A common meme in the U.S. media is that Americans can easily pack up and move to any country, usually Europe.
Reality check: unless you fit into specific categories, you cannot easily move to Europe. Only those with the right skills, or who are young (and have the right skills) or elite, or who have an immigration privilege by birth, ancestry, or marriage.
In the real world, few Americans move overseas. Obtaining a residency visa or citizenship in most countries is difficult or impossible unless you have special skills or the right ancestry.
Contrary to the numerous media stories about Americans moving abroad, only about 1% of U.S. retirees move abroad (and many because they had right of descent immigration privilege or were already a dual citizen), and few working Americans move abroad permanently. At any given time, perhaps 1.4-2.7% of Americans are living abroad. (No one news the exact number as Americans moving out are not counted or registered anywhere.)
Continue on to Part 2 after reading this.
In these two posts (this is Part 1, plus Part 2) I practice factulness and review recent stories on CNN, CNBC and Business Insider about Americans “who moved abroad”.
Most of these articles can be summarized as:
- America is awful.
- So this couple moved to country X.
- Where everything is idyllic.
Left out of these stories is that many
- Do not have residency visas and commute to and from the U.S.,
- Already had dual citizenship,
- Or had a right of descent via ancestry or other immigration privilege.
There are some places where Americans with large passive incomes or the ability to make a large investment in the local economy, can obtain a residency visa – but most of those featured in these fluffy click-bait stories had immigration privileges (which you probably do not have) or they commute to and from the U.S. and have not really moved full time.
In almost all of these “we moved abroad” stories, one or both parites are writers – in almost all cases. This is because it’s a white collar job that can be done remotely, and partly because writers mostly know about writing and so, write stories about other writers (seriously).
Occassionally, one or both work in paper pushing services – legal services, travel consultant, software development – or are independently wealthy.
None are blue collar workers who build things.
I began collecting these stories in the summer of 2023 – and what an eye opener. Almost all stories follow the same formula – “America is awful, so this solo women/couple/family moved to country X where everything is better, even idyllic!” Almost all involve someone who is a writer.
A second oddity, made obvious in Part 2, is almost all stories feature a solo woman traveler (who is a writer, often of European-American or European heritage), Black, Asian (including but not limited to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai), Hispanic, Indigenous heritage, Middle eastern heritage, gay and lesbian couples, and a small number of trad-families. After summarizing 130+ stories over six months, almost all involve solo women travelers, plus a handful of gay and lesbian couples and several transgender individuals. Only two or three involved straight white male travelers.
With that out of the way, here are short summaries – and where possible, some comments on how they obtained a residency visa.
CNN: This American family opened a restaurant in Italy | CNN
Dalip, who is originally from the UK but has lived in the US for nearly 30 years, was able to obtain Italian residency (the sale went through before Brexit was finalized), which would allow the family to stay in Italy for extended periods of time.
One of the two already had EU citizenship via UK citizenship when the UK was part of the EU. They still live in the U.S. and visit Italy on a part time basis because they do not all have long term stay visas. Details matter!
CNN: This family is moving to Italy because they’ve had enough of the US | CNN
Starts off with the headline – America is awful!!!!!
But details matter – she has Italian ancestry which, if they can document it, may make her eligible for Italian citizenship. In the interim, they haven’t really moved to Italy – they go part time, due to the 90 day visa limit restriction.
“But one American family has done it to start a new life far from the United States.
In 2019, the Dawkins family – Nadine, 59, her husband, Kim, 61, and their children Lorenzo, 29, and DeNae, 27 – bought a charming home in the town of Latronico. In the southern region of Basilicata, the town of 4,000 inhabitants is located within the pristine Pollino National Park and surrounded by hot springs.”
Nadine’s great-great grandfather was from Italy and due to Italy’s expansive “right of descent” program, she may eventually qualify for citizenship. For now, the couple are abiding by the maximum of 90 days out of 180 days that a U.S. citizen can stay in the EU, and are splitting their time with their home …. in Panama. Panama is one of very few countries that encourage American’s to move there: Panama introduces attractive retiree visa program for immigration – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking
CNN: This couple bought a rundown farmhouse in Portugal. Here’s what happened next | CNN
They were originally looking for a vacation home, but Alan Andrew, originally from Pennsylvania, and his Belgian husband Vincent Proost found themselves relocating to Portugal full time after purchasing an abandoned farmhouse in the region of Alentejo.
The couple, who met on a blind date in London in 2006, had been living in the UK together for around two decades when they began searching for a new home in Europe.
They had immigration privilege that you probably do not have.
Insider: Family Moved From US to Portugal so Kids Could Be Safer in School
America is awful, so this family moved to Portugal. You can find out more about him (he’s from Chile) and her here. NOTE – the story in Insider is a bit misleading, saying “the family” had only ever lived in Austin, which may be true – but her own web page says she had lived in both Mexico and Chile, previously, and he was born in and grew up in Chile. She did extensive global travels before this. They have a Portugal D7 visa which requires a minimum passive income (pensions, investments, etc, not income from working).
CNN: This family bought a cheap house in Italy because the US is too expensive
Right out the starting gate: America is awful!!!!!
The headline and first part of this story imply anyone fed up in the U.S. can move to Europe. But the reality is that visas are hard to get – unless you have immigration privilege:
Being able to reconnect with his Italian heritage was also a trigger for change for Chris, whose great-grandfather migrated to the US at the end of the 1800s from a village near Latronico.
Once that ancestry is documented and Chris learns Italian, he will qualify for Italian citizenship.
But for now, they don’t have visas:
He’s recently embarked on a search to prove his Basilicata origins, with the help of Castellano, in order to apply for Italian citizenship by descent.
They acknowledge that they thought they could get long term stay visas easily but discovered – after buying a house – that they could not do that, so for now, they live in both the U.S. and Italy, commuting back and forth to avoid exceeding the 90-day limit in the EU.
CNN: “This US couple bought a house in France for $36,000 and it completely changed their lives“
They retired in their 50s, and bought a house in France. But their visa limits them to 180 days per year in France, so they commute between their other home in California and France. They also “both spent time in France during their younger years” – and since 95% of their new friends are French, they likely spoke French already. Just your everyday American couple. But again – reality check – they do not have residency visas and their domicle of residence is California.
CNN: They bought a house in France for $20,000 without seeing it. Here’s what happened
Practically the same story as all the others: They still have their homes in California and New York. She had extensive experience traveling in France, for decades, before they chose to move to France using a “long stay” visa. A long-stay visa for the purpose of retiring in France requires you demonstrate sufficient assets – the more assets and passive income you have, the greater the chances of having your 12 month visa approved. Once settled in France, after one year you can apply for a residency permit.
The story headline is also FALSE – US$20,000 was the original asking price but they didn’t pay that. They paid about US$14,000.
A comment to that story is SPOT ON:
Once again we have aspirational nonsense short on critical details for people who are not wealthy. Many countries to which Americans are trying to escape now see them as a source of hard currency, and there are minimum requirements for liquid assets and other impediments that CNN and similar outfits should mention in these articles. Some countries such as New Zealand are making it impossible for people with less than a $1 million in income to live there as permanent residents, and there are also age requirements, meaning that if you’re not filthy rich and/or young you can forget it.
CNN: ‘My money goes a lot further here’: This woman moved to Italy because the US was too expensive“
As always, the U.S. is an awful country, says CNN. She has an Elective Residence Visa, good for 1 year, but renewable for 2 years. This visa is available to those who have purchased a home in Italy, or have a long term lease agreement, and are not working but are self supporting, financially (such as a retiree). As the link explains, this visa is for those with a stable passive income, or a retirement pension. This visa does not permit remote work but opens access to benefits of living in Italy including their health care system. After ten years, the visa holder can apply for citizenship. The woman who did this has visited Italy frequently since the 1980s.
Note that her “money goes a lot further” due to the strong U.S. dollar and currency conversions. Americans who make their money in the U.S. economy and in dollars find everything cheaper in many countries – most things are not really less expensive in the local currency and at local wages. It’s the currency exchange that makes these options cheaper for Americans.
CNN: “Italy’s Ponza island and its cave homes are drawing Americans to live in them“
This story has only limited U.S. bashing, unlike others about Americans “fleeing” the U.S. A family that is descended from recent immigrants from Italy, has returned to ancestor owned properties in Italy. They have traveled between the U.S. and Italy for many years. Obviously, they have right of descent residency or dual citizenship in Italy.
CNN: Two strangers moved into an apartment in Prague. Then they fell in love | CNN
Another fluffy romance story but without the America-bashing. Young woman from Texas moves to Prague to teach an English class, falls in love with her Finnish roommate, and a few years later, they get married and move to Helsinki. Anyone can do this, of course. Marriage to a European resolved the immigration visa problem. Of course, her degree is in communications/media (journalism aka writer) and she works as an online “community manager” which is a blend of marketing and …. writing.
CNN: These Los Angeles-based lawyers renovated a 16th-century Tuscan farmhouse into a luxury villa. Here’s how they did it | CNN
He has right of descent citizenship immigration privilege in Italy: “For Scali, whose grandfather is originally from Reggio Calabria in Italy, the idea to buy a property in his family’s homeland had been percolating for a while….. But in early 2020, the pandemic put a dent in their plans, since Lewis — who was not an Italian citizen — wasn’t allowed to enter” the country to join Scali, who in 2019 was granted citizenship through his family (i.e. right of descent via ancestry). This is also one of the many stories like this that involve a gay couple.
CNBC: Why Americans are relocating to Mexico City for a better life (cnbc.com)
America is awful – everything is better in Mexico.
When Aborisade lived in Texas, she had a 3,623-square-foot house and a $2,612-a-month mortgage. Rent for her 861-square-foot apartment in Mexico City’s Narvarte neighborhood costs 13,000 pesos a month, or about $728.
At the time of this writing, there are numerous very nice, luxury 2-4 bedroom apartments available in Austin, TX for less than $900. Leaving the U.S. for a smaller apartment in Mexico is not the only way to reduce housing costs in the U.S.! She could have just downsized in the U.S.!
Now in Mexico she says she is no longer fixated on “having stuff”. It’s possible to reach that same point in the U.S., and I get what she is saying – the week I wrote this was the insanely promoted Amazon Prime Days, matched by other vendors, pushing you to acquire stuff you probably don’t really need. The U.S. culture pushes many to buy over-sized homes, large SUVs, and the latest “stuff”, which needs to be upgraded to the next model, every year. The U.S. has a consumerism culture that acquires excess stuff – where I used to live, on Saturday, garage doors would be open, while people were home, and often, those garages were stuffed with junk stored on shelves and in stacked boxes – because people had acquired so much stuff and couldn’t bear to part with it.
There is an issue about Americans, who have money (one of the examples in the article is someone day trading investments) to live in lower cost parts of the world – an opportunity that most of the world does not itself have, to move somewhere cheaper. A side effect of Americans and Europeans moving to less expensive countries (in terms of the US $ or the Euro) is to drive up the costs of living in these countries, making life more difficult for those who are natives of the country.
Historically, it has been relatively easy for Americans to obtain virtual residency in Mexico via a renewable temporary visa. However, in 2022, the rules changed and it is now up to the discretion of the border and immigration officials as to whether they will approve or deny one’s stay.
CNN: Why this US couple swapped California for Spain | CNN
America is awful. This couple visited Spain, fell in love with the country over two days and decided to move there because, you know, everyone does that – never mind this little fact:
As Luban has dual US-German citizenship, he didn’t need a visa to live in Spain. However, Medlen was required to obtain a residence permit.
Everyone in America can pack up and move to Europe because everyone in America has dual citizenship or right of descent ancestry – didn’t you know that?
Business Insider: Disillusioned by the American Dream, I Bought a House in Italy (businessinsider.com)
The subject of the story was born outside the U.S. and began traveling when young. Italy is a popular destination, in part, because Italy’s fertility rate has collapsed and the population is shrinking. Italy is actively recruiting young adults to immigrate to Italy and makes residency easy for many, plus Italy has a generous “right of descent” immigration program that enables people to qualify for citizenship by virtue of having an ancestor born in Italy from the late 19th century onward.
Business Insider left out that the young woman has a law degree and now runs a business assisting in purchasing homes in the EU (good for her!) Many countries, and especially Italy, actively seek inbound immigrants who are young, with advanced degrees or specialized “in demand” training (think health care)
Business Insider: I moved from the US to Germany 11 years ago. A lot of things have surprised me about living here with my kids. (msn.com)
America is awful, unsafe, healthcare is expensive, blah blah blah. She moved to Germany. As usual, she is a freelance writer (isn’t everyone?) and oh, left out of her many stories on this and related topics – from the U.S., she attended NYU but married a Czech (EU citizen) husband, giving her visa options in Europe. Details matter.
CNN: What it’s like to be an American living in Paris (msn.com)
Of course she could move there, just like everyone else from the U.S.: “Already a Polish (and therefore European Union) passport-holder, Dietz had easy entry into France, and then received her residency by marrying her Italian [boyfriend].”
and: “For Tramuta, swapping Philadelphia for Paris wasn’t so much following a dream as a natural progression. Having studied French from the age of 12, at 21, she crossed the Atlantic to study there. A student visa allowed her to stay until she met and married her French husband, becoming a naturalized citizen in 2014.”
and: ““I didn’t know how to [move back to Paris] on my own, so I married a man with a French passport, had kids and only moved when my husband’s company finally transferred him here,” she says.”
Immigration privilege that you probably do not have.
CNBC: 30 year old teacher packs up and moves to Denmark for a better life
America is a terrible country – Denmark is way better. The general meme of all these fluff pieces. Oddly, she had a fairly privileged life in the U.S., attended Vanderbilt University, and did a study abroad in Denmark in college. After working her first year in the U.S., as a teacher, she took advantage of having 3 month vacation privilege (just like everyone has!) and went to travel in Denmark. There, she met her future husband – who happens to be (surprise!) Danish. She had immigration privileges most do not have. This is content mill garbage.taken from her social media posts.
CNBC runs the same story multiple times, often over many years:
- July 7, 2023: 30-year-old who left the U.S. for Denmark says she’s ‘much happier’ now: ‘My salary goes way further’ (cnbc.com)
- October 7, 2023: This 30-year-old American teacher moved to Denmark—now she spends $2,100 a month and is ‘much happier’ (cnbc.com)
- January 17, 2024: 30-year-old teacher who left Texas for Denmark: ‘It gives me such peace of mind’ (cnbc.com)
There was yet another version of this story – you too should move to Denmark but it now goes to a dead link: ‘You pay a lot of tax, but you get so much back’: This Texas native says she’s ‘much happier’ living in Copenhagen than in Dallas — here’s why cost of living isn’t everything.
Like so many of these stories, a highly privileged American leaves the U.S. and then bashes the U.S. – hypocritically bashing the country that gave them their privilege.
CNN recycles old stories too – this one, below, is republished on Thanksgiving 2023 – but was originally published on Thanksgiving 2021: A British guy crashed her Thanksgiving dinner. They’ve been married for 20 years | CNN. Its not an America-is-awful story, surprisingly. He works for the UN, they’ve lived in Australia, Cyprus, New York, Denmark, now Berlin, Germany, and who knows where else. She’s a writer. A common attribute.
CNBC: Mom who left US for Denmark: Why tipping is different here (cnbc.com)
Another writer moved to Denmark, from Los Angeles. She’s married to a native of Denmark. Duh.
Brooke Black is a storyteller with a journalism degree who has had a long career in entertainment and tech PR. After many years spent in New York, London, and Los Angeles, she relocated to the idyllic Danish countryside, where she lived in a 1722 farmhouse in a tight-knit community surrounded by Scottish Highland cows. She currently resides in Copenhagen with her Danish husband and two young daughters, and shares about her experiences living abroad on Instagram and TikTok.
Yes, you too can pack up and move to Denmark – assuming you marry a Dane. She’s happy to pay 48% of her income in taxes (says so right in the story).
Insider: I’m an American living in Denmark. Kids learn to read and write later than in the US because there’s more emphasis on playtime.
America is awful, so I just packed up and moved to Denmark. Oh, wait, she had immigration privilege: “We packed two weeks’ worth of things and went to visit my husband’s family in Denmark.”
And as we will soon discover, like nearly all subjects in these stories, she started out in journalism and now works in corporate PR (the opposite side of journalism). Basically a writer, for a firm that runs podcasts and publishes audio books. By Part 2 of this series we will see that almost all these stories about moving abroad involve one or more people who are writers – nearly always a writer is involved.
Of course, America is awful and Denmark is way better.
CNN: This US couple sold their house and moved to Italy for good | CNN
Italy’s right of descent: “Randy Tuminello, a former consulting manager in architecture, had a further ancestry lure: his grandparents migrated to the US from the Sicilian fishing village of Cefalù in the early 1900s, settling in Louisiana.” (so he has right of descent access to Italy). They currently use an “elective residence visa” based on meeting passive income requirements.
Insider: I left the US to move to Vienna, the world’s most livable city. Living here has been delightful and filled with surprises.
America is awful, blah blah blah. Rent is cheaper, they have lots of cafes, public transport is better, lots of cultural events…. and like so many of these folkx, she’s a writer. How did she get an EU residency visa? That is not explained. However, from Linkedin, she has native language proficiency in Polish. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. from Poland and she was born in the U.S., but as a child of a Polish parent, regardless of where born, she was entitled to Polish citizenship. More here – growing up she spent six weeks every summer in Poland. It seems highly likely she has dual US/Polish citizenship, which grants full right to live anywhere in the EU. This seems an important fact for a story suggesting everyone should move to Vienna. (She appears again in Part 2.)
Oh, and again in April 2024: I moved from the US to Vienna, the world’s most livable city. Here’s what it actually costs me to live here. (msn.com) – once again, the story leaves that she probably has dual citizenship in the EU.
CNBC: 41-year-old mom bought a house in Italy for $62,000 (cnbc.com)
Everything in the U.S. was awful so I flew to Sicily, fell in love with the place and moved there. Except not exactly. Like many of these stories, she commutes back and forth between Atlanta and Siciliy and visits at least every 3 months. She now runs a business selling loose leaf teas; like most of these stories, her background was originally with a degree in journalism/content/writing but she ventured out into entrepreneurial businesses (good for her!)
CNBC: This former NYC teacher moved to Mexico to live on $2,000 a month (cnbc.com)
Like so many of these stories, he was a teacher, where he taught poetry writing, before moving to Mexico. He now works as a stock day trader. Of course, he left because America is awful. They ran parts of this story twice on CNBC. That is another oddity – many of these stories are re-packaged multiple times, even on the same outlets.
CNN: Miami got too expensive so she moved to Colombia | CNN
America is awful, so a 60-year-old moved from Miami to Columbia – she arrived on a 90-day tourist visa but then applied for a Digital Nomad visa which she received. She went ahead and applied for an investment visa, which enables those with financial resources (about US $160,000) to make an investment (including in real estate so buying a place to live counts) in the local economy. She was already fluent in Spanish and had been visiting Columbia on business, regularly for the prior 8 years. She was a former Peace Corps volunteer, living in Costa Rica for almost 3 years. She is of Italian-American ancestry and likely qualifies for Italian citizenship privilege as well, but she was already fluent in Spanish owing to her Peace Corps experience when she was in her mid-20s.
Daily Mail: I left ‘aggressive’ Miami for a country notorious for crime and drug issues – and I’ve never been happier (msn.com)
Same person, same story as the CNN story above. She has a publicist, obviously. (Original link here)
CNN: This US-based couple bought a cheap apartment in France to give their kids a different upbringing | CNN
But, as usual, they were already international: “Eric Freeze, originally from Canada, and his wife Rixa, from the US, spent several summers in the region as part of a study abroad program when they were in their 20s, and always felt a strong attachment to Nice.” and they are only there temporarily because VISAS: “…the couple, who have visitor visas and do not work in France, had worked out a routine that saw the family spend seven months of the year in France and five in their US base near Indianapolis in Indiana.” He’s a tenured professor of writing and she has a PhD in American Studies/history. They seem to have employment options and flexibility most everyone else lacks. But again note, like all these stories, it’s the writers who move overseas and assume that everyone else can do this too.
Insider: We moved to Mexico from Texas and have never been happier. We’re saving $2,000 a month and can even afford to go to the dentist.
America is a terrible, awful, disgusting country. They’ve taken out $200,000 in student loans for degrees in, basically, social media. Hmmmm. And spent $10,000 on their wedding.
Another version of the story: Moving to Mexico From the US: This Couple Is Happier, Healthier, and Richer (businessinsider.com)
Robb Report: Americans Are Taking Advantage of the Strong Dollar and Moving Abroad – Robb Report
That story is about the ultra-rich moving overseas. With sufficient funds, you can buy your way to residency and even citizenship in some countries.
21 Ninety: Op-Ed: Why I Don’t Plan to Raise My Black Children in the US
America is awful, with gun violence and racism, and is oppressive – says she will be leaving for someplace else. The author has a BA in government and politics. Not clear how she and her family will get residency visas elsewhere unless they already have unstated immigration privileges.
WSJ: Retiring in Cornwall, England: Two Minnesotan Expats’ Perspective – WSJ
Another one of those “we found paradise” stories, by moving overseas. But – you can’t do this: “We were lucky enough to fit into a narrow British immigration category (now closed) that allowed us to stay.” A writer, semi-retired, of course.
Insider: We moved to Canada from the US to start fresh. It’s not perfect, but it seems like they’re trying to make our lives better.
The usual: America is awful, so this gay couple moved to Canada.
CNN: This [American] couple bought and renovated a 14th-century Italian home | CNN
They commute to and from Italy as they only have a 90 day visa, like real people.
CNN: ‘We bought a cheap Italian home and added an elevator’ | CNN
Typical Americans. He’s got a PhD in finance and previously worked in Europe. He now works remotely as a senior economist. Does not publicly disclose where he did his undergraduate work.
Insider: I’m an American Who Moved to Canada, Here’s Why I’m Not Moving Back (insider.com)
… cause America is awful, as usual. And she’s a writer. And seems there was a romantic relationship involved to get the visa.
Insider: The Most Surprising Things About Moving From the US to the UK (insider.com)
Of course, she’s a writer – and America is stunningly awful. Blah blah blah. Apparently everyone with a humanities degree working as a writer hates America.
Insider: American Who Moved to Paris Finds It More Affordable Than She Expected (businessinsider.com)
Her Mom was a French language teacher, she had been visiting France since age 11, she did a study abroad in France, did a college minor in French also did a work internship in Paris. She works in marketing, at a French company that needed a native English speaker to help with marketing programs to Americans, which means she has a work-related visa. Seems a legitimate story, not involving immigration privileges such as dual citizenship or right of descent ancestry – but a lot of advance work in French language and French cultural experiences prior to her move. Like many content creators, she runs a TikTok channel – salaries are low but France is wonderful, America is too expensive, etc.
Insider: Surprising Things About Moving to Madrid As an American (insider.com)
Surprise – America is pretty awful!
After graduating college, I moved to Madrid, Spain, to teach English and decided to stay long-term.
I couldn’t believe how accessible public transport is, and I loved the culture of eating long meals.
I was happy to feel accepted and safe as a queer person in Madrid.
Madrid is wonderful. The author had attended the private Kingswood Oxford School ($41,600 to $48,000 per year), and private Wesleyan College (at about $40,000/year in non-subsidized prices and then moved to Madrid. She now works for CIEE College Study Abroad, out of Madrid. She apparently had a privileged upbringing – it seems a lot of young people with privileged upbringings in the U.S., think the U.S. is an awful place.
Her access to a residency visa was presumably through her CIEE job, but the visa is not explained.
CNBC: 28-year-old in Norway who gets 5 weeks PTO on wellbeing and work (cnbc.com)
This story is weird, bashes America for not having benefits as generous as oil rich Norway – the subject is portrayed as an American. She’s not: she is, in fact, Norwegian. And this is the second time they’ve run a story on her: How a Norway 28-year-old prepares for required 3-week summer vacation (cnbc.com) (which also implies she is an American). While she is not a writer, per se, she is a social media manager who does social media marketing. Neither story mentions she is a native Norwegian – but uses her as a hook to bash America. Of course. America is awful, worst country in the world, as always. The story does not mention that it is extremely difficult for Americans to move to Norway for residency or citizenship, and immigration is primarily limited to young with the right skills, or by marriage. (Note – I am part Norwegian, I speak Norwegian and have been to Norway but I would not qualify for a residency visa except through investment.)
Insider: We Moved to Texas From France. It’s Pricier but Lacks a ‘Small-Town’ Feel.
This story is the reverse – American marries a French woman and they lived in France, for years, then they moved to Texas. Has some of the usual, America is too expensive, weird culture issues, blah blah. But not as bad as the above. But note the immigration privilege – there was marriage involved.
Insider: I moved back to the US when I was 14. After years of living abroad, it was a culture shock to come back
Living an exquisitely privileged life, she went to private international schools in Japan and Luxembourg, before her family returned to the U.S. for her to start public high school. Abroad, she took field trips to other countries, had multi-cultural teachers and fellow students from countries all over the world. She was so much better educated and smarter than American students, that AP courses in her U.S. high school were her only salvation. America is an awful place for privileged elite like herself. Today she is a globally educated story teller who travels the world as an activist, telling other people what to do. Yes, another writer.
Insider: I went to school in the US and in Spain. My learning felt stagnant in the US, but my social life was fun. (msn.com)
U.S. schools are terrible, blah blah blah – and of course, what does she do for a living? She’s a writer. Getting the perspective that writers only write about themselves, and when they need to get quotes, they call other people who are writers and reporters.
My family lived in Spain from the time I was 6 years old until I was 14. My brothers and I went to an international school in Madrid that followed a British curriculum. The K-12 school had a total of 300 students, which meant my entire grade comprised 22 people.
When my family moved back to the US, I started my freshman year of high school. My school outside Atlanta had about 2,000 students at the time, and I had almost 600 in my graduating class.
Business Insider really thinks America Sucks – it’s about all Henry Blodgett Publishes
Henry Blodgett was accused of financial fraud and settled with a ban for life from ever working again in the financial industry. He founded Business Insider and is still it’s Publisher. Just saw this group of stories on Insider:
Insider: We moved from the US to Sweden. After-school care was basically free, but my kid barely learned any math.
Oops. After idolizing Scandinavia and moving to Sweden, family discovers school was not up to expected standards of educational achievement for kids – and they moved back to the U.S. Oops – how did this article get published? Oh, he’s a writer. Said they moved because of his wife’s work, but the visa scenario is not explained.
CNN: She broke up with her boyfriend and moved in with a man she’d known for 3 weeks. Here’s what happened | CNN
As is usual with these stories, she’s an author and freelance writer, originally from Belgium. They are almost always writers, sometimes teachers, sometimes both. He has an MS in computer science but now works occassional, unrelated, random jobs. She apparently has a residency visa/work permit or dual citizenship in the U.S. but that is not explained. Not connected to physical location jobs, they travel. Suspect there were prior stock options involved.
And a publicist – yep, this story was handled through a friend who is a publicist (the Erin Carey tagged in the comments).
Insider: People are moving to Canada dreaming of a utopia with free healthcare and more tolerance. But the reality is Canada has its own set of problems. (msn.com)
Heh. Who knew? Everywhere is wonderful, it says in the AP style guide. How did this story get published?
CNBC: 67-year-old American living in Mexico: I’m happily retired—but I regret doing these 3 things in my 20s (cnbc.com)
Like so many of these stories, the subject is another writer – who also wrote the story. She retired to Mexico. She does not bash the U.S. (but does complain about U.S. living costs in other permutations of this story.) She writes similar stories about her relocation for multiple outlets (all basically the same story) – that is how she makes her living, so it makes sense:
- Retiree who left the U.S. for Mexico: 7 downsides of living on the beach for $1,200 a month (cnbc.com)
- This 65-year-old retiree lives in Mexico on $1,500 a month—why she’s ‘never moving back to the U.S.’ (cnbc.com)
- She’s 63 and living by the beach in Mexico on $1,000 a month: ‘I can’t imagine living in the U.S. again’ – MarketWatch
- 66-year-old retiree who left the U.S. for Mexico: ‘Here’s what you can buy here for $5 or less’ (cnbc.com)
- These Americans all left the U.S. for Mexico: How they found their ‘perfect location’ and made it happen (cnbc.com)
- I’ve been retired in Mexico for 6 years—it’s a luxury that ‘presents a new, unexpected set of challenges’ (msn.com) (April 2024 – has she written anything new and original in years?)
It goes on and on:
- I live better in Mexico City than in the U.S. (cnbc.com)
- 48-year-old quit teaching in U.S. and lives on $38,000 in Mexico City (cnbc.com)
- They sold everything to become a digital nomad family. Here’s what happened next | CNN (He’s from Canada, originally, but both are educated in the U.S. They now travel the world because America is awful.)
Fox News: Couple left the US in search of American dream and now they are helping others do the same
America is awful …”The new American dream is to leave America” …
Americans living abroad are documenting their new stress-free lifestyles outside the U.S. on social media and explaining why they think the American dream has a new meaning.
“The new American dream is to leave America,” TikToker Andrea Elliott previously told Fox News Digital. “It used to be to stay here, to have a job, to retire when you’re 60, to have a house, to have a family, and now we’re not even able to live.”
Oh, and this little item:
Their main piece of advice to the over 1,000 Americans they’ve helped relocate: have a stream of income coming from the U.S. America is so awful, you need to receive your income from America?
“The key is to have a U.S. based source of income, either Social Security, a pension, some sort of retirement or online income,” Stonestreet said. “That’s what makes it all possible.”
And of course, one of them has a BA in communications studies and an MA in public relations – ALWAYS A WRITER INVOLVED in these stories. In his background he had started several business and sold at least one for a nice sum.
YouTube: House Hunting in Europe: Seattle Couple Leaves the U.S. to Live Abroad
As always, both of them are writers. It’s always writers who take off to other countries. They will settle in Bulgaria for a bit, as “digital nomads”, so the residency visa issue is resolved on a temporary basis. Fortunately, this one avoids the usual “America is awful” – and adds another gay couple to the mix.
CNN: ‘The American dream is to leave America.’ The US TikTokers revealing what life is like abroad | CNN
America is stunningly awful. Absolutely no one should live in America.
The above begins with the 30-year-old woman who has moved to Italy, where everything is wonderful and she fell in love. These exercises in story telling are romance novels packaged as fake news, providing escapism – similar to the “cottage core” videos on YouTube and TikTok. “Cottage core” is an aesthetic based around an attractive young woman, always with long hair – and usually a shade of blonde, almost always white, living a carefree life in a (typically) small home in the woods, wearing frilly dresses, having beautiful gardens, baking bread, painting pictures and enjoying a calm life resembling a stereotypical English countryside. And like the emigrants to “better countries”, they are usually writers or artists.
“Cottage core” is based on a fantasized, idyllic simplified farm life imagined as it might have been in Europe in the distant past (but with access to fiber Internet, 5G cell phones, 4K video cameras and computers for digital editing – so quaint!)
“Cottage Core — the word “core” basically means enthusiasm — is a daydream of Generation Z, who have lived much of their lives online. This is the contradiction it holds: it promotes dreams of a technology-free world using only technology.“
The wicked truth about Cottage Core – UnHerd
It’s the stuff of flowy prairie dresses and sourdough starters, of hand-dried wildflower arrangements and hand-stitched quilts strewn on antique beds, of handmade pies cooling in open windows with the sun shining in. In an era where just about everybody wishes they had a bucolic getaway, cottagecore brings the stylized movie set dream of a fairytale cottage in some magical woods or an enchanted English countryside meadow to you, wherever you are.
….
What makes cottagecore distinct is that it was born on the internet and largely exists there, far away from the realities of country life.
What Is Cottagecore? A Simple Guide (thespruce.com)
(Much more here from the BBC. Worth reading.)
This genere started before Covid but grew rapidly as a form of escapism during periods of lock downs. Unfortunately, some of these cottage core stories were faked – and some didn’t really live these lifestyles but played the part for TikTok and YouTube. As some have noted, many of these fantasy lifestyle video content creators would not last a full day on a real farm or ranch.
Travel stories have degenerated into the same escapism format, wrapped up as a romance novel, or the ever popular “America is awful but I found heaven in another country”. (The linked item, above, is by a writer, who has native language skills in English and French, and thus, is international, who has bought into the myth that the end of the world is near. Of course. Everything is awful.)
Like all romance novels, you may note from the stories above, these stories all take the following form:
- a (usually) young woman moved or traveled to another country and fell in love (sometimes it is a gay man or a minority – white guys are only mentioned if part of an older couple.)
- America is a stunningly awful country
- Life at the destination country is so much better than in America
- All your problems would be solved if you too left America for a better future in another country.
Having seen these stories my own perspective has changed. I no longer view America as so awful after seeing how the media is manipulating our perspectives with a constant barrage of negativity and doomerism.
It’s always bad news, and even good news is spun into negativity. The result is an entire generation (Gen Z) addicted to social media sharing and media that is inundated with nonstop bad news, lacking historical context.
Watching this unfold has changed my views – a lot. I was going down the America is awful path until I saw how I was being manipulated by bull shit media story tellers pretending to be reporters.
Reality: Moving Abroad Requires Immigration Privileges
The real story is some people have immigration privilege – as most of those in the above stories have – but many do not have that – and moving abroad ranges from very difficult to impossible for most Americans – a point omitted from all of these creative writing exercises in the media.
Also omitted is that few Americans move abroad. About 1% of retirees are living abroad, and 2.5-3% of Americans are currently living/working abroad at any given time.
A huge number of these stories are about people who work as – surprise! – writers or sometimes teachers. Writers tend to write about themselves, or about other writers. Their lifestyle is often very different from most people who have to work “regular jobs”. We don’t see, say, truck drivers, construction workers, factory workers, retail workers, and mechanical engineers living nomadic lifestyles (there are some exceptions but it is not common). Because writers mostly write about writers, who do not need to work in fixed locations, these stories present a skewed perspective that anyone can pack up and move off to another country – and live whereever they want.
Further, these fluffy stories are a generic meme of content mill media. The meme pattern is that the U.S. is the worst country in the world in which to live and you will achieve nirvana, if you move to another country.
Continue on to Part 2 after reading this.
More on immigration privileges here:
- “Immigration Privilege” is real – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking
- Immigration privilege – again – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking
- Australia’s immigrant age discrimination is intense – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking
- A different form of “immigration privilege” – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking
- Bloomberg says up to 40% of Americans may qualify for EU citizenship due to ancestry – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking
- Immigration: Swiss village offers cash to live there, but only for those under age 45 – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking
- 1 out of 5 U.S. residents were born abroad or their parents were born abroad – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking