Many Americans move abroad only temporarily, for example, to study or work.
In 2004, the Government Accountability Office concluded that attempts to count Americans abroad are not justified. Experiments conducted in France, Kuwait, and Mexico showed that accounting for a single U.S. citizen living abroad costs an astronomical amount - $1,450. At the same time, accuracy is not guaranteed because U.S. citizens are not required by law to participate in censuses. Moreover, many Americans are abroad temporarily, for example, to study or work. Therefore, such statistics are not entirely correct.
In 1999, the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the U.S. State Department asked Americans permanently residing abroad to report to the nearest consulate. It was then determined that nearly 3.8 million Americans lived permanently outside the United States (military personnel, students, tourists, and business travelers were not included in this statistics).
In particular, at that time the American colony in Yerevan (Armenia) consisted of 229 people, in Baku (Azerbaijan) - 600, in Minsk (Belarus) - 190, in Kyiv (Ukraine) - 3,000, in Moscow (Russia) - 8,000. For comparison, in the capital of Cuba - Havana - 2,000 Americans lived, in Saudi Arabia's Riyadh - 11,500, in Sweden's Stockholm - 18,000, in Argentina's Buenos Aires - 27,600, in Taiwan's Taipei - 38,000, in France's Paris - 78,000, and in Canada's Toronto - 250,000. The largest American diasporas at that time existed in Mexico, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Philippines, Australia, France, and Spain.
In 2005, the State Department estimated that approximately 6.6 million U.S. citizens lived abroad (again not including military personnel and students). Of these, 1.6 million live in Europe and Central Asia, 4.5 million in countries of South, Central, and North America, about 350,000 in the Middle East and North Africa, about 90,000 in sub-Saharan Africa, and 57,000 in South Asia. Thus, the non-American population of the United States makes up about 2% of the country's citizens.
Meanwhile, life abroad presents U.S. citizens with a number of unpleasant surprises. The public organization "Association of Americans Resident Overseas" notes, for example, that in some cases American expatriates are subject to double taxation (i.e., they must pay taxes to both the United States and the country they permanently reside in); they also experience problems obtaining American pensions; they find it difficult to obtain citizenship for their children born abroad, etc.
The U.S. State Department has a special unit (called "American Citizens Services and Crisis Management") that assists Americans in trouble abroad. In particular, it provides the following data: about 6,000 U.S. citizens die abroad annually, in most cases long-term residents of other countries. For about 2,000 of the deceased, with the help of this unit, funeral arrangements take place in their homeland. Additionally, this organization helps Americans facing serious financial problems - they can receive government loans (annually allocating $500,000).
According to a study by the consulting firm New Global Initiatives, published in 2007, 1.6 million American families were planning to move to another country, 1.8 million were seriously discussing such a possibility, and 7.7 million were thinking about it. Thus, according to rough estimates by New Global Initiatives, about 3 million people leave the United States annually, mostly young people aged 25-34.
Interestingly, it is impossible to determine the main reason for Americans moving abroad. Zogby International published the results of a survey of expatriates in 2006. It turned out that the reasons for their relocation are so individual that no trends can be identified. For example, most often respondents cited their intention to see the world, but this reason, which ranked first in the list of identified reasons for leaving, received only 5.7% of the vote.
John Wennersten, author of the book "Leaving America: The New Generation of Expatriates," claims that the current generation of American emigrants is leaving the country, among other reasons, as a result of globalization. In particular, globalization has led to a reduction in distances: international travel has become incomparably shorter and more comfortable, and communication tools have become incredibly compact and convenient. For many Americans, long-term stays abroad are an integral part of their career or business and adherence to a modern lifestyle.
During the presidency of George W. Bush and especially after the start of the Iraq War, the number of Americans leaving their country for political reasons increased. However, "political" emigrants were relatively few - their total number is estimated at a few hundred, at most a few thousand people. Indicatively, in 2000, many Hollywood stars urged not to vote for Bush, promising to move abroad if he won. Among them were, for example, Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, who, nevertheless, remained living in the United States.
In 1976, Americans living abroad received the right to participate in elections for the U.S. president and Congress, as well as in primaries. The major U.S. parties have special structures working with the diaspora – "Republicans Overseas" and "Democrats Abroad." The first structure was created in 1978 and now has branches in about 50 states, the second in 1964 and now operates in more than 100 countries. In 2007, the formation of a bipartisan "Americans Abroad Caucus" began – a mechanism for party elections in which all U.S. citizens living outside the homeland could participate. In addition, the Overseas Vote Foundation has been actively operating in recent years, helping Americans vote in elections at various levels.
By the way, the votes of "foreigners" are counted by the states where they lived before moving abroad – ballots are sent by mail. The role of "foreigners" in recent elections has periodically become significant – in cases where the gap in the number of votes between candidates was small. However, traditionally, the electoral activity of expatriates has been low.
In recent years, the idea of creating a special seat in the House of Representatives, which could be held by a congressman representing exclusively the interests of the American diaspora, has been actively discussed in American diaspora circles. Supporters of this idea point out that the size of the American diaspora exceeds the population of 26 of the 50 states that make up the country. Kentucky – the 25th most populous state in the U.S. – has the right to elect two senators and six congressmen. Consequently, even one expatriate congressman would be insufficient for adequate representation and protection of the interests of Americans living abroad.
Interestingly, Barack Obama's electoral program (the only U.S. presidential candidate who included this item in his program) contained promises to help American emigrants.
_