Being American does not equate to being highly skilled. We foreigners can read now and some of us have toilets and electricity now.
Well, I’ve heard that if you’re a trained and licensed doctor (of medicine), you can probably move almost anywhere legally. But aside from that, or perhaps a few other highly skilled professions of great universal value, yeah.
It’s been my experience that the Americans who assume they can move to a foreign country usually have the means to do so. They have money, they have education. Some of them have already had the expat experience in some shape or form, or they–like my sister–have relations who live outside the country. Now, they may not be able to get citizenship any and everywhere. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be able to find a place willing to take them. The world is enormous.
I have never heard a poor or working class American talk about moving to another country. It’s always a middle or upper-middle class person. And 99% of the time, they are just joking.
Perhaps some of them are thinking about Vietnam war-era draft-dodgers that moved to Canada rather than serve in the US Military.
Canadian immigration laws were different then, but they still existed. Americans could cross the border easily provided they were not criminals or transporting contraband, although obtaining Canadian residence status was a bit different (Canada ended up offering residence status and potential citizenship to draft-dodgers). There were no extradition laws covering desertion and although desertion was illegal in Canada, draft evasion wasn’t, so “moving to Canada” was a viable solution for some draftees (although it meant still being wanted in US and subject to arrest if they returned).
When they were pardoned by Gerald Ford in 1977 they could return, of course, but there was no way of knowing a pardon would be forthcoming when they left.
Americans can be terribly naive about the rest of the world.
Less than half* of them have a passport.
They honestly think that the word “visa” means credit card and nothing else.
They are used to moving freely across state lines , so they assume the whole world is the same way.
It’s just pure ignorance, even among the well-educated.
*( Here’s a fascinating mapof state-by-state passport ownership. Mississipi–barely 10%. But even deep-blue New York and California–only 57% of the residents have a passport.)
I totally agree with all that’s been said, in this thread, thus far. All of it sound and well reasoned. But sound and reasoned choices do not seem to enter into it in times of true desperation.
I’m not saying this will happen, but should the US experience the kind of chaotic meltdown that sees tanks in the streets, citizens being shot by government agents attempting to restore order, etc, etc, a la Mad Max crisis! Well, if it ever came to that and Americans by the thousands attempt to flee (like desperate refugees we see on the news, every day, all over the world!), I’m sorry but I DO believe both Canada and Mexico WOULD override their own border controls and offer refuge to their neighbours!
(Some pissy celebs after an election disappointment? Not so much.)
Or just unjustified hysteria, but as you say, the factual situation isn’t likely to take precedence in an emotional outburst of the type ‘I’m leaving the country if my candidate doesn’t win the election’, only naturally.
Otherwise the thread is full lots of ‘Americans are so arrogant’ which some Americans are also really addicted to saying for some reason. I’ve lived in several different countries and IME in any medium to large size (population) country (Germany, Japan, South Korea IME), not in small advanced countries as much (Netherlands for example), most people are inward looking. And in particular a lot of people in a lot of rich countries in the modern age of mass immigration think it’s easy for foreigners to move to their country, just based on all the foreigners they see coming. If they looked more deeply they might realize it’s not as easy as it seems, but again people saying ‘I’m moving if X wins’ are usually just throwing a temper tantrum, not actually looking into it.
Also, it actually is pretty easy for Americans to live most of the time in other developed countries if they don’t need to work there (retired, independently wealthy, work over the internet, etc) and don’t need to ever qualify for the other country’s welfare benefits. Becoming a permanent resident/citizen of the other country, qualifying for its benefits, not having to leave periodically to maintain the fiction you’re just a visitor, OK that’s harder. But becoming a de facto resident if you don’t have to work there, not so hard. I could live in all kinds of other countries, basically, on a whim.
Here’s what’s lacking in that map - which passport being measured; government/military (non-tourist) passports don’t look to be included and there are MANY. I’d wager every active duty military person who’s likely to be sent OCONUS has one and if their dependents are ordered to move OCONUS they get them as well. These are not tourist passports and aren’t supposed to be used as such. There should be a high % of passports in states where there are high # of military but the map at the link doesn’t bear that out. Nor does the graph showing # of passports being issued spike in 2002 and stay at a higher rate for the successive 14 years. It should if all passports are considered in it.
Long story short, I’m saying the # of tourist passports out there is less of an indicator than it purports to be.
Thanks—That’s an interesting observation about military families, which never occurred to me.
But it’s not relevant to the OP, which asks why so many stupid Americans assume they can move to a foreign country as easily as they can move to a different state. The reason I posted that link about the number of people who have no passport was to show just how naive and cut-off from the world many Americans are: they don’t have passports because they have never traveled, and thus are ignorant about other countries.
You may be right that the link fails to count military families. Obviously many of them have been posted overseas. But the number of military families in America is very small–maybe 1% or 2 % of the total population. So they won’t have much effect on the numbers given in the link.
(Here’s my math for my estimate of 1 or 2%: there are about 400 000 soldiers in the US military. There is of course, a lot of turnover,…say every 3 years half of them finish their tour of duty and are replaced by 200 000 newcomers. So that’s 600,000 soldiers serving in a period of 3 years, or 1.2 million over 6 years.Say, during a period of a couple decades, 4 or5 million people—out of 300 million total population. )
This is an important point. There’s a big difference between going to live in another country and immigrating to another country.
In my case, because I could; at least with certain Eastern and Far-Eastern countries. I have enough kin in positions of power to grease the skids for me; enough so that I have a pair of foreign passports on hand for the wife and me. Questionable maybe but reasonably legal. One advantage of being a small part of a larger family; and the small part didn’t come here until the 20s and later.
Hadn’t thought of that. I have relatives in Slovakia who would probably put me up if I wanted to come over on short notice, and if I wanted to work out staying there long-term, they’d probably let me stay for a few months as long as I pitched in on their little subsistence farm.
And I wouldn’t necessarily want to stay for the rest of my life-- just wait out the next four years.
Slovakia has a population problem, so perhaps they are a little more welcoming to people who want to come in. I really have no idea.
It’s not THAT hard. There are an estimated 3-8 million non-military US expats already. You’ll find Americans living and working pretty much everywhere in the world.
If your goal is to get citizenship in Australia, you’ll probably need some higher degrees and serious work experience (which plenty of people have- 10% of American over 25 have a Masters). But if you are fine teaching English for a couple years in Asia, pretty much anyone can make that happen.
Added to that, a not-insignificant number of Americans are dual citizens, and an even larger number could finagle at least some kind of residency through a spouse or parent or other close relative. There are a number of countries that welcome heritage immigrants.
Then there are options for studying overseas, exchange programs, becoming an au pair…the options are endless. As a last resort, if you choose low-cost countries and live like a local, you can travel indefinitely for less than $20 a day. $29,000 would get you for four years.
Even leaving aside the residence criteria, which are strict as all hell, I think there’s often an unexamined assumption that countries like Australia and New Zealand are low-cost compared to America, and that Americans will be able to move here lock, stock and barrel and live like nabobs on their own delightfully rustic slice of a sort of Pacific Hobbiton. Sorry, we’re expensive. I mean, you might try settling outside Auckland where the cost of living is lower, but unless you’re bringing some significant technical skills, good luck finding work.
If they are around Osturna we may be related! 
My best “juice” is more Georgia and Komi but I got several cards I could play if push came to shove.
And as far as residence criteria go, well, if you have skills that are in demand you might be able to get a 2 year visa that would enable you to apply for residence at the end of it. You’ll have to satisfy a whole bunch of other conditions like having a viable job offer, having enough money, and passing stringent health checks. Sorry, we’re tough to get into, tougher to stay with, and the conditions are getting tougher. Yeah, immigration is a hot-button political issue here too.
Plus, it has to be said, there’s a certain amount of annoyance at the moment with Americans who blithely announce in Facebook feeds that “they’re going to move to New Zealand and come live with you guys”. The consensus is pretty much a/ it’s manners to ask, and b/ what makes you think we want you?
You can certainly move to Mexico as a pensioner (our neighbor did just that), but just like Costa Rica, you’re not a citizen.
If you can get a job in Canada, you can get a one year work permit just for the asking at the border. Permanent residence is harder.
My kids are all dual citizens, but despite their despair, none of them has suggested moving to Canada. Their kids are all dual citizens and I assume they can get residence permits for their spouses. But my oldest grandchild is about to graduate from college and there is nothing to stop for moving to Canada.
But to answer the OP, people don’t really mean it; they are just blowing off steam. Surely you recognize that.
Incidentally, one reason it was so easy for draft dodgers to move here was that Trudeau was getting back for having been once refused entry to the US. He had been involved with some slightly (and I do mean slightly) left wing organization (Cite Libre, I think it was called) and in the McCarthy era that was a red flag (no pun intended). That was Trudeau pere, of course. I don’t know how fils feels about the US now. Maybe they would make it easier.
No, I’ve met many Americans in Southeast Asia who said they’re there due to domestic politics. No doubt a minority does this but more than you may think.
This. You can’t swing a cat by the tail in Bangkok without hitting some flavor of Western resident.
Things may have changed since 9-11, but several years ago, American military did not need a passport to travel OCONUS while on orders.