#emigrating

Yes

Yes, but I used to live in a different country

No, I came to the country I live in now when I was a child

No, I came to the country I live in now as an adult

Sort of, the country I was born in no longer exists but I am still in the same place

More than one of the above somehow

Other/nuance/it's complicated (show results)

Thanks for the poll request, anonymous! I've slightly reworded a couple of the options to keep it in the 80 character limit and still provide the essence of your original wording. Keep the requests coming, folks!

Hi there anon!

That’s a good question, and I don’t have a ready answer, honestly.

On the one hand I would love to live in Japan. I’m very interested in the culture and the language (obv.), and there are a lot of places I want to explore there. I also really enjoyed the 18 days or so we spent there in May, including lots of aspects of everyday life. I travelled with my family, so we rented houses, went to the supermarket, cooked at home, did laundry, etc.—basically living as we do at home, and I really liked the pace of life, people’s attitudes, the convenience of everything. In short, the Japanese way of life suits me (at least short term).

On the other hand, as I said I have a family, so I’d have to uproot everyone, and find a job there, and my partner would also have to find a job, and he doesn’t speak a word of Japanese, and we’d have to get visas for all of us, and find a school, etc. It just doesn’t seem very realistic, and would probably be a very selfish choice on my part, so… 

Yeah, honestly, laying it all out, it’s not going to happen (plus we have a pretty nice life where we are…). But I’m definitely going back as soon as I can, and it’s probably going to be a semi-regular thing (every few years), which is already incredibly lucky, right?

To be honest, at this precise moment in my life I’m not thinking at all of emigrating, not even to Japan. I guess I missed my window… Although if I think about it, all my friends living abroad are coming back, including the ones in Japan. I suppose it’s not so bad here :)

Sorry for the messy, stream-of-consciousness rambling! Short answer is: no, although I love the idea.

(I've seen videos of Canadians saying, "Come up here, we'll take you!")

We looked in to Canada bc they need truckers.

First step: English Proficiency test, $256Each person.

Next: apply to get in. $1575 non-refundable. Each person.

Then, your names get put into a pool. There are different pools: healthcare workers, teachers, tradesmen, etc. All the trades are lumped together.

Every month they draw from a pool. Some are drawn every month, but some are a Wild Card. The Trades pool was only drawn twice last year, 9 months apart.

They draw 1250 names, ranked on their "score" which seems to be the combination of your language proficiency score and how bad they need your trade.

If you're married and one gets drawn, the other can try to get in in a Spouse visa. No guarantee.

It could be months before the drawing and even then you could not be one of the chosen ones.

If a country needs more enthusiastic manual laborers, then you'll have to get in line now! Voluntary Gazans are going fast!