My daughter is 14, but I’m sure answers for kids younger or older can apply.
So, do what you need to do for your family. But I’ll say this. I spent time looking into this last go round because I knew Biden was a temporary reprieve. I’m the parent of a trans kid, we did not leave the country for several reasons.
The entire western world is experiencing this dramatic rise in fascism. There’s no guarantee that you will actually avoid this long term.
Many countries (especially the UK) have draconian immigration rules, see above note about fascism.
We ultimately decided to move to a blue state, from a red one, primarily for safety reasons, and made it happen over a couple years. We are far happier in this situation and are now able to help extract other loved ones from similar situations.
Again, do what you need to do for yours and your family’s safety, but you’re in for a tough go of it regardless of what you choose.
ETA: I went as far as interviewing for some jobs in Canada after building my immigration profile and starting the job search in NZ.
This seems reasonable. I don’t feel like Canada necessarily in a less precarious place than (e.g.) California.
The UK is eliminating conversion therapy. The U.S. still has it and Trump has a good chance of forcing people into it.
I’m a dual citizen, I have a queer daughter. I think it’s worth taking advantage of that since my wife and I wouldn’t forgive ourselves if she got taken from us.
Somehow,.I forgot that “conversion therapy” is anti-gay cult torture-y stuff.
For a bit, I was thinking it was therapy for people who wanted to transition. Because I forgot the word transition and thought it was “convert”.
I know this is meaningless, but I felt like sharing. Lol
That’s a very different calculation then! I can’t say I’d do it differently in your shoes. Godspeed.
if you’re planning to leave because trump got elected, then be warned. the UK has similar problems
Similar risks I would say. The UK by and large chose “the sensible option” in the last general election. The equivalent of Harris/dems, or the “anti chaos” option.
Reelecting Trump vs reelecting the Tories is a fair comparison, especially as the Tories are moving further and further right wing.
In summary the labour party have about 3 years to make some noticeable impact to people’s lives in the UK, but all that against the backdrop of huge financial issues incurred during the past decade or so, increasing war and conflict and now the Trump presidency.
There very well maybe people who will follow the conservative party on their way further right. The UK already had it’s brexit moment and has not really learned from it fully.
The UK government is getting rid of conversion therapy. Labour wants to, the king wants to, the C of E wants to, and because of the last part, enough Tories want to that it will happen.
So it doesn’t have similar problems when you have a queer child.
LGB is one thing, Q and T are another. There’s a reason it’s so often referred to as “TERF Island”.
Piss off, the UK is one of the safest places to be gay and to grow up gay in the world.
That moment when I question what Q stands for. Lesbian Gay Bi ? Trans I thought the Q was queer, which always seemed redundant, so I just took it to mean pans. Like LGBPT.
Care to elaborate on those reasons? And I don’t want to hear about JK Rowling. Every country has loud twats on twitter.
I feel like Ireland is still mostly reasonable despite some recent nonsense. Elections just got called yesterday so I may eat my words in three weeks but I don’t think so. The extremists were roundly rejected in the recent European elections which was comforting.
I have not, but I’ve done some immigration and have general advice:
Immigration is expensive and very time consuming to get the required documents.
- Figure out how you’re going to get residence, what visa you’ll be on, what visa your kids will be on
- See if you have to enroll in school ahead of time
- Test the job market by applying, interviewing, and getting offers beforehand. Even if you decline them, you don’t want to be surprised
- Make a spreadsheet of needed documentation for each person. Forgetting one thing can screw you up badly on the day you need it
- Do everything above, twice, to make sure you didn’t screw up the first time
Imo immigration is an amazing way to live the only life you have, but make sure you put in the work to make it work. I’ve seen lots of immigrants give up and go back to their home country before putting in the effort to fully realize their dreams, and it’s low-key sad
Damn. If it wasn’t you I was gonna dunk a bit.
Like. “Get ready, because they teach kids. Also, they hold back the ones who don’t pass. So they won’t leave them behind so much as Keep them behind.”
And, you know, I’d leave some grammar bits in there too.
I just wanna say I hope you can get clear and being the family to safety. I worry it’s harder with any pre-existing conditions - it’s brutal to get into Canada with even diabetes - but I hope you can make it.
Good luck.
If it’s well controlled you can pass the exam, but yeah, still adds difficulty.
You also have to take an English language exam, for migration to any English speaking country. In 2022 those were only offered in large cities, I looked at flying to Chicago for one, but the results are only good for like 2 years iirc.
And you have to get cleared by the local police of… Anywhere you’ve ever lived? (I can’t remember if there was a federal check that was also acceptable or not)
And that’s not everything, and for Canada that’s just to get in the pool for lottery.
You are describing citizenship. Most countries allow long term residence (>3 months) with lower requirements. It’s often easiest to look for work first, if you are competitively skilled, or are looking somewhere with labour shortages, as sponsorship makes it easier.
IELTS (or acceptable equivalent) is required for visa entry to Canada even if you originate from an English speaking country. Iirc, at least Australia and NZ are the same.
Having certain job classifications will get you more points in the express entry pool, if that’s the way you are going, it can make it easier, but already having a job/offer is worth a lot more points iirc.
We moved to NZ temporarily with 8 and 5 year ollds and they had to make new friends, be away from family and only see people from back home via video calls. Luckily the school and community are nice and welcoming so they rolled with it really well.
The visa application was long and expensive (application fees, specific medicals for immigration, etc.) so that part can get immensely frustrating.
What really helped is having similar aged neighbors for the kids to play with where we can hang out with a few beers as well.
