In December 2024, NBC News documented the story of Bianca Lynch, a 32-year-old digital nomad who enjoys traveling the world. After the United States election results on Nov. 6, 2024, Lynch decided to make her move out of the U.S. permanent to escape Donald Trump’s second presidential term. 

Lynch isn’t the only person who has attempted to move abroad following the 2024 U.S. election results. Many other Americans have taken to the internet to search for ways to move out of the country, but leaving is much harder than it looks.

CNBC reported that one travel website, Expatsi, received over 30,000 views in the first few hours after the election results were announced, while other people even made plans prior to election day.

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According to CNN, services that provide immigration and relocation assistance, such as Welcome to Portugal and Bureaucracy.es for Spain, saw a jump in web traffic following the election results, with Bureaucracy.es receiving a 300% increase in clientele. 

In addition to immigration services experiencing a surge in business, Americans living abroad took to social media to help their fellow Americans, sharing information about visas and work permits in foreign countries. 

A TikTok video by user @expatsi listed countries that Americans could move to, receiving approximately 3.5 million views and over 500,000 likes. Another user, @resumeofficial, delved into the specifics of moving and detailed the costs of acquiring a digital nomad visa. 

Many foreign countries have policies about healthcare, gun control and climate change that appeal to Democrats, causing them to want to relocate. 

Canada is an appealing destination for Americans who don’t want to venture too far or face the challenge of a language barrier. Prior to the elections, on July 14, 2024, one Reddit thread even received over 1,000 comments asking for or detailing advice to Americans wanting to cross the northern border and, on election night, the search “moving to Canada” spiked by 5,000% on Google. 

While people on social media depict leaving the U.S. and moving to Canada as a seamless and effortless process, the reality begs to differ. Moving across countries is tedious and time consuming, requiring heaps of paperwork and money. Relocating to Canada may be a dream, but it is not that easy. 

The quickest method of moving to Canada, the Express Entry program, can take anywhere between six months to a year, has an application costing over $1,000 per person and is a points-based system, meaning that there are no guarantees of being accepted after you apply. Its ideal candidate has a master’s degree, is fluent in English or French and has at least one full year of work experience, making the program very competitive. 

Aside from Canada, when it comes to most other countries, the costs can be coupled with a political climate that might not be the most conducive to what liberals desire. 

For instance, on Feb. 23, 2025, Germany’s far-right-wing extremists, the Alternative for Germany, came in second after the mainstream conservative party acquired the largest share of votes. The AfD fuels nationalistic rhetoric and strongly opposes immigration, which can hinder the ability to move to Germany. And the conservative shift isn’t limited to Germany. 

In France, the National Rally is also gaining popularity, while countries such as Austria and Portugal are also seeing a right-wing shift. Naturally, the political structure in these countries differs due to their coalition government, but the shattering of the European ideal must be realized.

While moving abroad can be the right move, it is not the utopia that social media envisions it to be. The reality includes high costs and requires truly breaking down the policies in each country without the glitz and glamor of what the internet portrays.

As young college students, we spend hours online, witnessing posts about how grand it is to move to other countries. It is important that we conduct sufficient research ourselves about the political climate of these countries and map out the cost of living, comparing that with a potential salary to truly understand what living abroad looks like.