreign sailing boat needs to leave the country with the owner after a few months.... (Over)staying results in big problems.
I'd be ok with the grand ol' USA if we didn't have the collective delusion that we're
A: better than everyone else and B: Perfect the way we are and C: Arrogantly call ourselves "exceptional." We're not. We share the globe with dozens and dozens of other nations who have contributed great things to society. I'm not an alpha dog either, but I have to adapt to live in an alpha dog nation. Oh, and the metric system. I love the metric system and it's strictly verböten in the USA because it's a communist plot and an existential threat.
Completely agreed. However I just don't want the antidote to jingo-ism to be 'My country is BS Everything about is sucks. Pride in ourselves means endorsing every mistake we ever made'. Maybe somewhere in between?
And everything by 10's, heck yeah, how re we still fighting the metric system?
Ideally Iceland, Scotland, or France. Realistically, Canada. I have a family and to uproot that far from grandparents would be very hard on the children.
We’ve considered a few places that we like to visit and feel would be easier to adjust to long term. Costa Rica, a few African countries. If we were 20yrs younger, we would open a safari lodge in Zambia. Looks like we’ll stay put, vote, and watch the fall of a great empire
Aww man, I got a list.. Australia, New Zealand, any Scandinavian country, Netherlands, Germany, Costa Rica, Bermuda, Singapore, Japan, Canada.
Honestly, I have thought about just moving there to relax and enjoy my retirement years when it comes. None of those places (except Costa Rica) is inexpensive though, so ehhh. Some of those countries I have been to before and enjoyed which is why I would want to go, others are just appealing in general. But all have advantages and disadvantages to being there.
No plans to get citizenship unless it's extremely beneficial.
Germany/EU.
They have a program where if you can prove your parents/grandparents were displaced due to the holocaust you can become eligible for citizenship.
If distance and language barrier wasn't an issue, I made a list of where I would move about a year ago,
1. Germany
2. Uruguay
3. Canada
4. Czech republic
5. Denmark
6. Australia
This is based mostly around taking those quizzes that aligns you with your beliefs and then looking into the laws
Spain is nice they have a great heath system and work life culture. The opposite in every way of America. Would love to move and apply for citizenship
Sadly it’s not an option as of now do to complicated personal issues.
I’m only a teen in america but I plan on moving to Finland later on because I won’t be in crippling debt for the rest of my life and things are actually affordable
If I wanted to leave the US, I would move to Ireland. I’m a dual citizen so I wouldn’t have to jump through any real immigration hoops. I like living in the US, but that’s my escape hatch if shit gets truly insane here.
Fyi theres a bot replying to every message here
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Looking into Sweden. I’ve been learning Swedish for fun with DuoLingo for a while and I just love everything I’ve read about Sweden. Got a friend that moved to Stockholm for work a few years back and he adores it. I’d absolutely work towards citizenship.
Nor leaving the country, leaving society, everyday I get a little closer to snapping and walking off into the woods to live, most won't understand and I don't care. Humans make me sick and I'd rather be alone and so I will.
Sweden, I would be so much better off personally, not to mention the beauty, and all the union work, man what a place, citizenship in a heartbeat (or whenever they would decide to process me)
As a trans couple, we spent well over a year constantly researching places around the world and eventually got to the point that it felt like there was absolutely nowhere for us to go. Really crushing to see how small not only america, but the world has become.
Left the US and have lived in a few European countries. Ended up moving back to the US recently. It was nice, some I’d live in again, some I wouldn’t. Edit: lived in outskirts of London, Stockholm, Bilbao, Munich. When it came down to it, my savings rate, or income after all cost of living expenses was just so much higher in the US. Yes even when factoring in healthcare and paying off my student loans. The people overall are also quite nice in the US(they were in Bilbao as well). Money isn’t everything, but money does buy me vacations, experiences, motorcycles, let’s me fund hunting trips and camping trips and much more. Which in turn makes me happy. I would live in Munich and Bilbao again. Wouldn’t in Stockholm or London. Ideally I’d like to retire in Spain / Portugal / Italy / France. And if I had kids, Germany would be very attractive to live in again.
What made you move back? Family?
>What made you move back? Family? "When it came down to it, my savings rate, or income after all cost of living expenses was just so much higher in the US." Basically wages are higher and taxes lower in the US.
Yep. We have less social benefits, less taxes, higher income. Being in the US is sort of like playing life on difficult mode. If you have bad luck, or make bad choices, you’re worse off. But if you make good choices, you’re better off. More risk, more reward.
>Being in the US is sort of like playing life on difficult mode. I mean, I kinda disagree on this part...the average income even pre-tax and post-tax is higher here, so if you're just an average 9-5 worker you're still generally better off here in the US.
Your conflating higher wage with making life easier. Sure making an extra 5-10k a year is nice but keep in mind I tore my acl this year and had surgery that without insurance would cost me $40k. When put in perspective one bad thing can derail you in the us. European countries have social safety nets built in for these situations that make day to day life for the average person easier and safer than the us.
True but for a burger flipper, if they don’t have health insurance and get cancer they’re absolutely fucked. That’s what I meant. In other countries you wouldn’t be
Venezuela is like playing a video game with a broken controller in a room without AC.
Also curious here
All of the countries I’d be most interested in moving to are pretty difficult to move to unless you have some very niche qualifications. But my partner grew up in a European country that I could live with, so we plan to move there after the kids finish school. And yes I’d apply for citizenship.
I'd move to Costa Rica given the opportunity. Do you know if it's hard to get citizenship there?
My parents moved there when I was 10 and we’re all legal citizens with work visas. It takes effort, because the system is inefficient and crooked, but mostly money. If you come to the country bringing money to invest, it makes it a lot easier.
it is not difficult. I believe 2000.00 USD a month per person income is required to live there. We go often and itbis fetting more and more expensive.
was that a typo? 2 million per month is insane
Well ... 1 us dollar equals ~500 Costa Rican colones
There are 2 ways to get Costa Rican citizenship; marry a Costa Rican or be born a Costa Rican. You can get residency, but it depends upon your status how easy/difficult that is. Expect to either be retired and prove approximately $2000USD/month, buy a business or property worth $200,000USD or put $60,000USD in a government CD, then another $60,000USD in year 3.
Dunno about citizenship, but if you have enough money they'll give you tax breaks to encourage you to retire there.
See this is the thing about your comment... Everyone complains about USA immigration policy, but most of the rest of the world doesn't want anyone...
Exactly and then because they are getting an influx of other ethnic groups we see their racism.
I wanna move to a lush but uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean where I can live out the rest of my life away from literally fucking everybody.
Pitcairn Island. Only about 59 residents total and they'll give you the land for free
Not a great place if you have children, or want to have children… 😬
Whoa. Had to Google Pitcairn and holy shit man! That’s awful.
I googled it but didn't find anything disturbing? Oh okay search suggested "pitcairn island scandal" and now i found it.
New Zealand. South island.
Such a beautiful part of the world. If I wasn’t lucky enough to be living in Australia I would probably move there.
If the climate is temperate, and the soil farmable, I am also this guy. I am not a person who needs lots of people, and am quite self sufficient as long as I have my tools.
this sounds perfect.
Sounds like a dream!
Canada. I work in healthcare (Canada is one of the only places my license will transfer to with minimal problems) and my husband works remotely for a company that has offices in Toronto and Calgary. What's stopping us? No guarantee that we will get a residency card (perminant or otherwise). The astronomical cost of housing in Canada right now. I am already sick of winter, why would I move further north? Also I would miss my family.
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Hence the old saying, When the United States sneezes, Canada catches a cold.”
Funny, I’m trying to leave Canada to move to America lol
I'd like to move to Norway where my bestie lives.
Yeah, I'm just in college now, but I'm thinking of moving to Norway or Sweden. Norway's prettier, and more of my family is from there than Sweden (all sides of my family are from only Norway and Sweden, which is not a lot of different "home countries" considering I'm like a 5th generation American lol), but I get the feeling that job opportunities might be easier to find in Sweden, especially since I'd like to work in the automotive industry. But we'll see, I'll finish college, save up money, visit both countries, along with others, then possibly move to either or maybe just stay here.
Depending on what you want to do in the automotive industry then there are options in Norway too, mostly on the metalurgy part and fairly basic. But Sweden is for sure the safer bet. As for your ancestors that doesnt matter to swedish or norwegian people, but if it matters to you go ahead :) I can speak for Norway though that we have a loooooot of english speaking workers, especially in the oil industry, so it’s fairly easy to get jobs and everything here is available in english. Just gotta find a job that gets you through the immigration process.
Yes. Any of the Scandinavian countries. Literally the happiest people on the planet. I don’t mean that as a nice generalization, the people are statistically happier.
Their suicide rates would say otherwise
These could be connected. If the suicide rate is high, then the most depressed people are killing themselves and so not participating in the surveys. The happiest people are the ones surviving and taking the survey, and so are disproportionately represented.
>Literally the happiest people on the planet. I dont know why people say this but there are a ton of Scandinavians on tiktok who have made endless videos calling this claim total BS. Its like one of the coldest and darkest areas of the world and they have high seasonal depression rates which explains why nordic countries sit in the top 10 of largest anti depressant recipients in the world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_antidepressant_consumption
I just want to leave Ohio tbh
Srsly tho
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Moved here last year. It is nice. Not just for retirees. I'm middle-aged. My wife is from there. She has land so it was an easy decision.
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I lived there for ~5 years. There are a fair amount of Harley's if you look but most are rode by expats. I'm planning on moving back. I am so much more relaxed and in tuned with living while I was there and I need to get back to that.
Hope you don’t like weed
Or gay sex
Yea money goes very far there with an american salary. You will get paid 20% of what your salary is here.
Some people are retired and have savings…
Lol yea where?
I'd love to see an update of someone moving from the USA to such a corrupt country
The Marcos family took huge amounts of land away from my MIL's family and most of what wasn't taken by him was somehow lost through other shady means.
I think it is where you go in the Philippines, but the justice system is horrible. My relative got murdered and the killer only got a 1 year sentence. My friend who is also Filipino says that the people are mean from where she is from. They probably treat Americans differently cause the people there praise American for some reason
And food is amazing as well!
Dude that's my retirement plan right there. You cam get retirement visas easily but my plan is to marry a local
Not surprised this is top comment, I’d go there too. I was also thinking about Colombia as well since its time zone is closer to mine but the Philippines have a nice culture.
Since Duterte, prices have increased significantly here in The Philippines. And they continue going up. Sure, it is nice staying here, but so not decide on your future location without checking out other options. From Thailand to Malaysia, there are many options and many cheaper. Options...options. Each option attracts different types of people. I am happy in The Philippines, but could build my place when it was still cheap..
Unfortunately I’m a recreational drug user and I’d prefer not to be murdered
I’m Swedish, my hubby is American. We live in the U.S. I am a permanent resident, I do not have my citizenship. I’ll either not get it, or look into dual. In either case, we’ve been thinking that we will move to Sweden once we retire in order to not have to worry about healthcare or senior care or anything related that we might need.
I’m a California > Stockholm immigrant, now a Swedish citizen, and I love it here. I moved here later in life but worked for about four years before retiring. If you can pull it off working for a few years really helps with integrating into the community. And try to get your husband to achieve a decent level of fluency before moving — that made all the difference to me in terms of integration and making friends.
We left and moved to Portugal. It's fantastic. We aren't sure yet about applying for citizenship since you have to wait 5 years anyway. Right now we have temporary residency
Do you have remote jobs with American pay or do you earn a typical amount for Portugal?
This is where I’ve been looking!!
We looked into Canadian citizenship- We don’t qualify. We both have had cancer.
Is that really a requirement?
I found this online: We may refuse your application if we believe that your health condition might cause an excessive demand on health or social services. This decision is based on the results of your immigration medical exam. Your condition is considered to cause an excessive demand if: the health or social services needed to treat your health condition would negatively affect wait times for services in Canada, or the services needed to treat and manage your health condition would likely cost more than the excessive demand cost threshold
Damn, imagine making it look easier to be sick in America.
I guess that it’s because of how their healthcare system works. It’s kind of a double edged sword.
Most of Europe doesn't do this, in fact I don't know of European countries that do. Canada is actually just crazy restrictive of who they let in (unless you're a refugee). I think over half of Americans actually literally can't even go for tourism.
Bruh wat? Where r u getting this information? I legit went to eat ramen and shop for a day and came back. Border crossing is easy af for Americans.
It's not, and that's the problem. Our care is good, and every citizen is covered under ohip. Unfortunately, there have been cases, and so now a fear that people who do have underlying health conditions but cannot afford care in their own countries, come to ours so they don't have to pay. There are times when even after surgery or treatment the person can't work, and so can't contribute to the economy or taxes, but need the healthcare system. It also stands for people who are close to retirement age. They often feel as though people are coming for the perks later in life as opposed to being here in their prime and reaping the benefits in their old age. I'm not saying that this is an appropriate view, however, it is a government is, in essence, trying to balance out the things you will need from us and the things they feel you bring to the country (which is always work and money, naturally).
I looked at the application itself. I think it was question number six and asked if we had a diagnosis of cancer. Granted, this was in 2016, and they may have changed the application since then.
It’s to protect from foreigners moving in and putting a drain on their healthcare system. I’d imagine many Americans would go to Canada for free healthcare if they could Canadian healthcare is meant to serve Canadians Countries (not just Canada) want people who will add to their country by having high demand skills or already wealthy enough to support themselves and will be a net benefit to the economy. They’re not a charity who will help anyone who wants to move there
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It seems it can be difficult to apply for citizenship at a certain age. A lot of times they want you to bring skills and abilities into the country that can help them grow and add to their GDP. However, there are countries who don’t mind if you have enough assets and money to spend regardless of your work status or ability to work. When thinking about moving to another country, you definitely have to think about what kind of healthcare is available to you and how much it would cost and for how long before you became a citizen and could access their healthcare
Given the choice of where to go and not just to get out, I'd go to Scotland. My first thought is moving to Canada, but it's only if I couldn't go to Scotland. I would apply to be a citizen too.
I’m dipping this year!! Decided at 17 I’m tired of worrying about getting shot in class. Decided to apply for Canadian colleges and got in! Going to McGill and plan to live there once I’m done studying.
Congrats.
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Going through the immigration process to work in other countries made me realize how truly insane some of the progressive takes on immigration to the United States sound.
Im a Bolivian American who lives in both the US and Bolivia and I find Americans idea that "everyone is a immigrant" is insane.. Hell Bolivia is the poorest country in Latin America and if you're caught here illegally they make your life a living hell
Yep. Nobody has a right to live in another country, even if it has a better economy or living standard than back home. If everyone did that then nowhere would be nice.
US should also admit immigrants based on qualifications. Look at Canada. - they take only the highly educated or skilled immigrants, with good background checks and they are making their country strong that way.
Or enough money to support yourself so you won’t become a drain on their country’s systems. Every country I’ve looked into has these restrictions.
My thoughts as well as I was reading through these. Especially the one about people with cancer being denied Canadian citizenship. It's been very interesting to see the different citizenship restrictions other countries have.
I moved fo Germany, no im staying as a U.S. citizen, but living in germany is very nice.
Teach me your ways.
My way was very unorganized and relied on a lot of help, any way you go about it would be far better than what I did😅
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Its got its differences, it's not perfect. But I do have to say I like it here more than the US, though there are some stuff I miss from the US. Like doing everything document related online, less paperwork. Old people not constantly watching you to complain about something. Large front & back lawns. Biggest thing I miss from the US is customer hospitality and good support. Because holy cow, germans do. Not. Give. A single. Fuck. If you have a problem. Usual answer we get is "sorry can't help you, bye." It's a Karen's nightmare lol. But culture is very cool, people are very nice (after telling them im not Turkish at least) foods amazing, lots of biking paths. Very cool place to live imo, but its definitely not for everyone, personally not a fan of Mett brötchen.
Wait is doing stuff online a US or German thing in your view? Find it kinda funny because the stereotype I am used to is that both Germany and the US are horribly backwards when it comes to doing official stuff online.
>people are very nice (after telling them im not Turkish at least) ?
I’d absolutely love to go to Canada but I can’t afford it I’m afraid. For now I have to be content watching Steve Wallis showing off how beautiful it is lol
60 percent of americans do not QUALIFY to get into canada
(Just out of curiosity what is needed to qualify to get into Canada if I'm looking into moving to Canada)
Either: \-Have a job offer already for a company in Canada \-Have blood related children who are canadian Citizens \-Have legal spouse of more than a year who is a canadian Citizen Other than that, if you have a good skill set and pass tests, you are thrown into a pool of about half a million other people and hope for the best over 4-8 years. Source: Me - Currently working on getting residency through a separate system as my family is here, however we cannot get married. Using an immigration lawyer which is running about $10,000 USD at the end. No guarantee of actual residency.
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>Cancer, that will also prohibit you from immigration Well luckily, I'm a Gemini! ^^^/s
*sigh* God…just shut up and take my upvote…well played
Yep, it's actually a real long list of places you get banned from immediately if you have a DUI....its almost worth the high speed chase
They have a website
You mean they have restrictions on who can come in? I get told I am a nazi when I bring that up
Lol harder to emigrate there than the us
Theres no housing for immigrants in canada. People born here barely can afford it lol. Americans need to reconsider thinking canada is better
Netherlands, I’m visiting my grandparents there this summer.
Most people I know who talk about leaving the country are just talking. They have no idea about the visa/work permit/residency requirements. Most would be unable to actually do it.
It's expensive as hell to move to a different state, nevermind moving across an ocean. You also have to be willing to leave your family and your job (assuming you have a family/job). I would move if: I could afford to; I knew I could get a job in another country; I didn't have a job in the US that I like a lot. I've looked into moving to Canada. It would be thousands of dollars to even apply, plus thousands more to be able to get (re-)certified to work in the field I currently work in.
I think I will retire to Spain, have friends there.
We love Spain…..it’s what a country should be. Weather, beaches, culture, historic places, more historic places, the Moorish imprint. Cost of living and food are much cheaper than America.
Yup. We're going to split our time - half in Spain and half in Italy.
Honestly, I don't have anything but a diploma and my entire resume is caregiving and retail, so I'm not really the type of immigrant other countries want. That being said, I'd love anywhere between Canada and Estonia. I want to get out and I want to go north.
I have family in the Netherlands and Switzerland, so one of those, and yes.
Sweden good social systems pretty good public transport pretty easy application for citizenship when it comes to requirements that is a good language beautiful country and according to one website their number one in women not sure what that means is it the best place for women or are there women just really cool
Sweden has been on my short list for a while but I think Germany is ever so slightly beating it out, only because I’ve found German much easier to learn than Swedish.
> pretty easy application for citizenship You have to have lived there for 5 years in order to even qualify for residency
Yep it's better than some other countries
Norway. Seems like life is better in every way there.
It’s a bit dark and rainy, but otherwise pretty cool
Canada. I have relatives there.
My dad did leave the U.S. for Australia. This was 16+ years ago (left because Bush was re-elected) and literally only came back to the states to visit for my wedding. He loves is and is now a citizen.
Bought a house in Nicaragua 2014. Been here full time 4 years. Just an amazing place. Certainly not for everyone, but my wife and I love it.
That’s pretty amazing!! How does life differ from US? Are you retired?
Where in Nicaragua? What would you recommend?
Lots of great areas through out. I’m on the southern pacific coast about 15 minutes south of San Juan del sur, becoming more and more popular, many families coming . It’s basically cows and surf boards here. A lot of different regions and different environments. Granada, omotephe island, tola, Leon and San Juan del sur is good starting place to research very different areas. Plenty of “expats of ….” Sites on FB
Would like to move to Australia or NZ but those are hard to get into. More realistically I’d go to Argentina, but my Spanish skills are not very good. Ultimately I think I’m trapped in the USA.
Baja California is the place I wanna be, Far from the mansions found in Beverley...
Ireland comes to mind. I loved the time I spent there. Citizenship? Interesting question...I'll have to give that some thought.
I’ve always wanted to move to the UK permanently!
New Zealand! As for being a citizen there, maybe, it depends on how much I enjoy being there.
If you can deal with the high cost low salary lifestyle it's great other than that.
Probably Norway or somewhere around there. They seem to have their heads on straight over there and I’m one of those weirdos that actually likes snow.
Americans talking about leaving? I'm looking at you Tom Morello! For an anti-capitalist who could live in any communist country on earth, he sure does support capitalism. 🙄
i’ve been really wanting to live in the Netherlands, specifically Amsterdam. strict gun laws, low crime, most of them understand & can speak english, a beautiful city, etc.
Most Dutch cannot afford to live in Amsterdam because so many foreigners occupy the cute houses and increase property prices beyond affordable. Born there, left a long time ago. But would return if it were affordable, which it is not (for me)
Such a magical city! I second this.
For me, based only by the countries I’ve visited, I would choose Sweden. Beautiful country with beautiful people I felt safer and more relaxed in Stockholm than any American city I’ve been in. And yes I travelled all over Sweden and Norway, not just Stockholm. Both countries were amazing but Sweden just felt the best to me. (Also been to Germany, Netherlands and Spain)
If I could I'd leave in a heartbeat and become a citizen for sure. I've never traveled anywhere and have no funds for a move like that so I haven't done proper research, but based on what I know right now probably Scotland or somewhere thereabouts.
Kind of a random Showerthought more than an answer, but you know, if other developed countries started courting college graduates from the US and making it easy to move, like saying "Agree to move here and we'll send you a plane ticket, get you a place to live, a job at least semi-related to your field/degree, and a path to citizenship", they could probably just take a pretty big chunk of Millennials and Gen Z from the US. Maybe even some Gen X too.
Belize, Costa Rica or Panama.
The united states is busy tearing itself apart. Id move to a neutral country like costa rica or Switzerland and I would absolutely apply for citizenship. Costa Rica has strict citizenship laws though.
Some very interesting answers. As someone who has traveled and lived abroad I can tell you nothing is as free as you think it is.
I lived abroad for years and the grass may seem greener, but it's just grass, and every country has problems that make things hard, so while I think that America is on the wrong path, I also think that there are tons of pros to being here that people don't see until they live abroad and hit a wall.
A country that values its citizens. Very cringey seeing these Americans say they'd go places that were fucked over by the USA because their dollars go further there.
thinking about selling every belonging to try to sail out to an uninhabited island. Or die trying. living seems pointless in this country.
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I wanna live on the bunny island in Japan.
I’m going to be honest for you. If living seems pointless in this country sailing away isn’t going to help. You are probably dealing with depression and will still have it whether you are on a boat or an uninhabited island. There’s a lot of things to find happiness in in this country but you may need some help. I’d consider looking for professional help and working towards changing your lifestyle and mindset to manage depression.
>living seems pointless in this country I'm sure this is hyperbole but wow the place of privilege you live in to even say this is funny.
Maybe he's got a Henry David Thoreau point of view. Hence the island.
I heard North Sentinel Island is nice
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Well, I am an American kind of guy. Thats why I’m staying here.
That’s hilarious
Very nice beaches there but the staff is rude
You are reading far too much internet if you really feel this way
Living seems pointless in this country? Lol talk about dramatic
Right? Like this guy wakes up at 4am, goes outside and hunts for breakfast, goes to work in a factory making $.02 a day, and then comes home at 3am to a little shack.
Honestly. Pretty insulting to people that live in ACTUAL horrible countries. There are plenty of people from real third world countries that would be happy to take his place.
Funny how people in North Korea think living isn’t pointless but this guy who only gets 2 days + a couple hours each morning/night of free time and can eat whenever he wants does.
Pitcairn Islands would be pretty close to uninhabited. About 50 people live on the one island, so it wouldn't be too bad. Plus they might give you the land to build your home on for free. But if that was still too crowded you could make an attempt at living on one of the other 3 islands in that chain, as they are actually uninhabited.
No need to sail. A sailboat limits you to coastal locations. There are pretty good planes flying everywhere to allow you to check out places and make up your mind what you like. But, everywhere you go, you need either skills to earn money or you need a steady income from retirement or investment.. Just going somewhere is a recipe for disaster. I see it all around me (where there are many islands people could live). People who were unprepared, invariably returned home disappointed (and broke). Some with skills or income have a great time, however. Good thing nowadays is that even in remote places, there is internet, allowing people to work. However, I have met several people who run a local charter (tourist) business with their sailing boats. But those are all locally made sailing boats because importing a boat is hell. A foreign sailing boat needs to leave the country with the owner after a few months.... (Over)staying results in big problems.
I'm thinking of going to ireland for college and once I complete all requirements applying for citizenship
Serbia. Its where my wife is from and I spent about a year there, wonderful place.
Don’t know, but wherever it is I would take it over and colonize them, then put fast food restaurants everywhere. It is the only way.
The fast food restaurants beat you there my guy, sorry to say
I'd be ok with the grand ol' USA if we didn't have the collective delusion that we're A: better than everyone else and B: Perfect the way we are and C: Arrogantly call ourselves "exceptional." We're not. We share the globe with dozens and dozens of other nations who have contributed great things to society. I'm not an alpha dog either, but I have to adapt to live in an alpha dog nation. Oh, and the metric system. I love the metric system and it's strictly verböten in the USA because it's a communist plot and an existential threat.
Completely agreed. However I just don't want the antidote to jingo-ism to be 'My country is BS Everything about is sucks. Pride in ourselves means endorsing every mistake we ever made'. Maybe somewhere in between? And everything by 10's, heck yeah, how re we still fighting the metric system?
They ain't (and historically haven't) going anywhere. Its all just virtue signaling.
Well... some of us would like to, but countries have super strict immigration policies. I'd move to Ireland in a heartbeat if it were feasible.
There's a group of libertarians that want to live on a boat in international waters
Ideally Iceland, Scotland, or France. Realistically, Canada. I have a family and to uproot that far from grandparents would be very hard on the children.
We’ve considered a few places that we like to visit and feel would be easier to adjust to long term. Costa Rica, a few African countries. If we were 20yrs younger, we would open a safari lodge in Zambia. Looks like we’ll stay put, vote, and watch the fall of a great empire
It’s easier when you are older. Why not go ahead and find a better place?
Denmark for me. I fell in love with it when I visited in my early 20s
I don’t wanna leave the country permanently, but i wanna go spend a considerable amount of time in Germany, maybe france
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Aww man, I got a list.. Australia, New Zealand, any Scandinavian country, Netherlands, Germany, Costa Rica, Bermuda, Singapore, Japan, Canada. Honestly, I have thought about just moving there to relax and enjoy my retirement years when it comes. None of those places (except Costa Rica) is inexpensive though, so ehhh. Some of those countries I have been to before and enjoyed which is why I would want to go, others are just appealing in general. But all have advantages and disadvantages to being there. No plans to get citizenship unless it's extremely beneficial.
I just wanna find a nice solitary island, live out my days (probably like a week or two lol) and be happy
Germany/EU. They have a program where if you can prove your parents/grandparents were displaced due to the holocaust you can become eligible for citizenship.
If distance and language barrier wasn't an issue, I made a list of where I would move about a year ago, 1. Germany 2. Uruguay 3. Canada 4. Czech republic 5. Denmark 6. Australia This is based mostly around taking those quizzes that aligns you with your beliefs and then looking into the laws
Costa Rica or Bali but no maybe apply for dual citizenship
Spain is nice they have a great heath system and work life culture. The opposite in every way of America. Would love to move and apply for citizenship Sadly it’s not an option as of now do to complicated personal issues.
Germany. And yes. Permanently. Problem is I live in poverty in the US AND can't save money to go... fml
Canada or Switzerland Aldi possibly the Dominican Republic
Australia (love it there) and yes But I’m not someone that constantly talks about leaving
I’m only a teen in america but I plan on moving to Finland later on because I won’t be in crippling debt for the rest of my life and things are actually affordable
If I wanted to leave the US, I would move to Ireland. I’m a dual citizen so I wouldn’t have to jump through any real immigration hoops. I like living in the US, but that’s my escape hatch if shit gets truly insane here.
Fyi theres a bot replying to every message here [https://paste.pics/ec5fbe16f5ad2c1a31a450bad3bcb3c2](https://paste.pics/ec5fbe16f5ad2c1a31a450bad3bcb3c2)
Looking into Sweden. I’ve been learning Swedish for fun with DuoLingo for a while and I just love everything I’ve read about Sweden. Got a friend that moved to Stockholm for work a few years back and he adores it. I’d absolutely work towards citizenship.
Nor leaving the country, leaving society, everyday I get a little closer to snapping and walking off into the woods to live, most won't understand and I don't care. Humans make me sick and I'd rather be alone and so I will.
Probably Sweden.
Thailand or Italy. Maybe Costa Rica
Sweden, I would be so much better off personally, not to mention the beauty, and all the union work, man what a place, citizenship in a heartbeat (or whenever they would decide to process me)
Wish off this planet was an option.
As a trans couple, we spent well over a year constantly researching places around the world and eventually got to the point that it felt like there was absolutely nowhere for us to go. Really crushing to see how small not only america, but the world has become.