Threatening to leave the country may have been in vogue on the Left in 2016 when Donald Trump successfully ran for president, but for many, it has become a reality since the COVID-19 pandemic hit more than two years ago.
More people are moving abroad to escape the high cost of living at home and increasing political turmoil, all aided by the growing availability of remote work options.
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Many are choosing to pursue “golden visas,” or programs in countries such as Portugal that offer citizenship opportunities to people who buy property in which to live for several years.
An analysis titled “The Great American Exodus” from Get Golden Visa, a firm that helps facilitate moves abroad, found from a survey that many of its clients now pointed to politics as their reason for leaving.
“We’ve found that more and more are opting to leave the country for social and political reasons,” the analysis said.
Spiking inflation, the worst in 40 years, is also driving people to find new opportunities abroad.
“During our research process, we’ve found out that the cost of living is another reason why many Americans are looking for an alternative residency outside the US,” the firm wrote.
The head of a visa consulting firm told Bloomberg last week that he now has three times as many clients than in 2019 before the pandemic began.
Many clients cited vaccine mandates, in addition to inflation, as their reasons for seeking residency outside the U.S.
Henley & Partners, another visa consulting firm, said in 2021 it experienced an 89% increase in interest over 2020, which was itself a year in which the firm saw significant growth.
Other firms and countries have reported similarly explosive growth in interest from people looking to escape the pressures of the pandemic and an unstable economy.
The work-from-home trend that began as a necessity in spring 2020 has continued across many industries, freeing up more people to pursue living arrangements that were not possible previously.
As many as 80% of workers work from home at least three days a week in the post-pandemic environment, according to an Owl Labs survey.
Roughly 1 in 4 workers responded that they would be willing to accept a pay cut in exchange for the option to work from home permanently.
The remote work revolution has done more than drive people abroad or out of major cities.
It’s also contributed significantly to the rise in home and rent prices.
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Analysts say the reliance on remote work has driven up housing costs because many people who were suddenly spending more time in their homes sought bigger living spaces, therefore driving up demand for a limited supply.
That has, in turn, fed the trend of people moving abroad because high living costs are one of the main reasons behind the exodus.
