The “easiest” would be Israel since my wife qualifies under the Law of Return, but we’re both staunchly anti-Zionist, so… ugh. Right now I’m looking closest at Ireland, since my profession is on the Critical Skills Employment Permit list and I work in a niche that is well-matched to the Irish pharma/life sciences sector. In a pinch I’d lobby for a transfer to my company’s Canadian branch office, but that’s not optimal for a few reasons.
ETA: for permanent emigration, the thing you want to do is find a country where you can speak or at least quickly learn the language, and where you can get employment in a sector that’s on their list of critical needs. In most cases you can’t get a visa that lets you stay and work long-term without first getting a job offer. In terms of flexibility, someplace in the EU has a lot of appeal, since you can work basically anywhere in the Schengen area after you gain permanent residency. Australia and New Zealand are attractive mainly for being well-isolated from all the regional wars that seem like they’re waiting to kick off just as soon as American muscle isn’t backing up NATO or Taiwan, but it’s a lot harder to get those visas.
Canada’s not far behind the US in terms of stupid, especially if Bitcoin Milhouse wins the next election, as he is widely expected to. Our house prices are even more fucked than yours too, so if you come here, bring caaaaaash.
Might as well look elsewhere so you don’t have to repeat the exercise in a decade when it goes to shit here too.
Eeeeexactly. My wife is lobbying for it (because she loathes air travel, mostly) but I have no interest in moving to Cold United States just for a marginal and temporary gain in freedom. It’d be a last-ditch option.
Yeah I second EU for right of travel and work as OP mentioned. Also countries like France have artist and business owners visas like US’ H-1B visas. Application for residency process is relatively painless compared to US/UK/CAN. Sponsorship by a company from your country that does business in the EU is also a very popular way to get in.
EU politics generally seem to be taking a sudden rightward lurch of late, with immigration being a major driver. All that history of African colonialism coming home to roost is making people with a fixed, racially-homogenous sense of their national identity into very unhappy campers. Of the countries not actively sliding into fascism, Putin seems to be ogling with hungry eyes in anticipation of NATO’s defanging. Things look pretty dire across the board, to be honest – between fascism, looming war, and climate change it’s all about least-bad options right now.
…but seriously, I’ve been learning French for almost four years now (a) in order to widen my options beyond the Anglosphere in general, and (b) because a whole bunch of tropical islands are part of France (including Tahiti) and I’d like to get a liveaboard sailboat and visit some of them.
I figure having a specific destination planned becomes less important if you’re taking your home with you. It’s really being able to get out before the shit hits the fan that’s the issue, and not having to worry about finding a job willing to sponsor a work visa in order to settle in a particular place seems like it would make that easier.
Worst-case scenario, if the boat’s cheap enough your living expenses can be low enough to support yourself bouncing around from port to port working odd jobs.
Where are you planning to go? I’m inclined to want to leave, but I have no idea where to go.
Come to California. We’ll fight.
The “easiest” would be Israel since my wife qualifies under the Law of Return, but we’re both staunchly anti-Zionist, so… ugh. Right now I’m looking closest at Ireland, since my profession is on the Critical Skills Employment Permit list and I work in a niche that is well-matched to the Irish pharma/life sciences sector. In a pinch I’d lobby for a transfer to my company’s Canadian branch office, but that’s not optimal for a few reasons.
ETA: for permanent emigration, the thing you want to do is find a country where you can speak or at least quickly learn the language, and where you can get employment in a sector that’s on their list of critical needs. In most cases you can’t get a visa that lets you stay and work long-term without first getting a job offer. In terms of flexibility, someplace in the EU has a lot of appeal, since you can work basically anywhere in the Schengen area after you gain permanent residency. Australia and New Zealand are attractive mainly for being well-isolated from all the regional wars that seem like they’re waiting to kick off just as soon as American muscle isn’t backing up NATO or Taiwan, but it’s a lot harder to get those visas.
Canada’s not far behind the US in terms of stupid, especially if Bitcoin Milhouse wins the next election, as he is widely expected to. Our house prices are even more fucked than yours too, so if you come here, bring caaaaaash.
Might as well look elsewhere so you don’t have to repeat the exercise in a decade when it goes to shit here too.
Eeeeexactly. My wife is lobbying for it (because she loathes air travel, mostly) but I have no interest in moving to Cold United States just for a marginal and temporary gain in freedom. It’d be a last-ditch option.
Yeah I second EU for right of travel and work as OP mentioned. Also countries like France have artist and business owners visas like US’ H-1B visas. Application for residency process is relatively painless compared to US/UK/CAN. Sponsorship by a company from your country that does business in the EU is also a very popular way to get in.
Yeah no, don’t go to France, seems like we’re trying to speedrun the road to fascism, so might not be a great plan either…
EU politics generally seem to be taking a sudden rightward lurch of late, with immigration being a major driver. All that history of African colonialism coming home to roost is making people with a fixed, racially-homogenous sense of their national identity into very unhappy campers. Of the countries not actively sliding into fascism, Putin seems to be ogling with hungry eyes in anticipation of NATO’s defanging. Things look pretty dire across the board, to be honest – between fascism, looming war, and climate change it’s all about least-bad options right now.
…but seriously, I’ve been learning French for almost four years now (a) in order to widen my options beyond the Anglosphere in general, and (b) because a whole bunch of tropical islands are part of France (including Tahiti) and I’d like to get a liveaboard sailboat and visit some of them.
I figure having a specific destination planned becomes less important if you’re taking your home with you. It’s really being able to get out before the shit hits the fan that’s the issue, and not having to worry about finding a job willing to sponsor a work visa in order to settle in a particular place seems like it would make that easier.
Worst-case scenario, if the boat’s cheap enough your living expenses can be low enough to support yourself bouncing around from port to port working odd jobs.