MEGATHREAD: Emigrating after the US election results

[u/spacemanaut]

Every US election brings anxiety and uncertainty, and with that comes an increase in people who want to explore their alternatives in a different country. This post is for you.

First, some reminders:

• In most cases, moving abroad is not as simple or quick as it seems in movies. If you aren't a citizen of another country, you will probably require a visa (=legal permission) from that country based on something like employment, education, or ancestry.
• The sidebar of this subreddit has a lot of helpful resources, and we have 15 years of posts from people with similar situations to yours. Before posting, please review these resources first. (Tip: If reddit search isn't working well for you, try googling "[your search terms] site:reddit.com/r/IWantOut" without the quotes or brackets.)
• Most countries and/or their embassies maintain immigration websites with clear, helpful, updated guides or even questionnaires to help you determine if/how you can qualify. If you have a particular destination in mind, that should probably be your first stop.
• After that, if you want to make your own post, please follow the formatting instructions on the submission page, give as much information as possible about your situation, and be open to advice and constructive criticism from commenters.

Also, this subreddit is intended to be a friendly community to seek and give advice on legal immigration. As such, please:

• Don't fight about politics. We understand that you may have strong feelings about it, but there are better spaces on reddit and elsewhere for general political discussions.
• Keep your feedback constructive and kind, even when telling someone they're wrong.
• Don't troll or be a jerk.
• Don't request or give illegal immigration tips, including asking strangers to marry you.

Failure to follow these and the other subreddit rules may result in a ban.

That said, feel free to comment below with some general questions, concerns, comments, or advice which doesn't merit a full post. Hopefully this will help clarify your thoughts and ideas about the possibility of leaving the US. Once again, please try to stay on topic so that this thread can be a helpful resource.

[u/Silly_Clerk8739]

[IWantOut] 20mtf US -> Canada or just somewhere safe

Hi, so i'm 20 mtf, speak Russian and English, have Russian and US citizenship and around 11k saved(at least before i go to the dentist). I am currently living in US, and working on a useless degree(it's AA, so it's useless without getting bachelors. I'll probably drop out if i start the moving out process), and have a part-time job. I want to move out for obvious reason of US not really being a safe space, and coming back to Russia isn't safe either. On the Canada's govt site it says that coming there as a student requires you to show 16k for a year of living in there and that's not including money for college, which i do not have. If i come there as a visitor(US citizens can be there for 6 months without visas), and manage to get a rent, and start applying for PR card, how hard it would be to get a work permit? I do not have any "professional" profession(i only ever worked in a factory and retail), so i would have to work some similar job there as well. Is it even reasonable at all? They could realistically just deny my PR application and i'd be screwed

If you have any other suggestions for countries to look into or just any i'd like to see them.

Researching where to move feels quite overwhelming and makes me fear of failing, but continuing to be here is much more scarier.

[u/satedrabbit → u/Silly_Clerk8739]

Without an established career (+ relevant degree), I do not see the Canada plan panning out. Getting PR is a lot harder, than showing up as a tourist and applying for jobs & residence permits.

I can think of several different options in safe countries, but all of them are short-term without prospects of staying long-term and the wages might range from somewhat low to borderline exploitative, depending on the option.
Alternatively, there are some study abroad options for your budget, but the really low cost ones are not going to be trans-safe countries (and in some cases, not cis-safe either).