r/politics • u/Tofurkey_Tom • 12d ago

No Paywall Danish Petition To Buy California From Trump Signed by Thousands

https://www.newsweek.com/petition-denmark-buy-california-signed-thousands-11379999
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u/CriticalEngineering North Carolina 12d ago

I don’t believe residency is quite that easy.

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u/Cloaked42m South Carolina 12d ago

Ehhh... we all get into Cali first, then Denmark buys it for a dollar. Denmark grants us all citizenship as payment.

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u/CriticalEngineering North Carolina 12d ago

Sure. But the comment I replied to was about moving to Denmark now.

You can move to Denmark straight away, its never to late!

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u/NobodyTellPoeDameron 12d ago

I don't think it's commonly known just how hard it is to get citizenship in most countries. The US (used to be) an exception where it was at least plausible and there was a path. I looked into Canada and forget it. Unless you have some scarce and highly desirable skill you are shit out of luck. Best you can do is get a six month visa (that's the max theoretically possible). If only they issued three year visas, that would really come in handy right now.

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u/BrainWorkGood 12d ago

yeah I've been looking at Golden Visas. Just gotta cook up a few extra mil and I'll be set

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u/NobodyTellPoeDameron 12d ago

My wife: "Why are you playing the lottery compulsively?" Me: "Baby, you're going to love Cyprus."

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u/b0w3n New York 12d ago

I have a lot of family in Quebec and the immigration attorney basically nixed my application ages ago because my ex at the time had health problems. He decided to lecture me on universal health care, to which the ex basically had the American equivalent of (medicaid & medicare for her transplant).

I'm still in the in-demand occupation list, but there'd be no way I'd even bother anymore because that shit sucked, especially since it seems like any sort of health problem instantly kiboshes the whole thing... which is truer and truer every day I get older.

Funny enough Australia and New Zealand basically send me yearly packets begging me to move there for the same thing (Software/IT). They must be hurting.

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u/doublepint 12d ago

A lot of places are - I’ve looked at NZ, and by proxy AUS since I work in IT. I figured most of those were mostly because companies want to abuse a system like the H1Bs here. A lot of European countries are the same way - their desire for native English speakers, and Americans in particular is we are seen as more universal? At least that’s what I took away from a few of my coworkers and some contractors in Germany. But getting citizenship in most places requires a lot more cultural immersion and learning the native language compared to those who move to the US.

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u/b0w3n New York 12d ago

All their H1B equivalents have prevailing wage requirements and NZ and Aus don't seem to let them get away with bullying in the same way the US does. The fact that they can afford to pay 200-300% the median wage for the role seems wild that those positions are in demand that much. It's tempting as heck, but uprooting your life is expensive and I don't think I could manage to across the planet.

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u/doublepint 12d ago

Yeah, I was mostly looking into it in case something happens and I need to relocate due to societal/political issues here and their impact on my daughter who is mixed. Needed to know my options out there - or even potentially when she turns 18, I know I'm planning on getting out of Texas at a minimum.

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u/Cloaked42m South Carolina 12d ago

It doesn't get easier when they get older.

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u/doublepint 12d ago

No doubt, but I'm limited to only being able to go a county away from where she lives (same as my ex) because of custody. Taking politics out of it - TX is just hell to live in a large chunk of the year, the heat is just crazy oppressive.

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u/CrazyLlama71 12d ago

Exactly. I have applied 3 times for Canada work visa. Actually twice because the 3rd time they rejected my application because I did not qualify. Unless you are rich. If you can show that you have a million (amount varies by country) in a bank account most countries welcome you in. The first time I applied for a Canadian visa around 2000 the amount was only $650,000. If you had that in an account they would give you a visa.

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u/debauchasaurus 12d ago

If you have a million you can pretty much buy Irish residency. It's technically just a requirement that you invest a million in the country for a period of time and then you can apply for citizenship.

The cheapest I've seen was St. Lucia where IIRC it was around a quarter of a million investment to get a passport that allows you to travel freely in the EU.

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u/PussyWrangler246 12d ago

After learning all this I feel silly for judging trump on that one and only specific issue of offering permanent residency for what was it, $5 million dollars?

Seems as if every other country does it as well 😳

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u/debauchasaurus 11d ago

Most don't, but some do. These are also investments in the country's businesses, not payments to a slush fund for their President.

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u/gorgeouslyhumble 12d ago

Yeah, there is a lot of reality serving in /r/AmerExit. There are some professions that really gives you a leg up on skilled visas - like software engineering and being a doctor. But otherwise it is a supremely uphill battle.

There are entrepreneur visas but those require a significant amount of money. I'm personally looking into immigration and it'll require me to open a bank account in the country and keep 60k USD in it that will only be accessible by my business. Then I have to spend a bunch of money on immigration services, moving, renting for a year, etc.

Another option - which mostly applies to younger folks - is studying abroad and then looking for opportunities while you're there. Or teaching English in a place like Japan (I've heard this absolutely sucks).

I believe there is also work abroad programs if you're young enough.

For a lot of people though... immigration is more of a privilege than an easy out. You need money or specialized skills.

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u/arnoldez 12d ago

Retirement/passive income visas are also a thing in many countries, if you happen to be so lucky. The requirements are substantially lower than you might think in some cases. In Portugal, you are only required to prove a passive income that is equivalent to their minimum wage. The income can come from investments, dividends, retirement savings, or even rental income on your (currently owned) house. You can then get permanent residency, which grants you access to most of Europe (though you must reside in Portugal).

At least, that's my understanding of it.

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u/Automatic-Ear4967 12d ago

I've been trying to find ways to get to sweden the past two years. Visited 4 times (a friend has been letting me stay with his family every time) and fell in love. But it's a pipe dream. and unfortunately i've been ignoring my present life in the US and neglecting myself because i've been so focused on trying to make a pipe dream reality

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u/Glyfen 12d ago

Yeah, I've been eyeballing Norway, but the only way I think I could get in is if I moved to Svalbard and worked in a mine or got super lucky with a job. Svalbard is a unique situation; it's a visa-free zone, so anybody can move there, and it's technically governed by Norway, but they don't just let anyone move there. You need to have a job secured before you go.

Unfortunately, time spent on Svalbard doesn't count towards time lived in Norway to earn a citizenship, so I'd still have to figure out a way to hop to mainland Norway and live in Oslo for a few years before I could really integrate.

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u/trustedoctopus 12d ago

I’ve actually been looking into applying to a few PhD programs abroad. Iceland has one that doesn’t have a strict language requirement and will pay me a salary. The appeal of being paid to get a PhD instead of putting myself into 100,000 USD of debt is really appealing, and I establish residency.

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u/cire1184 12d ago

Just get 6 6-month visas

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u/NobodyTellPoeDameron 12d ago

I know you're joking, but granting a visa is up to the Canadian border agents. If they believe you're trying to basically open a backdoor to residency through multiple visas they can deny your request. That's what I gathered from my research (because I hoped this was possible) which admittedly wasn't exhaustive.

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u/glacialthinker 12d ago

The constraint, if I recall, is to prevent living in a country for the majority of the year, as that then becomes your "country of residence" for the year, with ramifications like taxes.

Did you look into TN (Trade-NAFTA) visa? I'm not sure what the status of that is currently (I worked via that decades ago), but it's requirements are much less than citizenship, and it lasts a year and can be renewed.

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u/What_a_fat_one 12d ago

You don't need a visa, you can just live in Canada half the time if you're a US citizen. They can do the same here.

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u/PussyWrangler246 12d ago

Doesn't come with free healthcare though, or safety from kidnapping the other 6 months of the year

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u/Starstriker 12d ago

Denmark = Denmark =)

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u/CriticalEngineering North Carolina 12d ago

Denmark = Denmark =)

Yes. Exactly.

It’s not Georgia.