If their candidate does not win, they will leave the U.S.

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Up to 1 in 3 voters say they will leave the U.S. if their candidate does not win the election.

Reality: Almost no one will leave, and those that do, already had immigration privileges and their dedication to the U.S. was never that strong anyway.

Today’s silly news story: These Americans Say They’ll Move Abroad if Their Candidate Loses – The New York Times

The very first anecdote is someone eligible for dual citizenship in Germany! Hah hah.

The 2nd one – a real estate developer – is probably looking at an investment visa, available to the wealthy.

The 3rd example is a transgender related couple who already moved to Vietnam – notably, they appeared in a prior story by the paper. Thus, they are not “going to move” – they already left!

The 4th one is a doctor, who had already moved to B.C. (Doctors, especially, have easy access to move to most countries – unlike everyone else.)

Refreshingly, this story notes the problem: “It’s relatively easy to vacation abroad as an American, but obtaining residency in another country is far more complicated.”

Another one – these people are weird: If Trump wins, I’ll leave America for Europe – but my husband will stay behind

Update: Another story on this topic: Record numbers of wealthy Americans are making plans to leave the U.S.

A survey by Arton Capital, which advises the wealthy on immigration programs, found that 53% of American millionaires say they’re more likely to leave the U.S. after the election, no matter who wins. Younger millionaires were the most likely to leave, with 64% of millionaires between 18 and 29 saying they were “very interested” in seeking so-called golden visas through a residency-by-investment program overseas.

Update Days Before The Election

The media is going wild with this theme – just in the week (mostly) before the 2024 national election:

The first link says 1 in 5 Americans want to move to Canada. Reminder – an estimated 2-3% of Americans are living abroad at any point in time, and perhaps half of these are temporary – including work assignments, military assignments, and study abroad. Between 0.7% and 1.2% of retirees live abroad, with over 1/3d of those in either Canada or Mexico – about half retired abroad because they had family connections or they had long established ties to the country, such as working in Canada for years and owning a home, etc, prior to retirement.

And finally – Canada has instituted new restrictions on inbound immigration and is prohibiting the purchase of real estate by anyone not already having permanent residency status in Canada! Hah! But all those Americans still think they are going to move to Canada!

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