Leaving the U.S.A.

June 8, 2005 10:40 AM

Before the U.S. Election, a number of people said that they would move to Canada or elsewhere or even renounce their citizenship if Bush won. Does anyone know of anyone who may have actually done this? Or how to find such a person?

I found general info on renouncing your citizenship and bloggers who say they'll go, or for other reasons, but I haven't found anyone who left for political reasons, as yet.

posted by Duck_Lips to Law & Government (17 answers total)

Who said anything about renouncing their citizenship? I imagine you'd want to have the option of coming back, once the revolution is over.
posted by bshort at 10:48 AM on June 8, 2005

Inboxer Rebellion.
posted by glibhamdreck at 10:58 AM on June 8, 2005

It's not really an answer to your question, but if anyone applied to move to Canada permanently in November, it would still be quite some time before it would be approved.
posted by transient at 11:54 AM on June 8, 2005

Some in U.S. voting with their feet
posted by scazza at 11:55 AM on June 8, 2005

And also, it's practically impossible to renounce your citizenship.
posted by scazza at 11:56 AM on June 8, 2005

Greener Pastures
posted by jeanmari at 12:05 PM on June 8, 2005

Me!

I'm not American, so may not count for your purposes, but I've lived in the States for seven years. Both myself and my other half applied for and received our Canadian permanent residence after the election. We landed as immigrants at Xmas, are in the prcoess of the whole jobs & home thing, and plan to move up there permanently early next year.
posted by dublinemma at 1:27 PM on June 8, 2005

Sorry, should say we received after the election - applied about six-ish months prior.
posted by dublinemma at 1:28 PM on June 8, 2005

The Jan/Feb 2004 issue of Utne Reader had a few articles about expatriation. I did a search on their site and found these:

A Loyal American Ponders Leaving the Country
A New Life Overseas (this one requires $$)
Confessions of a Failed Expat

I read the issue some months ago. The gist was that it's not as worth it as you might think. Politics in [wherever] is usually as bad as it is in the US.
posted by booth at 1:37 PM on June 8, 2005

I would think most of those claims were made in the heat of the moment. Most people are aware enough to realize every country has problems.
posted by Dennis Murphy at 1:44 PM on June 8, 2005

I was temporarily living in London during the 2000 election. I told my family not to expect me to move back to the States until that idiot was out of office. Five years later and I'm now a Permanent Resident of Australia, only a year away from getting citizenship. I also have two good American friends living here in Sydney who were prompted by the last election to finally take out Australian citizenship. It's not like any of us planned our expatriation because of Bush and Co., but it sure as hell makes it easier to stay away.
posted by web-goddess at 3:34 PM on June 8, 2005

It's not like any of us planned our expatriation because of Bush and Co., but it sure as hell makes it easier to stay away.

We here in Massachusetts feel the same way.

posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:11 PM on June 8, 2005

I don't know anyone who's done this, but I am getting the occasional spate of proposals on the few blogs I frequent [fans self seductively with Canadian passport].
posted by orange swan at 6:13 PM on June 8, 2005

Not really the same thing, but...

My wife and I are moving to Australia - for a great job prospect - but a really nice side effect is that we are "voting with our feet" as it were. Of course we are torn with the feeling that if you want to change things, you have to start changing them yourself. I also believe that if the majority of USians want to follow their false prophet blindly, well they have a right to do that and who am I to stop them? Make your own bed and all that.

Still, Oz will hopefully be a nice break from all the crappy jingoism.
posted by qwip at 8:39 PM on June 8, 2005

Surely Mongog.
posted by tellurian at 10:57 PM on June 8, 2005

I was already gone in 2000, but have declared my intent to stay gone 'til things get back to something that looks like American normal. I've missed one family wedding and will miss another this summer. My mother's funeral will be the next event, she has advanced Alzheimers. In my case, my partner is European and his job moves around, so I've not got permanent status anywhere. Not sure where I'd want it. Europe is moving to the right as well now.
posted by Goofyy at 11:17 PM on June 8, 2005

I don't know anyone personally, but if I were looking, I would ask on the forums of Democratic Underground, the left-wing equivalent to Free Republic.
posted by Doohickie at 8:44 AM on June 9, 2005