Bonus point if you’ve moved to a different country. Totally asking for a friend…
I realized the right is going to win the next elections. Poland was already very conservative. Religion was everywhere, no same sex marriage or civil unions, widespread homophobia, limited access to abortion, complicated divorce process, no living will laws and so on. And from the polls it was clear that not only nothing will change but it will get worse. I moved to one of the most progressive countries in EU (Spain) and for the next 10 years things in Poland did get worse so I was 100% right about that.
Overall I think relocating is complicated. Your values and perspective change over time, places change over time. The grass is always greener on the other side kind of thing. On one hand it’s definitely nice to live in a country I’m not disgusted by. My governments is one of the most vocal supporters of Palestine, progressive policies are passed all the time. Not to mention I prefer the weather, nature, culture and general vibe of the place. The “but” is that future looks pretty bleak everywhere so who knows what will happen in the next 10-20 years. But I guess I can always move back if necessary and having more options is also a good thing.
Moved from small city flat with a 50km commute each way to a large semi-detached in a small town within walking distance to the job. No regrets at all.
When my country first elected a rapist con man president, I started looking. I was born and raised in (and never left) New England, and so I also wanted a place that’s warm year round. It took me four years to tentatively settle on Belize, in late 2019. I made my first visit in Jan 2021, as the pandemic messed up my 2020 plans. By October, I had sold EVERYTHING and moved with two cats.
Reasons (or things I didn’t even know I wanted):
-No DST messing up my sleep schedule.
-No more days with 17+hrs of darkness.
-CARIBBEAN!!!
-Every Belizean I met (exception: gov’t employees and police) is friendly and warm. In N.E., people avoid making eye contact and answer greetings in a way to stop further conversation, but in Belize, the people genuinely want to know how you’re doing and remember everything you tell them.
-No car required
-Culture with proud participation from the public; holidays with vibrant parades, and entire village ecstatically engaged in all aspects.
-Tarantulas walking in the street (my partner and I love them!)
-Path to citizenship without $0.25M investment
-Citizenship there comes with a CARICOM passport, meaning can live and work in most Caribbean nations.
-Food! Fish caught 30 minutes before it hits my plate.Things that pushed me away from the USA:
-Truck nuts
-Nazi and/or Confederate flags on trucks everywhere
-Cost of housing doubled from 2017 to 2021
-Consumerism -Embarrassed to be a US citizenhow’d you go about getting citizenship there
I haven’t yet. Actually, the corrupt bureaucracy has withheld residency status so far without bribes. That said, here was the path I thought I was on when I moved.
The idea is to have been in the country for most of the year (no less than 14 days out of country), at which time you can apply for residency. Once you have residency, you must maintain it for 5yrs.
Citizenship for Permanent Residence Holders
- You have been a holder of Permanent Residence for a minimum of 5 years.
- You have been resident continuously in Belize, this means that upon being granted Permanent Residency you have not resided outside Belize for periods that exceed thirty consecutive days or accumulate to a total of three months in any twelve month period.
I didn’t want to muddy the waters with the reality of what happened once I moved, as the OP was about motivating factors. Power corrupts. And ultranationalism is infectious to other countries.
Edit: If I could do it over, I would form an offshore company or similar and get a work permit. Two attorneys have recommended this, even though on paper it costs more; there’s less headache running to renew visitor status every 28 days (they claim 30-120 days, but no immigration office will renew you for more than that unless you bribe or are over 70 years old). It’s been humbling (scary) going through this process legally and being afraid on several occasions that an angry official will wave their hand and deport me. I can only imagine being deported because of my skin color or where I shop would be even more scary.
For me it was the money. I couldn’t make enough to get ahead in my hometown so i moved to a smaller city. My living costs went down and my wage went up. It really sucked leaving my friends and family behind but in less than 3 years i went from almost nothing to purchasing a small house.
In my experience, there’s an inertia to staying still. You either need a pull from the destination or a push from the source. I didn’t care where we ended up but I couldn’t live where we were. The state government was persecuting one of my kids and failing on maintaining civil services. The destination wasn’t great but it was better than the source and has family nearby. Overall, I don’t regret moving, but I’m not happy. I went from a terrible situation to a not as bad one. Note - I didn’t say this is good.
I grew up in the Boston area and absolutely hated the cold weather. I moved out when I was 18 to go to college in the Southwest. I literally only applied to warm weather colleges.
Moved inside Europe to another country because my partner had lived 3 years in my home country and complained about everything, so we decided it’s my turn to complain about everything. One more year to go to settle the score.
On a serious note we both love things about each others country and we are both open to live in either. Living and breathing your partner’s culture and environment they grew up in is such a great way to understand them on a deeper level. I finally understand her complaints and she understands mine!
I moved country as a way to see the world. I left Nederland and started with Australia because I had an Australian passport. I was going to give it a year. I worked six months, was unemployed for 18, then got a three day gig that lasted for six and a half years.
That move was 35 years ago. I’m still in Australia. In the meantime I met my partner, travelled around the country for five years and started my own business 26 years ago.
I visited Nederland four years in, but it didn’t feel like home.
It took many years for this to feel like home, from time to time I’d love to hug my family, but never felt homesick, I love watching YouTube videos of places where I grew up. I’ll visit the local Dutch Shop to remember smells and tastes and to bullshit in Dutch, but otherwise I’ll be doing my Aussie life.
I was born here, but grew up in Nederland.
I realized I wanted to stop living in Texas the first time I traveled outside of the state in my early teens. This state is a fascist nightmare and the quality of life has been slipping for the entire time I’ve been alive. The open hostility to trans folks like myself was the last straw.
I tried once in my 20’s, but I was too homesick for my partners to leave them behind. It took another 15 years after that point before the universe conspired to let me move to Colorado and bring them with me.
Side question - how do people get the opportunity to move so easily? I work in Tech and the market is brutal right now
Personally I work in academia so relocating is significantly easier (doesn’t require local language at work, academia has a foreign worker culture), and I did it before US scientists collectively realized what happened and wanted to get the fuck out… Even then it was difficult for me to find a job. Sadly I don’t think it is as easy for tech…
Also I suspect moving between different states in the US or between different EU member states would be significantly easier
I hopped around in Europe with no problem: applied online to jobs, as soon as i got a job found a place. If you are young with little commitments and there is no bureaucracy hindering you, relocating is super easy. Nowadays, with a family with young kids, relocating is much more of a commitment. Luckily we really like it here, so we are not planning a new move any time soon.
Brief timeline:
- did my bachelor in my hometown
- did a 6 months student transfer
- decided I didn’t want to go back, applied for a new university outside the EU (no visa needed for students)
- found two internships during my master in two different EU countries (no visa needed, unpaid so no tax hurdles)
- found a phd position in a new EU country (no visa needed, moved with two suitcases and an easyjet plain ticket)
- moved to US for a temporary position (this was actually bureaucratically demanding, the move took 8 months between getting the job and being there)
- moved back to EU without a job prospect, found a temp job in a country I had already visited (no visa problems)
- moved again for a fixed position (last move, with a kid, took some 3 months to plan out)
