The evidence is clear: Record numbers of US Citizens are leaving their country in large numbers, looking to restart their lives elsewhere. Combined with decreases in immigration into the country, the US is seeing more people leaving than arriving for the first time since the Great Depression. And the trend shows no signs of slowing down.
Personal Experience
There are, however, people who left the US and have since returned. I know, because I am one of them. Like every individual example, my story is neither more nor less than an anecdote, but it is still possible to learn larger lessons from personal experiences.
The Challenges of Expatriation
I moved abroad for a few reasons. I took emeritus status at my last US university and was spared having to hire local employment lawyers, but I did have to hire financial advisors and tax accountants. I was lucky enough to find a good investment advisor on the first try. Even though I am a tax law professor, however, I went through three local tax advisors but was unable to find one who could competently explain what I needed to know.
Incompetent Advice
What does a person do when they receive incompetent advice from an attorney? I found out the hard way. My first attempt at expatriation involved a move to Amsterdam in late 2022. I had met extensively via Zoom with a local immigration attorney who told me that I would qualify for a path to residency and ultimately citizenship through a specific program offered by the Dutch government, and I paid her to navigate the process for me.
On that basis, I made the decision to move to the Netherlands, renting an apartment and setting up utilities and other necessities. In the second week after I arrived, I met with a tax attorney, and I was fortunate that she began by asking me to describe my entire situation rather than jumping straight to the tax issues.
Upon hearing my story, she immediately said, “Oh, you won’t qualify for the immigration status that you’re applying for.” When I explained that my attorney who specializes in immigration law had told me otherwise, the tax lawyer was quite firm and repeated that I had received bad advice. I then contacted the immigration attorney, who sent me a quick email in reply: “Oh, yes, she’s right. You won’t qualify.” Not even a “sorry”?
Returning Home
I returned to the US but soon hatched a plan to move to Canada. Paying thousands of dollars to an attorney there resulted in a different kind of bad advice that—and I am not kidding about this—ended up with a Canadian border agent seizing my passport at the airport.
Luckily, I was given a week to cure the error and was able to do so without having to leave the country, but the experience was a grim reminder of just how much we put our lives in others’ hands when we cross a border, believing that professionals everywhere are competent and conscientious.
The Mundane Challenges
As I noted above, being an expatriate is seemingly a never-ending slog, confronting unexpected challenges in nearly every aspect of life that are at most afterthoughts when living at home. Here are just a few examples—all admittedly mundane:
- Cross-border financial transactions pose logistical issues.
- Internet/cellphone carriers are universally worse in other countries than they are in the US, and hidden costs are higher.
- Buying cardboard boxes in which to pack my belongings was a full-day event that required a trip into the far suburbs.
The Human Side
As I conceded above, this is all utterly mundane, almost comically so. It is also, however, surprisingly time-consuming. Indeed, upon my return to the US, a friend who had been in touch with me throughout these adventures and challenges asked: “What are you going to do with your time now that you’re back? After all, for the last three years, expatriation amounted to being a full-time job for you.”
He was right (which, I might add, is one of the reasons that I found myself taking what amounted to an unplanned sabbatical from Verdict for the last year).
The Reality of Being Alone Abroad
A more individualized potential issue is whether an expatriate is moving with family or alone. As I noted above regarding the story in The Guardian about the Australian man who moved to Switzerland, being in a new country can mean feeling alone even when one is married, but a person who arrives in a new country completely unaccompanied is—no matter how gregarious they might be—going to be truly alone.
Meanwhile, some countries understandably feel a bit overwhelmed by the influx of Americans, which always raises the possibility of local anger at the foreigners. Portugal is a prime example of what can happen when the domestic population feels pushed around by American “nomads.”
The US Today
This is not to say that every day could bring a frightening new announcement, and although I was relieved to be back in the US, within a week of my return, the US had abducted another country’s president, and I wondered whether I should have stayed out of the country.
The next headline I saw, however, was this: “US aircraft monitor tanker off Ireland in clampdown on Venezuelan oil,” reminding me that no country is truly safe at this point, including the country that I had so recently left. And that does not even bring us up to date with the latest US war—or, if one prefers, our “little excursion.”
Conclusion
Despite everything, however, I can say that it feels good to be home.
I still have a deep appreciation for the experiences I had abroad, and I am grateful for the time I spent in Canada and Ireland. But I must admit that there is something reassuring about being back in the United States, where my family and friends are, and where I can once again feel a sense of stability and normalcy.
For those who have never left the country, it may be hard to understand why anyone would want to leave. But for those who have experienced life abroad, they know that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Some people will thrive in their new countries, while others will struggle.
And then there are those like me, who will return home after a few years and breathe a sigh of relief at being back on familiar ground.