By Catarina Demony and Andrew Hofstetter
London / New York (Reuters) – When US President Donald Trump decided to ask for a second term from the White House, Doris Davis and Susie Bartlett – an interracial lesbian couple living in New York – made a decision that changes their life.
If he won, they would move abroad.
The couple said they had been willing to try Trump during their first mandate, but they watched the alarm by returning to the office and ended a series of policies aimed at promoting racial equity and rights for LGBTQ +people.
“We love this country, but we don't like what has become of it,” said Davis, a 69 -year -old education consultant from their home in a suburbs in New York. “When your identity is attacked, there is a personal feeling of … anger (and) frustration.”
Now they work with an immigration lawyer to assess options in Europe. The couple is most interested in Portugal and Spain, attracted by the southern lifestyle of Europe and looks at a digital nomad or a retirement visa. Bartlett, who is 52, is retired.
“It saddens me to move,” said Davis, who will be sorry to leave his local community behind. “But it is also a situation, politically and socially, which is unacceptable.”
Data on government visa and citizenship, as well as Reuters' interviews with eight moving companies, indicate that an increased number of Americans are planning to move to Europe following Trump elections – although the figures remain small for a nation of 340 million people.
American requests for Irish passports were at their highest level in a decade in the first two months of this year. The average monthly demand in January and February by almost 4,300 increased by approximately 60% compared to last year, according to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ireland.
In France, government data have shown that long -standing visa requests from Americans have been 2,383 in the first three months of 2025, against a total of 1,980 during the same period last year. From January to March, the French authorities granted 2,178 long -standing visas against 1,787 the previous year.
And British passport requests in the last three months of 2024 – the last period for which data is available – have been a record of any quarter in the past two decades, with 1,708 requests submitted.
Resettlement companies and websites helping people emigrate to say that in recent years in recent years a large number of Americans have shown interest to move abroad, citing issues such as political divisions and armed violence.
Italian immigration advisor Marco Pormanian, founder of assistance from Italian citizenship, said that the election of Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 also led to an increase in interest, mainly of republican voters.
But most of the moving companies to whom Reuters spoke have said that there was a bigger peak of interest since Trump returned to the White House, many customers expressing their concern about the management of social and social issues.
Overwhelming
Some Hollywood stars left the United States after Trump's re-election in November, including the Talk-show Ellen animators from Degeneres and Rosie O'Donnell, causing media attention.
Thea Duncan, founder of the Milan relocation company “ making Italy '', said that she was receiving requests for information almost every day since the elections of ordinary Americans looking for information.
“People are uncertain of what's going on and what will happen,” said Duncan.
In Great Britain, an immigration lawyer called Immigration Advice Service said that it had seen an increase of more than 25% of requests for the United States
Its director, Ono Okeregha, said that several customers had expressed concerns about political changes in the Trump administration, in particular the rights of same -sex couples, because several states plan to weaken their marriages.
Wendy Newman, a 57 -year -old photographer, moved to London with her husband in 2022 partly due to growing political polarization at home. She said that she thought her rights were safer in Great Britain, where she wanted to stay permanently. She hopes that her daughter, who still lives in the United States but who asks for a university in Great Britain, can also move.
“We just have the impression that there is too much risk for her to stay there,” said Newman, fearing borders on the reproductive rights of women in the United States and which she described as “misogynist trends” of Trump.
Trump has repeatedly denied allegations of misogyny and sexual misconduct, describing the accusations in 2017 as “false news”.
Blaxit, a company that helps black Americans move abroad, saw traffic towards its site jump more than 50% as a result of the elections, said its founder Chrishan Wright. He also experienced a 20% increase in his paid membership community, Blaxit Global Passport, which costs $ 16.99 per month, she said.
Wright, from New York, moved to Portugal two years ago and said Trump returning to the White House reassured her that she had made the right decision.
According to an Edison Research exit survey, Trump won only 13% of black voters in November, 1 percentage point more than 2020, while Kamala Harris raised 86%.
'Relative security'
Also feeling disappointed, a young transgender couple living in Colorado, who spoke under the guise of anonymity for fear of being targeted, said they hoped to guarantee a student visa to start a new life in Italy.
Trump said the United States would only recognize two sexes, men and women. He also sought to restrict gender transitional care for people under 19 and to ban transgender people from serving in the US military.
But they are not under illusion, Europe will be perfect, because the right -wing populist parties make political gains through the continent, including in Italy – where the conservative government is described as a guardian of traditional values.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni swore when she came to power in 2022, to fight what she calls the “LGBT lobby” and to defend the “natural family”.
In Germany, the extreme right alternative for Germany arrived second in the February federal elections. In neighboring France, Marine Le Pen, chief of the far -right Rally Party National Party, had been the front of opinion polls for the 2027 presidential election, but was prohibited last month of his candidacy for his functions for five years.
Wright, of Blaxit, said that the political situation in certain European countries was “embarrassing”, but that many Americans have remained interested to come on the continent despite everything.
It is difficult to know exactly how many people will follow, said Julien Faliu, founder and CEO of the online community Expat.com.
Faliu said Expat.com had seen an increase of approximately 26% of Americans in the past two years.
“I spoke to American citizens who say:” If Trump is re-elected, we are going to move “. He was re-elected, so now what are you doing?” Said Faliu.
“When there is an election, it's always like that.”
Hedges everywhere
There are a lot of obstacles for ex-potential.
Relocate.me, a relocation platform, has identified some of the deterrents: difficulty ensuring jobs abroad, restrictions on remote work, lower wages in Europe and the American tax system – which imposes its citizens on global income.
For those who continue, however, there are several visa options. The visa of digital nomads for distance workers in countries such as Portugal, Spain and Italy is popular. Retirement visas, work permits and student visas are also in great demand, according to moving companies.
But some Europeans – who already have trouble dealing with mass tourism and a housing crisis – do not savor the prospect of more arrivals abroad. National authorities restrict certain controversial regimes which offer access to visas for the rich.
The possibility of buying real estate to guarantee a gold visa is no longer a possibility in Portugal, and the Spanish program ended in April after the system was criticized for attaching an affordable housing crisis.
Rebeca Caballero, of the Spanish real estate developer Gilmar, said that he had received an influx of interest from American customers in the six months preceding the end of the program.
“I obtained investments from three customers who bought houses for the golden visa without even coming to see them,” said Caballero.
(Report by Catarina Demony in London and Andrew Hofstetter in New York; additional report by Alvise Armellini and Angelo Amante in Rome, Miguel Pereira and Andrei Khalip in Lisbon, Conor Humphries in Dublin, Aislinn Laing, Corina Rodriguez Pons and David Latona in Madrid, Paris;
