Americans in race for European residency see doors slamming shut

Straits Times

19-05-2025

The UK saw record numbers of Americans apply to become British citizens in 2024. PHOTO: AFP
WASHINGTON – A rising number of Americans are exploring a move overseas to escape the tumult of Mr Donald Trump's administration. But those looking to Europe are seeing their options narrow by the day.
Restrictions on skilled worker visas, tougher rules on citizenship-by-ancestry programmes and pressure on the once widespread golden visa programmes are all eroding the legal avenues Americans – and other migrants – can take to live in Europe.
Popular nations such as Italy, which once offered flexible rights to those who could show ties to the country, are making the move more difficult.
The changes are fuelling a race among those Americans with a clear shot at residency on the continent, such as through direct family, to secure visas and passports while they still can.
Others are exploring creative strategies, ranging from nomad visas to permits intended for retirees.
And for some specialists, universities and research institutes across Europe are looking to attract scientists who've lost their jobs in the US, or are worried about further cuts to federal funds.
Data from San Francisco-based global human resource company Deel shows a 16 per cent increase in the number of Americans hired by European companies between January and April.
At the same time, there's been a surge of people searching for jobs in Ireland and Portugal, according to recruitment website Glassdoor.
'It's definitely different from what we've ever seen,' said Ms Kelly Cordes, founder of Illinois-based Irish Citizenship Consultants. 'People are really worried, they have this sense of urgency to have citizenship.'
Ms Cordes is filing 20 to 25 applications for Irish citizenship per week for her US clients, compared to about 10 weekly in 2024, when a record 32,000 Americans sought Irish citizenship.
People can usually qualify if their parents or grandparents came from the country.
While many used to view the passport as a 'plan B' in case they at some point wanted to leave, more in 2025r are now actively exiting, she said.
Italy, like Ireland, counts a huge diaspora in the US and is tightening its citizen-by-descent rules to only allow those with Italian parents or grandparents to apply.
The government passed an emergency decree stripping back programmes in March, when previously people could apply if they could trace family roots as far back as the founding of modern Italy in 1861.
The UK has also been tightening rules.
The country saw record numbers of Americans apply to become British citizens in 2024.
After increasing the salary threshold for people requesting spousal visas and restricting student visa-holders from bringing partners and children, the government in May proposed stricter rules still, including higher salary ranges and graduate-level requirements for work visas and an increase in the number of years a person needs to stay in the country before gaining permanent residency.
Another avenue used by wealthy Americans to acquire residency in recent years has been so-called golden visas.
They typically grant residency rights – and eventually EU citizenship – to those investing in local real estate or business funds.
There too, the door has been gradually closing.
Spain recently abolished them, as did the UK in 2022, while countries including Portugal and Greece imposed restrictions.
The UK in May said it's considering a new investor visa. Still, in a pessimistic note for investor visas remaining on the continent, the EU's Court of Justice in April ruled that Malta's golden passport was illegal.
Ms Samantha Wilson, founder of Florence, Italy-based relocation company Smart Move Italy, says demand for investor, retiree and digital nomad visas has tripled in 2025 compared with the final months of 2024.
Nomad visas often afford tax breaks and residency for remote employees, while investor visas are for those willing to bring in large sums of cash.
Retiree, or pensionado visas, are usually granted by countries to individuals who can demonstrate they have enough income each month to sustain themselves.
Ms Heather McLean, a 50-year-old retired police officer in Stillwater, Minnesota, is looking at that last option.
She had no plans to leave the US until the election in November, but is now actively looking to move to either France or Spain, gathering documents and researching visas.
Her husband, a hydrogeologist working in an environmental state agency, is concerned that federal funding cuts could eliminate his job.
He's considering early retirement so they can both get a retiree visa, even if their income will take a big hit.
'It's a dramatic change for us,' Ms McLean said. 'We had no intention of pulling our son out of school or uprooting our family. But things are dramatically different now than they were six months ago.'
Digital nomad visas are a legacy of Covid-19 when home and remote work became the norm and countries sought to attract newly footloose workers.
Today, some US citizens are seeing them as a valuable way to get a foothold on the continent.
Ms Jacqueline Ballone, 43, is seeking to leave her home in Portland, Oregon to work remotely from Italy's Umbria region and be close to her parents, who moved there a few years ago.
She and her husband are anxious to get residency, fearing more restrictions ahead after the rules already changed once during her application process for the nomad visa.
While she'd thought of leaving the US during the Covid-19 pandemic, she says she's become alarmed by recent developments at home, including worries about her safety as a woman.
She cites parades by the far-right political group Proud Boys in her neighbourhood and neo-Nazi graffiti as some of the concerns pushing her to start a new life overseas.
'We want to exit,' she said. 'I'm at my maximum capacity of witnessing this.'' BLOOMBERG
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