# How bad a president would it take for you to move out of America? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 4, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645 "2016-10-04T18:11:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645/41 "2016-10-05T23:23:01Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I visited my relatives in Czechoslovakia when Reagan was president, and considered staying with them for a while, but really, even Reagan’s America was better than a Soviet bloc country. Are you seriously proposing that the two were remotely comparable? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645/42 "2016-10-06T00:17:15Z")
For realistic scenarios, a Duterte would make me wonder if this was still a place worth living. His actions and his popularity together are horrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Nightaudit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightaudit/32/17181_2.png) [@Nightaudit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightaudit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645/43 "2016-10-07T02:00:29Z")
For me to really think about, plan and actually flee the USA. We would have to have a government akin to the one in The Handmaid’s Tale. Or be headed in that direction. ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645/44 "2016-10-07T02:13:56Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > What specifically would you hope to be avoiding by moving? Having to be around the society that would elect such a person? Particularly if you’re a member of a group that the new president routinely whipped their followers into a frenzy over? Anyway, it’s a moot point in my case since I’m already overseas, but if Trump were elected, I’d sell off my US assets, transfer the money here, and begin applying for citizenship. Not really that radical a move, tbh, since it’s what I was planning to do once my parents had passed away (inheritance taxes are higher for non-citizens). ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645/45 "2016-10-07T02:48:37Z")
I have already explained in other threads that most Americans have this incredibly strange idea that the rest of the world has open borders and will welcome them with open arms. They don’t and they won’t. Closed borders are one of the defining characteristics of a nation. The vast majority of countries have much more strict immigration requirements than the U.S. including Canada and even Mexico. Australia might just throw your ass into an island prison offshore if you announce you aren’t going to leave and Japan may let you visit but you will never be accepted as full citizens even generations later. You aren’t going anywhere at least legally if you don’t have significant money, skills, family connections or a desire to live as an illegal immigrant somewhere. We have to make this continent work and, let’s face facts, it has the most going for it out of all of them. If you can’t make North America work, the whole world is fucked and there is nowhere to go. That said, I can meet most of those requirements and I have already picked an exit country. It is Costa Rica. I love the friendly but rather undeveloped Pacific Coast. If you want infrastructure, it probably isn’t for you because you may have to fjord rivers to even get to a very simple store and god help you if you need medical attention because that isn’t happening for hours at best but I can live with that because everything else is so friendly and pristine. I plan to move there in 8 years no matter what else is going on because my needs are simple and I just want to. As long as I have some sort of internet connection and basic plumbing, I am a content person. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645/46 "2016-10-07T04:00:22Z")
I’ve live in the US most of my life, but because I was born in the UK, I’m a citizen there, and could move anytime I want to. I was born to American parents and moved to America before I was one hear old. But my job is here in the US, my family is here, my friends are here… it would take a lot to make me move. But I’m really glad I have an exit if ever needed. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645/47 "2016-10-07T04:06:26Z")
We live in our motor home. Will go to Canadia and disappear in the wilderness 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645/48 "2016-10-07T04:49:02Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > Yes and in the long run we’re all dead. Doesn’t mean I want to live, or not live, under Stalin just because his regime will one day end. So project yourself to Russia sometime before 1917, and consider the spectre of Lenin. Or, Hungary, and anticipate Roosevelt and Churchill. Do you stay there and resist, or emigrate? “But I was not a Jew, so I said nothing.” ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645/49 "2016-10-07T15:52:34Z")
Considering I’ve been toying around with a “volunteer” two-month long trip to Switzerland, a couple professional contacts there and Italy, and no reason beyond family/friends to stay, Trump might be enough. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645/50 "2016-10-07T16:02:54Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > He also found that if we renounce our US citizenship we’d lose most of our retirement savings, 401K’s and IRAs. But if we kept our citizenship then we’d have to continue to pay income taxes to the US even on income earned in the other country. That’s quite a catch-22! You have to file every year, but you get credit for the tax you paid to the foreign government up to a rather large amount, so it amounts to an annual headache (including audits) with no money changing hands, except from you to your accountant. In my case, it was a president signing DOMA into law, but with a 14-year delay for me to get into a situation where I had to choose between love and country. If I had waited a few more years for the Supreme Court decision, DOMA wouldn’t have forced me to emigrate. I have to say, no regrets at all, and I don’t intend to return. It would be nice if the US moved in a direction that made me want to, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-a-president-would-it-take-for-you-to-move-out-of-america/767645.md?page=2)