# Would you immigrate to the US if Obama wins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 9, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856 "2008-09-09T21:56:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/21 "2008-09-10T15:09:04Z")
No, I am not planning on returning regardless, but if Obama is elected I might not-consider it less if that makes sense. If the American public is stupid enough to vote for 4 or 8 more years of corruption, corporate pandering, and moving ever closer to a theocracy then it makes my decision to stay elsewhere even easier. And yes, I will be getting my British passport next year. Remains to be seen if I will burn my US passport at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/22 "2008-09-10T15:44:58Z")
Even when I was trying to move to the US permanently, I never intended to immigrate, at least not if you define so as “become a citizen thereof.” I just can’t promise to give up all loyalty to Spain and be truthful. At this point I don’t want to work there. Too much hassle, sorry; I have a lot of other places where I can get jobs in my field with less paperwork involved. If there is a rationalization and clarification of immigration procedures and laws (both for permanent and temporary migrants), I’ll be willing to consider it again. But that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with Obama being elected. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/23 "2008-09-10T16:06:32Z")
In some ways this is a bit of a silly question. Nowadays there’s really no reason for someone from another industrialized country to emigrate to the U.S. just for the hell of it. In a few cases he or she may have a specific reason for doing so – such as a specific job offer. For example, I work for a multinational company, and we often hire Europeans for our Bay Area office. They clearly have no issues with moving to the U.S. I personally moved back and forth between Canada and the U.S. for family reasons. On the other hand there are still plenty of people from developing countries, ranging from Indian engineers to Mexican laborers, who would love to emigrate to the U.S. Whether that’s good or bad is another debate entirely. Ed ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/24 "2008-09-10T16:14:15Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > It doesn’t matter one iota. > > I’ve had friends and family emigrate to the U.S. during any and every presidency in the last 30 years. McCain? Obama? Bush? Clinton? Bush? Reagan? Carter? Ford? Nixon? > > Really, from an immigrant’s point of view what has changed? You have guns. You have an oppressive judicial system. You have no public health care. You have nice taxation policies. You have nice weather. Weighing all these together, you’re just another country where employment opportunities exist. I’d work and live in the U.S. but any benefits would have to be weighed against my existing situation. > > Not much, if anything will change whether the republicans or democrats win the executive branch really. Foreign policy aside, it will still be the same country with a lot of great spots, and unfortunately a lot of shitty spots. That pretty much sums it up for me too. I’m not going anywhere unless the US becomes Canada 2: Electric Boogaloo. Or maybe if McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden has a Boogaloo-off to decide the presidency. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/25 "2008-09-10T16:20:21Z")
I’m planning to move to the UK if Obama wins… 😉 -XT ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/26 "2008-09-10T16:28:01Z")
No thanks, I’m happy here. I like all the Americans I know and there are some admirable things America has going for it but You folks are generally too conservative for my taste. The in your face religiosity doesn’t make me feel comfortable. To be honest I really like where I live, I can’t think of anything that would make me want to leave at this moment and to become a citizen of another country just doesn’t register for me at all. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/27 "2008-09-10T16:35:52Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I’d be quite happy to Emigrate to the US regardless of who wins the election. > > Unfortunately, being a British Empire Firearms Historian, Writer and Former Electronics Store Assistant Manager doesn’t qualify me for a Green Card… Ah hell, just marry an American 😃 Well, I lived there for three years, and the USA isn’t short of low-level IT drones, desktop aviators or irrititating know-it-alls. But I do happen to be in love with an American woman. Edit: Oh yeah, the OP! I may or may not go back to the USA to live, but I don’t think a hypothetical Obama victory would sway my opinion one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/28 "2008-09-10T19:09:54Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I’m planning to move to the UK if Obama wins… > > 😉 > > -XT You do realise that the UK is more like the country that Obama wants the US to be than McCain, right? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/29 "2008-09-10T19:16:59Z")
[QUOTE=Illuminatiprimus] You do realise that the UK is more like the country that Obama wants the US to be than McCain, right? [/QUOTE] …thus the wink. 🙂 -XT ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/30 "2008-09-10T19:44:35Z")
> [@kingpengvin](#): > > The in your face religiosity doesn’t make me feel comfortable. If this were the biggest problem, it would mean wanting to avoid regions rather than the entire country. The religious climate is very different when you compare the south to the northeast, for example. You know those mind-blowing threads about people getting taken to task about religion by coworkers? Those blow my mind too, because this isn’t one of the parts of the country where religion is spoken about casually or often, and we don’t know the faith of coworkers for the most part. Keep in mind that it’s a really big country, and there are a lot of differences between regions. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856/31 "2008-09-10T21:20:56Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > And I’d say that you emigrate from a place and immigrate to a place. You’d better have some words with **Cunctator** , then. 🙂 My sense of the facts of the matter: “immigrate” and “emigrate” are like “come” and “go” or “bring” and “take”: they aren’t tied to particular prepositions, though there is a deictic factor. I can come to the store, I can go to the store, I can come from the store… I can bring something from the store, I can bring something to the store, I can take something from the store, I can take something to the store. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-immigrate-to-the-us-if-obama-wins/462856.md?page=1)