What I know now that I wish I knew then
Kaila’s post over at Home Abroad reminded me of the February report from the Brookings Institution that revaled a record number of American citizens moved overseas in 2025.
It marks the first time since the Great Depression that more people left the United States than moved in.
A Wall Street Journal analysis of data from just 15 countries found that at least 180,000 Americans citizens left the U.S. to live abroad last year. The total number is almost surely higher globally.
– Yahoo! News. February 26, 2026.
The report confirmed for me something I have suspected for years – that the U.S. is experiencing a drain of wealthier, educated Americans seeking a better life elsewhere. While this has been balanced for years by the larger number of people immigrating to the U.S. – the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies are now throwing it into stark relief.
As I wrote in this Medium post two years ago, the federal government stopped publishing data on the number of Americans moving overseas in 2020. I suspect this was to conceal how many were doing so.
According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the Brookings data, coupled with information from some of the countries where Americans are going, they found that American emigration to the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Spain roughly doubled over the last decade. Also:
Twice as many U.S. citizens moved to Ireland in 2025 than in 2024.
– Yahoo News (citing the Wall Street Journal)
Germany took in more Americans than the reverse last year, while the number of U.S. citizens living in Portugal reportedly increased by 500% since the Covid pandemic, including a 36% spike in 2024.
There’s a lot of us, is what I’m saying. And I hear from people in the States all the time who are thinking about moving abroad and trying to figure out the best way to do it.
As Kaila wrote, many of them are asking themselves the wrong questions. But to the considerations that she listed, I would add a few of my own based on our almost four years living in Germany.
If you are one of the 42 percent of Americans considering a move, here are the things I think you should know.
Focus on where you can go, not where you want to be
The number one question I see in online forums and in my emails is: ‘I want to move abroad and the cities/countries I am looking at are X, Y, and Z. Where should I move if I want to have A, B, and C kind of lifestyle?’
Those are not the questions to start with.
You need to know where you can legally immigrate to.
The WSJ, being the WSJ, focused on the money, speculating that more Americans were moving abroad because they could take those high U.S. salaries to countries where the cost of living was lower.
That option, in my experience, is becoming increasingly rare.
As you can see from the numbers I quoted above, many European countries are being overwhelmed with high-salary U.S. immigrants. And many are taking steps to curtail immigration that drives up the cost of living for the local population.
The softening of the European economy has also eliminated a lot of the potential routes for immigration that existed when we moved just three years ago. Fewer companies are hiring and even fewer will consider non-native or non-EU applicants.
Multinational companies – like the one my husband works for – are becoming more reluctant to foot the bill for visas. Almost none of them are doing the ‘expat relocation’ deals where they cover the additional housing and educational costs for people who want a position in an overseas office.1
In our case, my husband accepted a transfer to the German division of his company, with the accompanying unlimited work contract, which also entailed a significant pay cut to bring his compensation into line with the local pay scale.
When we moved, we moved on our dime. His company paid for the initial costs of a law firm to help us navigate the visa paperwork, but that was it.
Likewise, just because you work remotely for a U.S. employer, does not mean you can work from anywhere. Different countries have different tax and labor laws and many – like Germany – will not grant an immigration visa or residence permit to someone with a non-German employer.
Freelancers may be able to immigrate to countries that still have what is known as a digital nomad visa – but many of those countries are restricting those programs, as well.
If you are independently wealthy, obviously, immigrating is easier. There are some countries that grant long-term visas for monetary investments of a certain amount, or, if you start or purchase a business in that country. These options are becoming more limited, however, and you need to do careful research.
Countries Allowing Remote Work
GreenBack Expat Tax Services: Best Digital Nomad Visa Countries for Americans: Tax Implications and How to Apply
There are still lots of ways to immigrate: skilled worker programs and educational visas, for example.
In the EU, you can explore obtaining citizenship by descent if you have ancestry in one of the member states, like Germany or Italy, that offers this.
Germany also has a law allowing descendants of those who were deprived on their citizenship during National Socialism, or who were among those persecuted by the Nazis, to obtain citizenship through restoration or restitition.
think like an immigrant, not an expat
I’m not trying to get into the whole ‘immigrant versus expat‘ debate. But, as someone who has spent years living outside the United States – in two different countries – I think the differences go beyond semantic.
True expats are people like the international business executives and the foreign service staff at consulates and embassies who live outside their country but never really settle anywhere. Their kids attend international schools, they socialize with other international families, etc. In Berlin, they are often referred to by schools and government offices as “highly mobile” – professionals who relocate, on average, every three to five years.
They don’t live on the local economy. They earn an international salary. Most of their expenses are paid for by their employer or sending country. If that’s you, you probably don’t need to be reading this article.
If it is not you, you should probably disregard any ‘expat’ advice because it isn’t going to be relevant.
I remember when we were first considering moving to Germany as a family, I was adamant that I would only do it if the company would cover the cost of international school for our two kids.
When we left the U.S., my daughter had just started high school and my son was in middle school. I could not imagine them having to go to take high school courses while not speaking the language.
But we were not able to find spots for them at any of the *five* English-language international schools we applied to in Berlin.
My daughter found a place at an international school just outside the city. She commuted via public transit for an hour and a half each way to get to school. We enrolled my son in a “welcome class” at a Berlin high school, which is a special class for students who don’t speak German. They spend a year focused on learning the language before being integrated into a grade-level class at a German school.
I don’t think we would have survived staying here that first year if I had remained stuck on the idea that the kids couldn’t get ‘off track’ or ‘behind’ where they had been back in the States. If I hadn’t been able to let go of the ‘American culture is the norm’ mindset.
The truth is: We were in the same boat as the other families of kids in my son’s school class. Some were Ukranian and Syrian refugees. Others were kids whose parents were from Poland, Romania, and India who moved to Germany for jobs.
They all had to learn German to go to school. And they did.
People do. Living outside the U.S., you soon realize how much of the rest of the world speaks multiple languages. We are lucky that English is the most widely spoken language in the world. But that is because it is the most widely acquired second language. Most speakers of English speak it in addition to their mother tongue, not as a mother tongue.
Acquiring another language is something many business professionals do worldwide to improve their career prospects. I think Americans have long been used to other people needing to speak English. And it can be jarring to realize that now we need to adapt instead.
In most cases, you are not going to be able to take your U.S. lifestyle and export it to whatever other country. In many places, the cost of living is lower, but so are the salaries. Homes are smaller. More people live in apartments.
To use another example from Germany: fewer people own cars, and the ones who do, don’t drive them as often because fuel is much more expensive here than it is in the United States.
Your educational and professional credentials may not be automatically recognized in your new country, which will affect what jobs you are eligible to apply for. You may need to go through a training program or accreditation process to get them recognized. Or, you may consider pursuing other work entirely.
I’m really not trying to sound discouraging, just realistic. You can do this! But it will not be easy or simple or probably without significant tradeoffs.
start learning the language … seriously
Unless you move somewhere that your native language is also the main language spoken there, you need to start learning the local language before you move.
And, I would make getting conversational in the new language a priority.
Good language skills are also essential if you are job hunting in a challenging environment. Admission to academic or job training programs will often require a certain language level prior to enrolling. Being able to speak English is a plus, but being able to only speak English means you may get passed over.
Even in Germany, and even in cosmopolitan, international Berlin, I still have to speak German daily. And in my normal life as a parent, I could not get by without basic, conversational German. I still struggle in parent-teacher meetings.
But there is no way I could afford to keep taking a translator to everything. And, since we are not in the ‘true expat’ bubble, we don’t live in a place where everyone speaks English.
I hear a lot of complaints from English speakers that Germans don’t help them integrate, that they don’t appreciate that they are trying to learn German, but it takes time, etc. But, in reality, there’s no real incentive to speak in a second language if you don’t work in hospitality or some business that is dependent on immigrants or expats.
Think about how many Americans tell immigrants there, ‘You should speak English!’
But, also find your people
Now that I have beaten you over the head with the need to integrate, change your mindset, and learn the language.
Here is where I tell you that you not to neglect to foster an ‘expat/immigrant’ network wherever you go.
No matter how well you integrate and form relationships in your new country, chances are you are going to feel like an outsider there for years. You are going to need a place or a group of people where you feel like an insider for at least a little while.
Think about the immigrant communities you know in the U.S.
They gather to celebrate important cultural holidays and traditions from their homeland. They network to help each other find jobs, housing, good schools for their kids, and just to have an empathetic ear.
You will need this, too.
Luckily, there are American clubs and organizations almost everywhere on the planet. (Thank you, imperialism!) And, wherever you go, you can also find your fellow emigrants to share the load.
One More Thing
Yeah, I think I’ve gone on long enough. Obviously reading through the different reports left me with a lot of big feelings!
Obviously people’s experiences will vary wildly. Not everyone will have the same resources or even the same values.
And, for sure, if you are young and single, for example, your ability to be flexible and make the necessary sacrifices is going to be much better than a middle-aged couple with two teenagers and two geriatric rescue dogs.
(I will probably do another whole other article about moving abroad with kids and teens.)
But I hope that I have shared some valuable information for people who are considering moving overseas. I wish everyone success with whatever choice they make.
Deep Dive – Read More About Americans Emigrating
Independent: Recond number of Americans are leaving the country and renouncing their citizenship for good, report says. May 13, 2026.
Home Abroad: 42% of Americans Are Considering Moving Abroad. Most of Them Are Asking the Wrong Question. by Kaila Krayewski. May 29, 2026.
Medium: Hello from the Other Side … by Cathi Harris. March 5, 2024.
Alte Frau – New Life: Where is Home? August 1, 2024.
- The exception would be employees on temporary assignments. They can get their relocation – and sometimes living expenses – covered. This comes with a vulnerability – you can be recalled or reassigned somewhere else at any time. ↩︎
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