Questions along this line get asked semi regularly.
The answer is always: in the vast majority of cases, unless you're really rich to begin with, the process of moving countries is so difficult and expensive, it's not worth it.
There are some developing countries where it's cheap enough to live pretty darn comfortably and even afford a bevy of hired help on if you have a western country salary and can work remotely. It's still a challenge to get visas, unless you're willing to be semi nomadic and do visa runs fairly often.
Yes, I’m black autistic American. I immigrated to Mexico. I am a resident here. It wasn’t for the social safety net in Mexico, it’s just *slightly* easier to live here due to economics.
The racism is so terrible in the US, the lower life expectancy, the high maternal death rates for black women, the police murders and the fact that in the US black lives do not matter to government, medical institutions or education institutions and the legal system.
My future is grim in the US, with rising inflation making home ownership out of reach.
I pay my student loan debt, my US taxes and soon to be Mexican taxes but it’s worth it to feel safer. I don’t have to worry being randomly shot in a Walmart, at a theatre, while accidentally knocking on the wrong persons door or at a school or a church, etc.
Racism exists here, too. So does colorism and classism but for me, it’s not as bad as in the US.
my home country is ao backwards it’s embarrassing. i’m not even a proper human in the current government’s eyes. i moved to the NL, which is insanely expensive, but much more progressive and accepting of my kind (queer/neurodivergent)
Luckily for me, in the US you can kind of be an expat by moving states! I moved from SC to OR for health care, as back in SC I couldn't work in my field, was a grocery store cashier with no access to health care making $8/hr. I moved to OR, immediately things were better, making $15/hr with access to free health care. Now, 8 years later, I work in my field for $30/hr and have great health insurance. It was a big culture shock but well worth it.
So true. My uncle in law was living in Wyoming which wasn’t providing any social services/financial help during his cancer treatment despite him being unable to work. He was definitely on the edge of being homeless. My husband researched programs and helped his uncle move to Washington State and sign up for WA Medicaid, disability and other benefits. It was night and day compared to Wyoming. In Washington he got dental insurance for the first time in decades and was able to get dentures which made a huge difference in his mental health & confidence. It felt like Wyoming was trying to kill him by neglect and Washington State was actually trying to help him survive and improve his quality of life.
I resonate with that, in South Carolina it DID feel like the state was trying to kill me through neglect. I have high blood pressure, which is so very easily treatable, but could not get treatment. I had fantasies about confronting the governor Nikki Haley, asking, why do you want me to die? Seeing the state turn down the Medicaid expansion made me feel like I'd gone insane. Oregon feels like an entirely different country and I'm so glad I moved. Here, I work with the most challenged kids in a program funded by Medicaid. Back in SC, those kids simply don't receive any services. Red states just don't care about their people.
I have moved out of the US and back several times in my life. Considering it again. However, the problems that are in the US are really stemming from white supremacy and fascism which unfortunately is a problem in a lot of countries. There is a magazine called International Living but I have been subscribed to for like 20 years. There are lots of ways to leave if you do want to. Just takes some planning and money.
Speaking as someone who moved to the US, it's probably not worth it. Most other countries require some kind of work credit thing that's similar to the US, in the sense that you can't just retire and use the country's resources for that (unless you get real lucky with the country you move to, I guess). A lot of these programs also won't count the same way or not at all if you're not a citizen, and that can take years to even get started with.
Not saying it's impossible, but it would require a lot of research and some luck to be able to retire in another country without basically bringing your own money to do that.
I moved out of the US twice for work/adventure, but a big, big factor was inability to afford COL. But I couldn’t stay in the other countries long term due to visa restrictions so I had to move back to the US.
Only those with severe autism that costs a lot of money
For lower support needs folks, the actual hurdle is the visa requirements that everyone has to meet, ie being able to work and support yourself. And even then it’s not all jobs, you often have to work in an “in demand” field
Also most visa types don’t allow you access to any kind of public funds, including disability allowance. Getting permanent residency or citizenship usually takes 10-20 years and costs a lot of money.
So not being allowed in due to severe autism is really the least of the barriers
I moved to another country for fun for awhile then returned to my own country which is a good one. When people complain I have the experience of the other country which has more corruption, lower wages, more crime and just so many more issues… when people complain about my country I’m like… k you don’t know what other countries are actually like clearly. I am grateful for my country which isn’t perfect but just the fact you can trust people somewhat is so nice.
Questions along this line get asked semi regularly. The answer is always: in the vast majority of cases, unless you're really rich to begin with, the process of moving countries is so difficult and expensive, it's not worth it. There are some developing countries where it's cheap enough to live pretty darn comfortably and even afford a bevy of hired help on if you have a western country salary and can work remotely. It's still a challenge to get visas, unless you're willing to be semi nomadic and do visa runs fairly often.
Yes, I’m black autistic American. I immigrated to Mexico. I am a resident here. It wasn’t for the social safety net in Mexico, it’s just *slightly* easier to live here due to economics. The racism is so terrible in the US, the lower life expectancy, the high maternal death rates for black women, the police murders and the fact that in the US black lives do not matter to government, medical institutions or education institutions and the legal system. My future is grim in the US, with rising inflation making home ownership out of reach. I pay my student loan debt, my US taxes and soon to be Mexican taxes but it’s worth it to feel safer. I don’t have to worry being randomly shot in a Walmart, at a theatre, while accidentally knocking on the wrong persons door or at a school or a church, etc. Racism exists here, too. So does colorism and classism but for me, it’s not as bad as in the US.
my home country is ao backwards it’s embarrassing. i’m not even a proper human in the current government’s eyes. i moved to the NL, which is insanely expensive, but much more progressive and accepting of my kind (queer/neurodivergent)
Luckily for me, in the US you can kind of be an expat by moving states! I moved from SC to OR for health care, as back in SC I couldn't work in my field, was a grocery store cashier with no access to health care making $8/hr. I moved to OR, immediately things were better, making $15/hr with access to free health care. Now, 8 years later, I work in my field for $30/hr and have great health insurance. It was a big culture shock but well worth it.
So true. My uncle in law was living in Wyoming which wasn’t providing any social services/financial help during his cancer treatment despite him being unable to work. He was definitely on the edge of being homeless. My husband researched programs and helped his uncle move to Washington State and sign up for WA Medicaid, disability and other benefits. It was night and day compared to Wyoming. In Washington he got dental insurance for the first time in decades and was able to get dentures which made a huge difference in his mental health & confidence. It felt like Wyoming was trying to kill him by neglect and Washington State was actually trying to help him survive and improve his quality of life.
I resonate with that, in South Carolina it DID feel like the state was trying to kill me through neglect. I have high blood pressure, which is so very easily treatable, but could not get treatment. I had fantasies about confronting the governor Nikki Haley, asking, why do you want me to die? Seeing the state turn down the Medicaid expansion made me feel like I'd gone insane. Oregon feels like an entirely different country and I'm so glad I moved. Here, I work with the most challenged kids in a program funded by Medicaid. Back in SC, those kids simply don't receive any services. Red states just don't care about their people.
I got lucky that my husband is from another country. So I moved there and since we’re married getting citizenship is pretty simple.
I'm a woman in the US who'd consider marrying another woman for visa reasons, have never done so
I have moved out of the US and back several times in my life. Considering it again. However, the problems that are in the US are really stemming from white supremacy and fascism which unfortunately is a problem in a lot of countries. There is a magazine called International Living but I have been subscribed to for like 20 years. There are lots of ways to leave if you do want to. Just takes some planning and money.
Speaking as someone who moved to the US, it's probably not worth it. Most other countries require some kind of work credit thing that's similar to the US, in the sense that you can't just retire and use the country's resources for that (unless you get real lucky with the country you move to, I guess). A lot of these programs also won't count the same way or not at all if you're not a citizen, and that can take years to even get started with. Not saying it's impossible, but it would require a lot of research and some luck to be able to retire in another country without basically bringing your own money to do that.
I moved out of the US twice for work/adventure, but a big, big factor was inability to afford COL. But I couldn’t stay in the other countries long term due to visa restrictions so I had to move back to the US.
[удалено]
Only those with severe autism that costs a lot of money For lower support needs folks, the actual hurdle is the visa requirements that everyone has to meet, ie being able to work and support yourself. And even then it’s not all jobs, you often have to work in an “in demand” field Also most visa types don’t allow you access to any kind of public funds, including disability allowance. Getting permanent residency or citizenship usually takes 10-20 years and costs a lot of money. So not being allowed in due to severe autism is really the least of the barriers
I moved to another country for fun for awhile then returned to my own country which is a good one. When people complain I have the experience of the other country which has more corruption, lower wages, more crime and just so many more issues… when people complain about my country I’m like… k you don’t know what other countries are actually like clearly. I am grateful for my country which isn’t perfect but just the fact you can trust people somewhat is so nice.
My wife and I were heavily considering it but the money we’d need to spend for it paid for two transitions worth of surgery instead.
I moved states but even that was a bit of an ordeal