Ask Lemmy

I pursued an engineering BSc with the desire to emigrate but got distracted by the success of SpaceX and wooed by the challenge of Mars colonization. Then the US health insurance industry got in the way, I failed out and didn't make it back until COVID. I graduated in 2022 with the first university degree in my family but was crippled by student loan debt and unable to save to leave. Was finally able to escape the rural Midwest a year ago and made it to a city with plenty of aerospace companies right as everyone stopped hiring. The cherry on top was the CEO of the company whose engineering feats initially inspired me throwing fascist salutes at inauguration.

Odd jobs and parental support have mostly kept me afloat, but they can't help forever and I am a few months out from having to move back. The military industrial complex slid into my DMs recently with the offer of a fat paycheck and loaded resume in exchange for my ethics and morals. They even dangled a carrot of potential transfer to a NASA climate science project after the contract is up, but I'll be surprised if it's still funded by then. Frankly, I broke down when I realized the project I'd be working on.

I'll hear back about the position early next week and I'm desperately hoping it's a no and I'm back to the drawing board, but if it's a yes I'll be starting in a couple weeks. The BBB will very likely lead to losing the best, most effective and enabling healthcare I've received so far, and the salary would cover the insurance plan I'd need to maintain that care. Its a short contract and the salary would also enable me to save enough to emigrate but I already feel compromised. I've dreamed of contributing to space exploration and am instead being bullied into contributing to it's militarization by a country I've opposed for the entirety of my adult life.

I've looked into joining the Ukrainian Foreign Legionnaires and would much rather contribute to European defense against Russia, but I honestly just want to pursue an MSc or even PhD and turn my brain towards mitigating and adapting to climate change. I've worked so fucking hard, dreamed so fucking big and bounced back from defeat time and time again for this? Fuck.

Tl;dr: Masters/PhD in Sweden or Germany but barring that I'll work for any European defense company that will take an american immigrant.

Why is the difference between immigrant and ex patriot?

I'm an antinationalist with regards to usa. No

Hey. If yanks get get to Canada, and get in, I'm sure we'd love to have ya.

There's a catch: if you're not fleeing persecution, you're gonna need a skill. It bumps up your score on the big calculation they do, and if you can keep doing the skilled work you may one day afford to live somewhere other than winnipeg.

the country i was to go to is the imagined America of our ancestors like Langston Hughes, the land of equality and opportunity and liberation and diversity, full of immigrants working for their own and their shared futures

Dream country? Monaco, lol. But more realistically either Canada, Australia or New Zealand

Non-Muricans, what's the thought on accepting US refugees?

Stand and fight, you cowards.

I would go back to Japan if my partner could/would learn the language.

Portugal, though I doubt they want Americans any more.

Probably Romania, cheap cost of living while still being in Europe and being a part of NATO.

New Zealand is quite lovely; I could afford it and I’m on the expedited list of specialties. Can’t leave the kids, though, so I’m stuck watching the ship go down.

Saint Kitts and Nevis. Economy sucks, internet too, but you can't beat the view.

I'd be in Aukland now if I hadn't met my partner between deciding in 2021 and the election. She is a refugee and can't leave or she'll lose status. She is a political enemy of her government for advocating for democracy there. Did a phone interview and everything.

I'm thinking either Finland or Norway. But the only way I could ever emigrate to either of those countries would be as an asylum seeker. I don't make enough money, nor do I have any skills they want. I've got plenty of skills...just not any that are in 'high demand'.

If I could live in no country I’d be so happy. But the only place to do that is a desert in Africa and my natural habitat is temperate forests.

So I guess Canada.

Canada, I'm a citizen there as well

Dream? Hard to say since I've never been outside the US. Maybe Ireland?

Reality? Pretty much anywhere that I would have the opportunity to make a living.

Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, or Germany, in no particular order. Then again, of those 4, I've only been to Canada.

In this thread: unimaginative white people mentioning popular European countries or places that will not welcome them due to restrictive and xenophobic immigration policies. Meanwhile I'll be content in Chile, Faroe Islands, Guam or Jordan.

Even though things aren't going as they should, I wouldn't be likely to leave. I don't agree with a lot of what's happening here, but there's no nation I know that supports more of my beliefs and lifestyle than the USA. Plus, my family, my friends, and my loved ones are all here. Leaving would mean losing them, and that's totally unacceptable.

I don’t want to start over. I’d rather die.