# where could a dissatisfied  american emmigrate?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-could-a-dissatisfied-american-emmigrate/164165>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 26, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-could-a-dissatisfied-american-emmigrate/164165 "2003-03-26T00:48:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Arturas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@Arturas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arturas)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-could-a-dissatisfied-american-emmigrate/164165/61 "2003-03-29T12:35:36Z")

</div>

This will sound odd to Americans, but you can immigrate to Eastern Europe. Crime statistics differ from country to country, city to city. The people are generally friendly. Life in the big cities is fairly normal. The inhabitants are likely to be equally disillusioned with both communism and capitalism. I know all the propaganda that was fed the West about how terrible the Soviet peoples were, but they are people, not apes, not stupid, just normal people and like most Europeans, they want peace, not a dictatorship or mafia control. Their current backing of the US in the Iraqi war is so they can get into NATO, which they hope will protect them should Russia plan to reestablish its empire. (NATO claims it will come to the aid of any member. Of course if Russia joins…) People here are tired of war and killing. They want to have families, good times, a decent job, a comfortable retirement, health, etc.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Arturas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@Arturas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arturas)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-could-a-dissatisfied-american-emmigrate/164165/62 "2003-03-29T12:40:34Z")

</div>

Forgot to say, acquiring citizenship is hard, permanent residency (good for five years only) is easy enough if you have a job. We already have a decent film and TV industry here, so I don’t know how you would fair in that field. You might be better off in another field dependent on your English abilities. They do appreciate creative work here, so if you are creative, you might still be able to carve a nice niche for yourself in film.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Space\_Vampire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Space\_Vampire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Vampire)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-could-a-dissatisfied-american-emmigrate/164165/63 "2003-03-29T13:25:36Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duckster \*  
> \*\*Just be careful if you are going that route. At best, the authorities will toss you out. At worst, jail. \*\*

Do you speak from Hong Kong-specific experience? Judging by what I’ve heard, it’s pretty typical. I wanted to do everything on the level, but the government makes that pretty damn hard. Apparently you can change a tourist visa to a work visa, but not a student one. What since that makes I have no idea.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-could-a-dissatisfied-american-emmigrate/164165.md?page=3)