Since this wasn’t apparent the last time I asked… no, I’m actually not a US citizen or green card holder (permanent resident). Just happened to be in this country for a long time due to career reasons.
I don’t suppose you’d be up for a political assassination or two…?
Maybe go visit the Statue Of Liberty, before it gets melted down.
Statue of France**
Along with the handful of political assassinations, how do they feel about kids in the line of fire? Cause there’s this scumbag that always carries a small meat shield. Some people would prefer not to hurt lil meat shield, but I personally see it as a small price to pay to keep a fascist out of power.
Take a picture of “The New Colossus” in particular. I doubt people in the future will believe it was really there.
The price of copper is $4.44 per pound. Lady liberty is composed of 176,000 lbs of copper. Melting her down would be worth $781,440 which is less than it would cost to dismantle and melt her down. Basically she’s not worth the trouble.
It’s not a cost issue, she’s a DEI hire.
You tell that to a tweaker with a van.
Visit some national parks if you can (while they still exist).
Eat some good barbeque.
Obviously this is entirely dependent on where you’re moving to, but I struggled to find the following when living abroad:
- good (American-style) pizza
- good Mexican food
- good BBQ
- certain ice cream flavors (like cherries jubilee/cherry garcia)
- wide open spaces completely devoid of people
- large-group events of a boisterous and goofy nature
- certain types of museums/educational facilities (such as good zoos/wildlife rehab open to the public and interactive science museums)
Your first three sum up to:
- Italian food but worse
- Mexican food but worse
- Food that’s probably better in most other places
I think OP is set on those in the future, but otherwise good recommendations IG
Scheiß dem Trump vor’s weiße Haus.
Wipe your feet on the way out.
Were you just on H1-B status the entire time?
I… don’t quite feel comfortable sharing the full details, but F-1; I have submitted a green card application too but no way it’s gonna pass now. I might find an opportunity to write about it a bit more in the future
Oh no worries, I was just curious as someone who’s familiar with the process. No need to elaborate further if you’re not comfortable sharing. Good luck with your future endeavors!
Honestly, if you have a chance go to Washington DC the museums are beautiful. If you’re leaving permanently, you probably will never see them again.
This surely varies by state, but in Alaska, for example, I’m told Japanese vacationers LOVE to try out guns. So, if you can rent a gun on a range, shooting off weapons is the most American thing I can think to do before you leave.
Sag zum Abschied leise “Servus”.
My answer depends on whether the country you’re going to has an extradition treaty with the United States.
Hard to come up with non-joke suggestions without knowing the locale. Seattle? Un Bien. Las Vegas? The Double Down Saloon. San Francisco? Smitten. Portland? Powell’s books.
Generally? Grab a pebbled ice machine and turn the lights off on your way out.
Sorry it came to this. We sane few who remain will miss you; we will undoubtedly be worse for losing the diversity of thought (and snarky humor) expats like you bring.
The best advice in the thread so far was to freeze your credit. And I’d add: don’t assume you’ll never want to come back just because your current self doesn’t forsee it. For your own sake, don’t burn bridges out of spite.
Go camp at a dark sky park for a weekend.
- consider keeping your US phone number until all banking stuff is done since many banks do 2fa and this can be a giant pain after moving. Try to switch to an app if possible. Many providers also disallow known VoIP numbers.
- driving license was another one mentioned. Having it not expire before you can transfer it is preferable (assuming the target country allows transfer. Japan didn’t until after two years after I got here and my license expired so I had to start from zero despite driving for 15+ years in the US). You may need to get notarized driving records which is also easier before you leave.
- go through and change/cancel anything with an address on file – can be much easier from within the US. I went through the past year’s bank records to find anything sneaky that doesn’t renew monthly. If you have things that only renew every N years, don’t forget to cancel or update those (domain names, for instance).
- Make sure all city, municipal, county, state, and federal tax stuff will be OK to do after leaving (sometimes, some prep is needed)
- If you have any retirement plans like 401ks, IRAs, etc. see about rolling them over or whatever
- maybe do something with social security with regard to your target country if an agreement is in place, particularly if you didn’t work long enough to claim it. You can get US SS overseas in the vast majority of countries, but there are also certain provisions where you wouldn’t or it would be reduced based on what you have in the target country.
- Freeze credit reports at the agencies as others mentioned
