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When they said they'd leave the country if Trump became US President, they
weren't kidding.
By Elizabeth Garone
24 January 2017
When people first started talking about Donald Trump running for president,
Sarah thought it was a joke and not something she had to take seriously. But
then on November 8, 2016, she says the unthinkable happened; Trump won the
election.
Sarah, who asked that we only use her first name out of concern for her safety,
immediately called her husband, who was out of the country on business, and
told him, That s it. I want to go, and I m not kidding. His response, she
says: I know. We can go.
So, next month, Sarah, 43, her husband, 45, and their two school-aged daughters
will uproot themselves from the small Midwest town where they have lived for
the past three-and-a-half years, and leave the US for a country thousands of
miles away. They have no plans to come back.
During the most contentious election in recent US history, there was much talk
around office kitchens, in coffee shops, at dinner tables, and in the press
from people who said that they would leave if Trump were to win the presidency.
The day after Super Tuesday, when 12 states voted in the Republican primaries
in the US, Google announced that searches for the phrase Move to Canada were
higher than at any other time in Google history. And, increased traffic to
Canada s immigration and citizenship website caused problems, giving site
visitors the message: You may experience delays while using the website. We
are working to resolve this issue. Thank you for your patience."
Some people have already left, or are making plans to leave
But once Trump did win, many people, including celebrities like Miley Cyrus and
Amy Schumer, backtracked on their promise to leave, some because they couldn t,
some because they said that they had decided to stay and fight. Others
dismissed their original comments as jokes. But there are, indeed, some people
who have already left, are making plans to leave, or, in some cases, are
delaying plans to returns to the US after stints abroad.
Out of options
For Sarah and her family, it didn t feel like there was any option other than
to leave. She says that she would have liked to stay and fight but that her
family s safety and ability to stay together are taking priority. Her husband
is not from the US, does not have status as a resident and works overseas a
lot. While their children are dual citizens of both the US and his home
country, Sarah is a US citizen with permanent resident status in both. Her
husband has relied on temporary visas when he s in the states with his wife and
daughters.
It s kind of a gamble of whether he s going to rub someone the wrong way and
not get in, she says. With the current administration changing, it s a little
bit more frightening.
She considers her family lucky since they have the means and opportunity to
leave. But she worries about the message she is sending to her daughters and
she s concerned about the people she is leaving behind. What kind of example
am I giving my kids just getting up and going when there are so many people
here who can t do that? Who is going to stay here to protect them and fight for
them?
Not everyone understands her decision, especially her father who voted for
Trump
Sarah says she is sad to leave her friends but that they have been supportive.
Many have said they would also leave if they could. But, not everyone
understands her decision, especially her father who voted for Trump.
The ones who don t get it are like Good riddance, , she says. And that s
exactly why we are going, because I don t want to raise two girls when I don t
feel safe, and I m putting their safety at risk.
Changing political tide
For Cori Carl and her wife, Casey Daly, it wasn t a matter of waiting to see
who won the election.
We decided we wanted to relocate to Canada
[Even] before Trump was a serious candidate, my wife and I could feel the
political backlash brewing against Obama and the liberal gains made in the past
eight years, says Carl. So they started looking into options outside of the
US. We decided we wanted to relocate to Canada, says Carl. So, in January of
last year, they moved to Toronto from Brooklyn, New York.
Carl works remotely as a communications consultant, and Daly is an analyst with
a multinational company with offices in North America and Europe. Having been
with the company for 10 years, she was able to transfer to the Toronto office.
Many people have misconceptions about the process and who is and who isn t
eligible for making the move north, says Carl. For the most part, you either
qualify to move to Canada or you don t. It s fairly clear cut, since it s based
on a points system. Best case scenario is if you are under 35 with an advanced
degree and working as a professional or in a managerial role. In that case,
your chances are excellent, says Carl. You don t need a job offer, although
you ll need to prove that you have some savings to support yourself while you
look for a job.
Traffic to the site jumps up whenever Trump tweets about something
particularly ominous
The couple says they wanted to help others who might be having more trouble
relocating than they did, and many were giving up in the process. To help, they
launched a website to assist people trying to move from the US to Canada.
Traffic to the site jumped 300% in November and it jumps up whenever Trump
tweets about something particularly ominous, says Carl. They also penned the
book Moving to Canada, which was released shortly before the election.
Levels of interest
Of course, website traffic doesn t exactly mean results.
Montreal-based Canadian immigration lawyer Marisa Feil has one client who left
her position in the US following the election, taking a similar job at an
affiliate organisation in Canada. But most of her other calls about relocating
she s experienced a noticeable uptick in queries have been enquiries without
action so far.
Most of the questions Feil says she receives are related to whether it
generally requires an offer of employment to be able to immigrate to Canada or
get a temporary work permit. Most Americans are shocked to find out that they
cannot just move based on their education and/or work experience, she says.
Canada has moved to a system where most individuals immigrating have some
connection to Canada either in the form of a job offer from a Canadian employer
or having a family member in Canada that could help them find a job.
The other side of the planet
New Zealand Shores saw a big spike in its website traffic the day after the
election; traffic increased 600%, according to Sarah Crome, an immigration
specialist with the immigration consultancy based in Hamilton, New Zealand.
I have talked to many clients who didn t want Hillary either
Not everyone mentions Trump by name as the reason they want to leave, according
to Crome, just the political situation in general.
I have talked to many clients who didn t want Hillary either, she says. The
agency currently has about 150 US couples and families as clients, a number
that is higher than in the past. New Zealand is an appealing country for them
at the moment, says Crome.
For Galina, a New Yorker living in Australia and working in property
management, Trump s win has meant a long delay for any plans she had to return
to the US.
Now I am really not [going to] come back until I am sure that there is going
to be an America left, she says. Galina was an ardent Bernie Sanders supporter
who asked that we only use her first name due to the sensitive nature of her
decision. Currently I don't believe that Trump is going to be a good
president, much less a safe president. I'm worried that he s going to run the
country into the ground, piss off the wrong people and start a proper world war
or a terrorist attack. He also gives America a bad name.
She says Australia s government subsidised healthcare, the lack of guns, free
education, and higher pay rate are other reasons she is choosing to stay.
For Sarah, the move is not what she had envisioned for herself or her family.
She says she is totally heartbroken and had always thought she would raise
her two daughters in the US.
But I need to protect them, she says. I cannot in sound mind stay here when
I have the option of going.