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Americans Are Leaving the U.S. in Record Numbers (www.wsj.com)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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Last year the U.S. experienced something that hasn’t definitively occurred since the Great Depression: More people moved out than moved in. The Trump administration has hailed the exodus—negative net migration—as the fulfillment of its promise to ramp up deportations and restrict new visas. Beneath the stormy optics of that immigration crackdown, however, lies a less-noticed reversal: America’s own citizens are leaving in record numbers, replanting themselves and their families in lands they find more affordable and safe.

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[–] 39 points 5 months ago (4 children)

I’m an American immigrant in Germany. It’s infuriating how many Germans complain to me about immigrants, then when hearing that I’m an immigrant, wave their hand and say I’m not like the others. I’m now a German teacher and married to a German, so they’ve always got plausible deniability that it’s about language or integration, but I wasn’t always good at German and I only met my husband after a few years here. It used to be much more fun to push back on why.

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  • [–] 17 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Try immigrating to Canada from the US. Nobody here would ever consider me a 'true' immigrant, even though that is quite literally what I am.

    I moved for school and never came back. All my family and personal ties were left behind in the states. Except for my family and the annoying need to file taxes every year for some fucking reason, I have no ties left to the US.

    But Im white and culturally similar enough that the label 'immigrant' would feel funny to people here. It really is wacky.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago* (1 child)

    Why pay taxes to the US? Is it an extraditable offense?

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  • [–] 12 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    You have to file taxes with the US, most people with US citizenship living outside the US don't actually have to pay anything.

    As for why to keep filing:

    • renouncing your citizenship is difficult and expensive
    • it's hard to avoid the US

    Let's say you have no plans to ever live in the US again. Does that mean you never want to visit friends or family you left behind? Does that mean you'll never go to a sporting event, concert or professional conference in the US ever again? If you're flying internationally, will you always be willing to pay extra and do extra work to avoid being on a plane that makes a stopover in the US?

    For most people it's a few hours of work, and/or a hundred bucks or so once per year to keep their options open and avoid major headaches.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Thanks for the well laid out response. I learned a lot, and my assumption on renouncing citizenship were along the same lines as:

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  • [–] 7 points 5 months ago

    Yeah, it's more: "Oh, you want to renounce? Guess we better audit your last 5 years of tax returns with a fine-toothed comb." In addition, you have to do two separate interviews with US officials, plus pay a $2.5k USD fee. Plus, you might be hit with an exit tax if you have any wealth -- and that includes retirees who are counting on using that wealth for their retirement.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    a stopover in the US?

    Most civilized countries' airports have transit areas for just this purpose, you don't tecnically enter the country.
    Oh, we're talking about Murica, nevermind.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    If you're flying internationally, will you always be willing to pay extra and do extra work to avoid being on a plane that makes a stopover in the US?

    Yes. All the yes. Sod all legal rights when in an airport. Not worth the risk.

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  • [–] 13 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Daaamn. You moved to a foreign country and became a teacher of their language in said country? Jesus that’s an almost pornographic level of integration. Almost like a flex.

    I was German club president in high school and I could not even fathom doing this. Kudos.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    I mean, to be fair, it’s not German literature, I’m teaching German as a second language. I’m a big proponent of dual native/nonnative language teaching, because native speakers (almost) always know what’s right and nonnative speakers (almost) always know why. I think of it like having a math teacher who’s a prodigy vs one who struggled with math- both are useful to have for different reasons.

    My German’s not perfect, but it’s very good (C2) and it’s good enough to teach new speakers, I just let them know that I also make mistakes.

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  • [–] 9 points 5 months ago

    It's rather simple, they see you as sharing their same culture, so they consider you part of their tribe, while others appear to them as being too different, implying cultural friction and danger.

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