“The first time he came into office, I decided to look into getting my Irish passport,” Ahern, 68, who had Irish grandparents, told The i Paper. By the time she got the document, Trump had been in office for 18 months and it was “pretty clear that as stupid as he was, he didn’t know enough to do any real harm”.
“I thought the party would come together and decide that they weren’t going that route anymore,” she said. “Instead, they hunkered down.”
Ahern started thinking seriously about moving – finding someone to rent her house, speaking with an immigration lawyer about requirements, and giving her employer an official retirement date.
“I’ll leave the US the first week of April 2025,” she said. “I’ll spend April to September in France, then September to April in York. I’ll be taking long-term lets in both places because I need time to build a credit profile in England to be able to rent without the bulk of rent being asked up front.”
Trump’s rhetoric and a growing political climate of hatred, racism and misogyny has been cited as a major reason encouraging Americans to consider leaving the country (Photo: Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images)In the first three months of 2016, at the start of Trump’s first term, 1,072 applications for British citizenship were made, compared with 1,931 during the first three months of his second term (a 12 per cent rise on the previous three months), rising to 2,194 applications in the second quarter of 2025.
Tautvydas Sutkus, a British immigration lawyer, said some of his clients had moved from America to the UK for their careers, access to public services and perceived safety, but that in his own practice, and based on Home Office statistics, “politics has been cited as a major reason”.
A prayer vigil outside Holy Redeemer Church in Burton, Michigan last week after a mass shooting at a Mormon church, the latest deadly tragedy that Trump called part of a national ‘epidemic of violence’ (Photo: Jeff Kowalsky / AFP)It is expensive, too. In addition to visa costs (which vary depending on the type of visa) and the bureaucracy to obtain one, a person must typically prove they have funds to support themselves.
“Equally, the larger relocation process is a far larger challenge than many expect, with challenges around housing, school changes and British bureaucracy often being highly stressful and complex,” he said. “One of the largest challenges in more recent years has been the lack of rental housing on offer in regional locations.”
Rebecca Barath and her American husband began planning to leave the US days after the November 2024 election“Fifteen years ago, this country started changing,” Barath, 60, who also has a British passport told The i Paper. “People started getting the internet and you could understand what people thought – their true colours showing.”
Her American husband, who served in the military, also did not like what he was seeing. “It has hurt his heart,” she said. “And he was watching me shut down completely. He eventually said, ‘we’re done.’”
“The relief of being away I feel so much,” Barath said.
Amanda Dobbs moved to Britain in 2021. Despite difficulties moving here, she says it was the right decision
“The route to settlement and citizenship will be longer,” he told The i Paper. “The Government announced this week the route will be 10 years as standard but shorter for positive contributions. Overall, it [numbers of people coming to the UK from the US] will likely decline from that perspective, or at least for naturalisation applications. Descent applications may stay similar for a while (but depends on political events). I think the initial rush is probably over.”
For Amanda Dobbs, an American teaching assistant, the decision to move to Britain in 2021 was difficult, but one she would make all over again.
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However, it was only after a student armed with a gun entered the school where she taught that she told her husband she could no longer live like this.
The process of moving to Britain was difficult, however. Even though she has a university degree, an in-demand job, and is married to a British man, it took over three years and more than £15,000 to obtain a visa.
“I felt so defeated and unwanted,” she said. “I couldn’t work. I couldn’t drive. I can’t do anything for over three years.”
“It’s great in some ways, but I’m paid minimum wage for a job I’m overqualified for,” she said. “The knock-on effect of me making very little money means we’ve not been able to afford things we used to be able to afford. We’re still saving up for me to get my driver’s licence and a second car. This means I’m reliant on public transportation or my husband to drive me everywhere.”
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