On the evening of November 8, 2016, a horde of frantic Americans crashed the Canadian immigration site when they realized the election wasn't going the way they had expected or hoped. Moving to Canada—hell, moving away to anywhere at all—has been on the minds of many Americans ever since. But the idea isn't new. People have been leaving the US in the rearview mirror for a long time and for a lot of different reasons. We talked to a few American expatriates to find out why they left, how they're living now, and whether they'll ever coming back. Sure, some have been influenced by the Trump presidency to stay away. But health, guns, and fun are also on the list.
Advertisement
Too Many Guns
Dump Trump
Life/Work Balance
Advertisement
[COUGH] Healthcare
Trumped Again
Advertisement
I unfortunately owe Donald Trump a thank you: the fact that he was even campaigning in 2015 was the catalyst for me to look for a way to move abroad. It's one of the best personal and professional decisions I've made in my nascent adult life. Always looking for that silver lining. - Thomas, 26, now lives in the NetherlandsMy family and I decided to move four years ago due to a lack of opportunity in the United States. Because, while it's hard to prove, I am certain I was passed over or ignored for work opportunities or advancement because of being visibly Muslim (I wear hijab). It was hard in the US because of the discrimination, comments, and harassment my family and I faced. I've been spit at and verbally abused, as well as completely ignored in situations. My husband was told to go home on different occasions and had other racial taunts said to him. We didn't want our kids to deal with bullying at school for these reasons either. We temporarily considered moving back until the 2016 election season began, but the more we saw things ramp up, the more we leaned toward staying. After Trump won, we decided we wouldn't return. While we love our family and home in the US, we also faced a lot of difficult times as Muslim Americans. We decided that Morocco offered more opportunity for us to live our lives, run our business, and keep our family (especially our kids) away from the environment we saw in the States. - Amanda, 33, now lives in MoroccoI graduated from university in 2013 and planned to go to law school, but couldn't justify the cost and the amount of debt it would put me in. I found an English-speaking graduate program in Heidelberg, Germany, that aligned with my area of study and was completely free for both native Germans and foreigners. In fact, all public German universities are completely free! Because I didn't have to pay for this program, I was able to also pursue business school in Edinburgh, Scotland. My fees for that program were about $20,000, not free by any means but substantially cheaper than going to business school in the States. Plus, the business programs (and most graduate programs) in Europe are only a year long!After completing school, I was motivated to stay abroad for another reason: health. I'm a two-time childhood cancer survivor and the status of healthcare in the states is quite unnerving. Even with Obamacare and insurance coverage, my healthcare is substantially more expensive in the US than in Germany. Additionally, German insurance companies can't discriminate against me, and maternal health in Germany is lightyears ahead. I can have a full year of maternity leave at 67 percent pay, and my boyfriend can have two months of paternity leave, also with 67 percent pay. Plus, there are many social services set up for children if I want to go back to work. - Jordan, 26, now lives in GermanyI have Norwegian roots, so I've always been interested in the culture and the beauty of the country. After I graduated high school, I decided to postpone college for a bit and came to Norway instead for a year-long Folkehøgskole program focused on ceramics. It was an amazing experience. After becoming fluent in Norwegian over the course of that year, I decided I never wanted to leave. Norwegian social culture is decades ahead of America in so many ways: legislated gender equality, gun control, concern for the environment, healthcare, and free college tuition, to name just a few!It's definitely expensive to live here, but I feel good about the fact that the money I pay in taxes goes to programs I can support morally, and not to finance pointless wars that pad the pockets of millionaires. I also like the Norwegians' laid-back approach to marriage (tons of people just live together forever without ever getting legally married and it's no big deal). They do have weirdly conservative ideas about marijuana which I find hilarious, but hey! Amsterdam is a quick plane ride away. - Erik, 28, now lives in Norway
Follow Caroline Thompson on Twitter.