American Refugees.
“They’re not coming in dribs and drabs, they’re coming in waves.”
That’s a line I heard recently on a podcast.
It was a real estate podcast, by a British guy who works as an agent somewhere down the coast.
American Refugees. He wasn’t, apparently, using the term ironically.
Because he also talked about all the British Refugees he helped, post-Brexit, and how it’s impossible to compare that with the current American refugee situation. It was all part of his sales pitch.
So what brings so many American refugees to Spain?
Apparently, they’re just tired of every conversation being about politics. Oh yeah, and the sunshine and tapas, and the lower cost of living.
What is a refugee, anyway?
A refugee, according to the American Heritage dictionary, is:
One who flees, especially to another country, seeking refuge from war, political oppression, religious persecution, or a natural disaster.
Different countries have different criteria for accepting and processing refugees. It looks like anyone can apply for political asylum, and eventually get a hearing.
But it may be difficult to prove your refugee status once you’re in another country.
Apparently, refugees have to prove:
- That their life and/or freedoms are under serious threat. For example, they’ve been imprisoned or tortured in their home country.
- That they’ve been to the authorities in their country, and the authorities can’t or won’t help. And…
- That they have no safe place to go within their own country.
That brief list is paraphrased from an article in the Guardian (and a few other sources) that we’ll get to in a moment.
A lack of sunshine and tapas in your homeland isn’t one of the criteria for asylum status, unfortunately. A lower cost of living wasn’t really contemplated in the 1951 UN Refugee Convention either.
And as usual, this is not legal advice.
But plenty of Americans want to move to Spain these days. And there are several ways to do so, whether you’re working online, living off passive income, or fleeing political oppression.
Wealthy Americans vs the World
But what does it take to start a new life in Europe?
I’ve done it, and it’s not easy. Although things tend to get significantly easier if you have money.
Online, wealthy Americans hoping to retire at the beach are outraged by YouTube videos suggesting you can get by in Spain on $2600 a month.
It’s unrealistic, they think, to get by on so little.
And maybe it is – for them. But the average Spanish salary is about 28,000€ per year, which after the exchange rate works out to… just about $2600 a month.
So there are plenty of Spanish families getting by on that, and on much less.
Of course, it all depends on what you mean by “get by”. And what you mean by “in Spain”. If your lifestyle involves you buying a townhouse within 50 meters of the beach in Costa Brava or Marbella, you’re going to need a lot more.
Similarly if your life includes any sort of luxury, travel, or frequent dining out.
On the other hand, there are plenty of places in rural Spain, away from the coasts, where $2600 (or euros) a month is a very good salary.
Getting by, for most people in the world, is a lot more minimalist than what middle-class Americans are used to.
Consider the fact that if you’re making around $60,000 a year, you’re actually in the global 1%.
Bet you didn’t know that.
But in reality, well over half the people on the planet “get by” on less than $10 a day.
The Western world is pretty small, in comparison with Asia and Africa, and most of us out here are doing just fine – especially if we expand our view to include countries beyond the US, Europe, and the Anglosphere.
Living comfortably as an American in Spain
In a blog post, the podcaster I mentioned at the start of this article says that a couple can “live comfortably” in Spain on 3000 to 5000€ monthly. That seems more realistic, for people with a middle-class lifestyle in the US.
When I wrote about social class in Spain I found that anyone making over 1000€ a month can consider themselves middle-class around here. So at three to five thousand you’re solidly upper-middle, if not upper.
(Another thing I discovered while writing that article is that virtually no-one identifies as being upper class.)
In the podcast episode on the “American Exodus” he mentions a family from Austin, Texas, who sold their house for “just over $1 million” – and who found that in Valencia, their money went a lot further.
Typical refugee stuff.
Apparently – and still according to the same podcast – a lot of people feel like the American Dream they’ve been sold is a lie. It’s actually an American treadmill, and they can’t get off.
But actually, the whole premise of this guy’s podcast is that you can get off, and move to Spain, and hire him as a real estate agent, and go on to live a life of relative luxury on much less than you could back home.
In fact, despite the American Dream being nothing but one big lie, the number of Americans who can afford early retirement or a Non-Lucrative Visa based on passive income is quite large.
And if you’re able to work remotely, there’s a visa for Digital Nomads, too.
Lots of options, in other words, for escaping the US and coming to Spain. Check out my friend Cepee’s Ultimate Visa Guide to Living in Europe for much more on that.
Refugees of the Gender Wars
I first came across the idea of American Refugees last year, when I read about an individual who’d gone to the Netherlands and checked into a refugee camp, claiming persecution back home.
The reason? The US had become unsafe for “identities across the queer spectrum”.
So this individual had lawyers arguing that “they” were forced to seek asylum due to the Nazi-Germany-like conditions suffered by LGBTQs in America. “Their” application for asylum was eventually denied.
When I followed up recently, I found more stories pointing to a trend of Americans moving to this Dutch refugee camp. Apparently, the number of Americans who have flown to Europe to claim refugee status in the last few years is small, but increasing. It’s now at least several dozen. More on this whole situation in The Guardian.
One person, in that linked article, claims that the experience of living in San Francisco was, except for the robot taxis, “indistinguishable from [that of] the people that I knew from Libya and Iran and Morocco and Algeria.”
I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration, of course. I’ve heard that Libya has gotten pretty rough in the last few years, but it can’t be half as bad as San Francisco.
(San Francisco: where a dog can’t even walk down the street without stepping in human poop.)
Presumably there are long backlogs of cases in asylum courts around Europe. And the judges will patiently work their way through the applications, to decide who’s genuinely fleeing persecution and who’s not.
I wish everyone the best. But legal experts quoted in various media suggest that the US is generally considered a safe country, wherever you are on “the queer spectrum”. So they doubt whether US asylum seekers will ultimately succeed.
(That last “they” is plural, referring to “legal experts”, which I realize is confusing in the midst of so many singular theys. I apologize for that. Grammar is just one of many victims, in the gender wars.)
The world’s most privileged victims
Defining yourself by your privilege is kind of cringe, in most circles.
But defining yourself by real or imagined oppression is perfectly acceptable.
So in the modern West, even the very wealthy now claim to be struggling outcasts. Oppressed minorities. Victims of political tyranny.
Actors like Susan Sarandon come to Spain and give speeches about the “censorship and repression” they’ve escaped from, by coming to the red-carpet gala at the Goya Awards.
So strong. So brave.
(Susan Sarandon has an estimated net worth of $60 million, which in New York will get you a pastrami bagel and a small drip coffee. I know because I was there last year. Actually, I’d rather be in a refugee camp than spend another week in Manhattan. But I digress…)
Richard Gere has gone even further than Sarandon, buying an 11-million euro home in La Moraleja – the most exclusive Madrid suburb. He now gives quotes to the press about how Donald Trump has destroyed his country.
Last year, he gave an interview in his spacious home to El País. The title of the article is “Life isn’t about money or power, but about love and affection.” Easy to say, when you’re sitting in your 11-million euro mansion.
Richard Gere’s net worth is estimated at $120 million. The fawning tone of articles in the Spanish press about these vapid celebrities and their struggles with oppression makes me want to puke. But maybe it’s just me.
My own flight from oppression
I moved to Spain with a backpack and a small duffel bag. In those days, I considered t-shirts from Target to be pretty nice semi-formal attire, so I had several in that black duffel.
I wanted to look my best, obviously. For Europe!
The most expensive clothing purchase of my life, up to that point, was a pair of Doc Martens boots, which was what I was wearing as my only pair of shoes. I’d worn them around the Arizona desert for a year or so at that point.
(Buying Doc Martens on my 2004 salary was painful. I worked as a barista, for $6 an hour plus tips. And tips, in that failing café frequented by college students and the homeless, were not abundant.)
I was feeling pretty bad about stuff back home. George W Bush was president. American militarism was ruining the world – I’d learned about it from Rage Against the Machine.
In my early 20s, about half my personality was made up of Rage Against the Machine lyrics.
“Land of the free? Whoever told you that was your enemy!”
And for a few months, over in Europe, I really felt like I was fleeing from something.
But as I stayed on in Madrid, working under the table and struggling to get legal with the Spanish government, I met all kinds of people. I realized that my problems were actually quite small.
And that, in fact, I was exceedingly lucky to be American.
The US has one of the world’s strongest passports, our economy is second to none, and even speaking English is a great gift that not everyone in the world enjoys.
My wife Morena, from south India, says she would still be on the banana farm if she hadn’t been able to learn a good level of English. And almost every immigrant I’ve met here in Spain dreams of someday making it to the US for a better life.
Maybe they’re onto something. Maybe (gasp!) Rage Against the Machine was wrong.
The American Exodus to Spain
I’m grateful to have grown up in the US.
I’m also grateful for my life in Spain, which provided me with opportunities and experiences I wouldn’t have had back home. I’m even grateful for my struggles – first as a kid just scraping by out in the Arizona desert, and later as an “undocumented migrant” in Madrid.
But these days, the US seems to create large numbers people who live in million-dollar homes, and who assume that the whole economy is working against them. And a lot of them want to come to Spain, for a better lifestyle.
They get on Facebook groups to find out about the rates for shipping containers, so they can bring all their kitchen gadgets and their furniture. The conversations about booking overseas flights for dogs and cats are interminable.
I’ve even seen people asking how to ship their horses.
Like I said, they want the sun, the tapas, and the more relaxed lifestyle. They want to get away from it all – especially the political arguments.
Hopefully, they won’t just bring it all with them.
Gratefully yours,
Daniel AKA Mr Chorizo.
P.S. Of course, US politics is annoying, but from what I’ve learned about other countries in my time abroad, so is politics everywhere else. Spain’s not perfect: try having Pedro Sánchez as President for several years. He’s the topic of my most recent article, which you’re hereby invited to check out.
P.P.S. Despite the tone of this article, I’m not against passive income or making money or anything. In fact, I’ve got a couple of articles here about financial independence AKA the FIRE movement. I’m just saying that it’s important to be grateful for what you have, because most people out there have next to nothing.
P.P.P.S. A lot of people like to debate the difference between the words expat and immigrant – most of the loudest people prefer “immigrant” because it categorizes them with the more oppressed group. I’ve mentioned more than a few times that I don’t care that much. Also, just wait till you’re abroad and someone calls you a Yankee Imperialist for using the word “American” wrong. Fun times!
P.P.P.P.S. Okay, while we’re on the topic, remote work has upended a lot of people’s assumptions about “where” they need to be. Literally my favorite story of the last 5+ years is “American digital nomads move to Mexico for a better life, much to the chagrin of locals”. It’s funny on so many levels. Also, international travel has gotten much more mainstream, banks are more comfortable sending money abroad, you can get oat milk lattes everywhere. Capitalism has made a lot of things easier – even complaining about capitalism. If Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine were starting his career today, he’d be one of those TikTokkers who sits in his car crying. Probably.
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