Emigrating out of the states? Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia?

[jlai]

Can a visitor rent an apartment in Canada?

 

[kwanfan1818]

Possibly, if you can’t find a landlord willing to rent it month-by-month. Six months would exceed 180 days. The other possibility is a sublet, official or not, or a room in someone’s house, which I did before I activated my PR visa.

 

[nlloyd]

I receive articles about this regularly on my Google feed. You might also, if you start searching for them on the web. This is the most recent: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/23/panama-best-country-for-expats-internations-survey.html

Not sure what is going to happen to local communities, though, if Americans and others emigrate to then in large numbers.

 

[KCC]

If we were younger & healthier, I'd try to convince DH to move to Hawaii, in the uplands and not the beach areas. Honestly, I'd live in a place the size of a shoebox if needed (that could not accommodate guests) to manage costs, as I would hope it would be only for a few years. But at this point, we also need quick access to medical care, so I think that ship has sailed and we'll stay put. That would be my preferred escape place (as opposed to another country) where I could disconnect from the news and adventure myself around the islands.

 

[PRlady]

I receive articles about this regularly on my Google feed. You might also, if you start searching for them on the web. This is the most recent: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/23/panama-best-country-for-expats-internations-survey.html

Not sure what is going to happen to local communities, though, if Americans and others emigrate to then in large numbers.

I receive articles about this regularly on my Google feed. You might also, if you start searching for them on the web. This is the most recent: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/23/panama-best-country-for-expats-internations-survey.html

Not sure what is going to happen to local communities, though, if Americans and others emigrate to then in large numbers.

It depends. The tiny country of Israel absorbed a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the ‘90s, pretty successfully most people think. They were educated people who frequently had to take much lower-skilled jobs and they faced prejudice from the religious establishment who didn’t consider a lot of them Jewish by religious law. But most stayed.

Then of course you have Middle Eastern and South Asian immigration to their former colonisers. Obviously a lot of natives don’t like it and it has changed the culture. Some places it’s worked out.

There’s so many different kinds of Americans among 350 million people, it’s hard to predict who would do what to local communities.

 

[nlloyd]

It depends. The tiny country of Israel absorbed a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the ‘90s, pretty successfully most people think. They were educated people who frequently had to take much lower-skilled jobs and they faced prejudice from the religious establishment who didn’t consider a lot of them Jewish by religious law. But most stayed.

Then of course you have Middle Eastern and South Asian immigration to their former colonisers. Obviously a lot of natives don’t like it and it has changed the culture. Some places it’s worked out.

There’s so many different kinds of Americans among 350 million people, it’s hard to predict who would do what to local communities.

I think we are already hearing a lot of pushback from destination countries regarding tourism and digital nomads, including the effects they have on housing prices, infrastructure, services etc. A large influx of immigrants might have the same effect. I know that in Cape Town, South Africa, the influx of European retirees and holiday makers has made housing unaffordable in some areas, even for South Africans who are upper middle class. At the other end of the spectrum there is a lot of animosity towards immigrants who come from elsewhere in Africa and take more menial work or even participate in the gig economy (Uber drivers from Zimbabwe, for example), when there is an unemployment rate in South Africa of around 33%.

 

[MacMadame]

A lot of this stuff just depends. Where I live, we used to have the largest Afghan population in the area (in the state?) as people tend to move to where they have family and friends and then it becomes an enclave. But the city is big enough that you really couldn't tell. Then we had a large portion of Asian immigrants mostly from China and you could tell as a lot of retail shop popped up catering to Chinese immigrants and local politics got a lot more conservative. But then we got an even larger influx of immigrants from India because at one time we had the only temple in the area and now people sometimes call our city "Little India." So we've experienced the entire gamut from immigrants not changing our city at all, all the way up to the city becoming a majority-minority city.

There are towns in the Midwest with a large (for the population) influx of refugees that found this to benefit their economy. It was rough at first because refugees come with pretty much nothing and so had a lot of needs, but the area also had a lot of businesses looking for cheap labor and a lot of the refugees became entrepreneurs setting up shops that benefited the town.

In the end, I would rather live somewhere that is a majority-minority city -- where no one ethnic group is the majority -- because I think having to get along with all different cultures and ideas makes for a better place. The only thing I don't like about where I live now is that it has gotten more conservative in a way that lacks compassion. (The way the unhoused are treated is a prime example.) ETA but I think this is for a multitude of reasons, not just immigration.

 

[PRlady]

We tend to forget that first-gen immigrants are usually conservative about religion, sexuality and poverty programs that cost taxpayer money. A few Republicans have picked up on that, and rather than condemning all immigrants as likely Dem voters, they think they can make them Republicans like the Cubans and Vietnamese. And they may not be wrong.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I know a family that emigrated to Spain using the digital nomad visa with the hope of eventual permanent residency.

I recently learned that it might be possible to gain Canadian residency because my grandmother was born there, but I don't think I'll pursue that.

Yes, I have a friend that did the same thing.

 

[once_upon]

We have a Sudanese, Afghan, Indian, Asian, Ethiopian, El Salvadoran, Mexican population. I think they add so much to our tapestry of humankind.

 

[jlai]

I researched online and getting an apartment as a visitor is technically possible. Though as a visitor you are subject to the 180 day stay limit, of course, making rental difficult.
Still, if the society gets to a point where I need to flee, I know I can go somewhere for 6 months

 

[MacMadame]

I think finding two places to live that each allow for a 6-month visit is a fine solution. You can come back to the US in between to take care of business and visit family. I would do that. Unfortunately, Mr Mac will never agree to it.