Emigration from the United States is the process where citizens and nationals from theUnited States move to live in countries other than the US, creating anAmerican Diaspora (Overseas Americans). The process is the reverse of theimmigration to the United States. The United States does not keep track of emigration and counts ofAmericans abroad are thus only available based on statistics kept by the destination countries.

Due to the flow of people back and forth between theUnited Kingdom and its colonies, as well as between the colonies, there has been an American diaspora of a sort since before the United States was founded. During and immediately after theAmerican Revolutionary War, a number of AmericanLoyalists relocated to other countries, chieflyCanada and theUnited Kingdom.^[1] Residence in countries outside theBritish Empire was unusual, and usually limited to the wealthy, such asBenjamin Franklin, who was able to self-finance his trip toParis as a U.S.diplomat.

After theAmerican Revolutionary War, some 3,000Black Loyalists - slaves who escaped theirPatriot masters and served on the Loyalist side because of theCrown's guarantee of freedom - were evacuated from New York toNova Scotia; they were individually listed in theBook of Negroes as the British gave them certificates of freedom and arranged for their transportation.^[2] The Crown gave them land grants and supplies to help them resettle in Nova Scotia. Other Black Loyalists were evacuated toLondon or the Caribbean colonies.^[3]

Thousands of slaves escaped from plantations and fled to British lines, especially after British occupation ofCharleston, South Carolina. When the British evacuated, they took many former slaves with them. Many ended up among London'sBlack Poor, with 400 resettled by theSierra Leone Company toFreetown in Africa in 1787. Five years later, another 1,192 Black Loyalists from Nova Scotia chose to emigrate to Sierra Leone, becoming known as theNova Scotian settlers in the newBritish colony of Sierra Leone. Both waves of settlers became part of theSierra Leone Creole people and the founders of the nation of Sierra Leone.^[3]

Thanks to the increase ofwhalers andclipper ships, Americans began to travel all over the world for business reasons.

The early 19th century also saw the beginning of overseas religious missionary activity, such as withAdoniram Judson inBurma.

During theWar of 1812, someAfrican American slaves joined theCorps of Colonial Marines to fight against the United States. Their reward was guaranteed emancipation (as per theMutiny Act 1807) and new land set aside for them in southernTrinidad. They and their descendants later became known as theMerikins.

The middle of the 19th century saw the immigration of manyNew Englanders to Hawaii, as missionaries for theCongregational Church, and as traders and whalers. The American population eventually overthrew the government of Hawaii, leading to its annexation by the United States.

During this time theAmerican Colonization Society established a colony in thePepper Coast forfreedmen known asLiberia. The ACS's main goals were toChristianize indigenous Africans, end the illegal slave trade, and resettle African Americans out of the United States. Their descendants became theAmerico-Liberians, who dominated the country for most of its history.

During the early 19th century, particularly between 1824 and 1826, thousands of free blacks emigrated from theUnited States to Haiti to escape antebellum segregation and racist policy. They primarily settled inSamana Province, where their descendants still live today as theSamana Americans. They speak their own variety of English calledSamana English.

During theAmerican Civil War,President Lincoln asked Kansas SenatorSamuel C. Pomeroy and Secretary of the InteriorCaleb Blood Smith to develop a plan to resettle African Americans out of the United States. Pomeroy had come up with the idea ofLinconia, a freedmen colony much likeLiberia in modernChiriqui Province,Panama. After nearby Central American nations expressed their opposition to the project, it was quickly scrapped. However, 453 African workers were sent toIle-à-Vache inHaiti as part of a private colonization effort run by entrepreneur Bernard Kock. This colony was short-lived due to Kock breaking the contract. By the end of 1863, all of the colonists had returned to the United States.

After the Civil War, thousands ofSoutherners moved toBrazil, where slavery was still legal at the time. They founded a city calledAmericana and became known asConfederados.^[4] Some also migrated to Mexico, where they established theNew Virginia Colony with the help ofEmperor Maximilian I of Mexico. They founded their capital, Carlota, and had planned to make more settlements, but the colony was abandoned after the fall of theSecond Mexican Empire, and most of the settlers returned to the U.S. There was also a sizeable presence of ex-confederates inBritish Honduras, now known asBelize.

In Asia, the U.S. government made efforts to secure specialprivileges for its citizens. This began with theTreaty of Wanghia in China in 1844. It was followed by theexpedition ofCommodore Perry to Japan 10 years later, and theUnited States–Korea Treaty of 1882. American traders began to settle in those countries.

Many Americans migrated to thePhilippines after it became a U.S. territory following thePhilippine–American War.

Cecil Rhodes created theRhodes Scholarship in 1902 to encourage greater cooperation between the United States, the British Empire and Germany by allowing students tostudy abroad.^[5]

In theperiod between the First and Second World Wars, many Americans, particularly writers such asErnest Hemingway,Gertrude Stein, andEzra Pound, migrated toEurope to take part in the cultural scene.

Europeancities likeAmsterdam,Berlin,Copenhagen, Paris,Prague,Rome,Stockholm, andVienna came to host a large number of Americans. Many Americans, typically those who were idealistic and/or involved in left-leaning politics, alsoparticipated in theSpanish Civil War (mainly supporting theRepublicans against theNationalists) in Spain while they lived in Madrid and elsewhere.

Other Americans returned home to the countries of their origin, including the parents of American author/illustratorEric Carle, who returned to Germany. Thousands ofJapanese Americans were unable to return to the United States, after theAttack on Pearl Harbor.^[6]

Éamon de Valera, the thirdTaoiseach of Ireland during the 1930s, was born in New York to an Irish mother and a Spanish father. He moved to Ireland at a young age with his mother's family.

During theCold War, Americans became a permanent fixture in many countries with large populations of American soldiers, such asWest Germany andSouth Korea.

The Cold War also saw the development of government programs to encourage young Americans to go abroad. TheFulbright Program was established in 1946 to encouragecultural exchange, and thePeace Corps was created in 1961 both to encourage cultural exchange and a civic spirit ofvolunteerism.

With the formation of the state ofIsrael, over 100,000 Jews madealiyah to the holy land, where they played a role in the creation of the state. Other Americans traveled to countries likeLebanon, again to take place in the cultural scene.

During theVietnam War, about 100,000 American men went abroad toavoid conscription, 90% of them going to Canada.^[7] European nations, including neutral states like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, offered asylum to thousands of American expatriates who refused to fight.

A small number of Americansabandoned the country for political reasons, defecting to the Soviet Union, Cuba, or other countries, such asMiguel d'Escoto Brockmann, and sixties radicals such asJoanne Chesimard,Pete O'Neal,Eldridge Cleaver, andStokely Carmichael.

During this period Americans continued to travel abroad for religious reasons, such asRichard James, inventor of theSlinky, who went toBolivia with theWycliffe Bible Translators, and thePeoples Temple establishment ofJonestown inGuyana.

The opening of Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and Central Asia after the Cold War provided new opportunities for American businesspeople. Additionally, with the global dominance of the United States in the world economy, theESL industry continued to grow, especially in new and emerging markets. Many Americans also take ayear abroad during college, and some return to the country after graduation.

Iraq War deserters sought refuge mostlyin Canada and Europe, andNSAwhistleblowerEdward Snowden escaped to Russia.^[8][9]

Increasing numbers of Americans retire abroad due to financial setbacks resulting from the2008 financial crisis.^[10]

Young Americans facing a tough job market due to the recession are also increasingly open to working abroad.^[11]

According to aGallup poll from January 2019, 16% of Americans, including 40% of women under the age of 30, would like to leave the United States.^[12] In 2018, theFederal Voting Assistance Program estimated a total number of 4.8 million American civilians lived abroad, 3.9 million civilians, plus 1.2 million service members and other government-affiliated Americans.^[13]

A survey byArton Capital found that 53 percent of American millionaires are more likely to leave the country after the 2024 presidential election, regardless of who wins.^[14] It is also expected that more American citizens and legal immigrants will be undulydeported under the more aggressive policies of thesecond Trump administration.^[15]

There are many reasons why Americans emigrate from the United States. Economic reasons include job or business opportunities, or a higher standard of living in another country. Others emigrate due to marriage or partnership to a foreigner, for religious or humanitarian purposes, or to seek adventure or experience a different culture.^[16] Many decide to retire abroad seeking a lower cost of living, especially more affordable health care.^[17][18]Immigrants to the United States may decide to rejoin family members in their countries of origin. Other reasons include political dissatisfaction, safety concerns and cultural issues such asracism.^[19] Some Americans may also emigrate to evade legal liabilities; a common past case was evasion ofmandatory military service.

In addition to Americans who choose to emigrate as adults, many children are born in the United States to foreign temporary workers or international students and naturally move with their parents when they return to their countries of origin. Due to theiracquisition of U.S. citizenship by birth but no significant connection to the country, they are sometimes called "accidental Americans".^[20]

One reason the U.S. diaspora is unusually small relative to its home population is that it is generally much more difficult for Americans to emigrate to a foreign country than, for example, citizens of countries in theSchengen Zone; similar to most other large countries, Americans looking for economic opportunity are generally limited to transmigration within the U.S.

In addition toU.S. territories, U.S. citizens have the right to reside in theMarshall Islands,Micronesia andPalau due to aCompact of Free Association between the United States and each of these countries. They may also freely move toSvalbard due to its open migration policy, as long as they are able to obtain housing and means of support there.^[21][22] All of these jurisdictions, however, are tiny, with fewer than a half million people combined.

Americans with parents or ancestors from certain countries, such asGermany,Ireland andItaly, may be able to claim nationality viajus sanguinis and therefore move there freely. Germany and Austria also have an easier path to citizenship for descendants of victims ofNazi crimes, even ifjus sanguinis does not apply in the specific case.^[23][24] Similarly,American Jews may move toIsrael under itsLaw of Return.

TheUSMCA (and previouslyNAFTA) allows U.S. citizens to work inCanada andMexico in business or in certain professions, with few restrictions.^[25] However, to obtain permanent residence they must still satisfy the regular immigration requirements in these countries.

The United States is a net immigration country, meaning more people arrive in the U.S. than leave it. There is a scarcity of official records in this domain.^[26] Given the high dynamics of the emigration-prone groups, emigration from the United States remains indiscernible from temporary country leave. There are a few countries in the Caribbean which had very high migration rates to the United States in the 1980s and 1990s but recorded higher population totals in recent years, indicating significant return migration from the U.S., such asTrinidad and Tobago between its 2000 and 2011 censuses.

Anyone born in the United States, with the sole exception of those born to foreign diplomats, acquires U.S. citizenship at birth. Those born abroad to at least one American parent also acquire U.S. citizenship if the parent had lived in the United States for a certain number of years. Immigrants to the United States may also become U.S. citizens by naturalization.

In the past it was possible for Americans abroad to lose U.S. citizenship involuntarily, but afterSupreme Court decisions such asAfroyim v. Rusk andVance v. Terrazas, along with corresponding changes in U.S. law, they can only lose U.S. citizenship in a very limited number of ways, most commonly by expressly renouncing it at a U.S. embassy or consulate.

Historically, few Americans renounced U.S. citizenship per year, but the numbers drastically increased after 2010 when the U.S. government enacted theForeign Account Tax Compliance Act, requiring foreign banks to report information on American holders of bank accounts located outside the United States. More than 3,000 Americans renounced U.S. citizenship in 2013, many citing the financial disclosure requirements and difficulty in finding banks willing to accept them as customers.^[27] More than 5,000 renounced in 2016, and more than 6,000 did in 2020.^[28]

One of the biggest issues with the American diaspora isdouble taxation. Unlike almost all countries in the world, the United States taxes its citizens even if they do not live in the country. Theforeign earned income exclusion mitigates double taxation on some income from work, but the Internal Revenue Code treats ordinary foreign savings plans held by residents of foreign countries as if they were offshore tax avoidance instruments and requires extensive asset reporting, resulting in significant costs for Americans at all income levels to comply with filing requirements even when they owe no tax.^[29][30][31] Even Canada'sRegistered Disability Savings Plan falls under such reporting requirements.^[32] The most prominent piece of legislation which has attracted the ire of Americans abroad is theForeign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Disadvantages stemming from FATCA, such as hindering career advancement overseas, may decrease the number of Americans in the diaspora in future years. The problem is so severe that some Americans have addressed it by renouncing or relinquishing their U.S. citizenship.^[33] Since 2013, the number of peoplegiving up US citizenship has risen to a new record each year, with an unprecedented 5,411 in 2016, up 26% from the 4,279 renunciations in 2015.^[34][35][36]

Americans abroad exported baseball to many of the countries where it is popular today; thehistory of the sport's international spread often tied into the United States's national and civilizational objectives,^[37] though the uptake of the game was often decided by local dynamics.^[38]

Migratory ties between the United States and other countries played a significant role inbasketball's international growth in the early 20th century.^[39] African American athletes who played internationally, such as theHarlem Globetrotters in basketball, played a significant role during the Cold War in assisting (and later contesting) the State Department's goal of showing the success of racial integration in the United States.^[40]

There are no exact figures on how many Americans live abroad. TheUnited States Census Bureau does not count Americans abroad, and individual U.S. embassies offer only rough estimates.

In 1999, aDepartment of State estimate suggested that the number of Americans abroad may be between three million and six million.^[29][41] In 2016, the agency estimated 9 million U.S. citizens were living abroad,^[42] but these numbers are highly open to dispute as they often are unverified and can change rapidly.^[43]

According to theFederal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), the Department of State's estimates are inflated on purpose as their purpose is to prepare for emergencies.^[44] FVAP makes its own detailed estimates of the number of U.S. citizens abroad, by region and by country, and of those who are of voting age, based on a variety of sources such as censuses of other countries and U.S. tax and social security records. In 2018, it estimated about 4.8 million U.S. citizens abroad, of whom about 2.9 million were of voting age.^[45] FVAP's estimates also fluctuate significantly, for example it had estimated about 5.5 million in 2016.^[46] Most recently in 2022 FVAP estimated that 4.4 million U.S. citizens lived abroad and 2.8 million of them were 18 and were eligible to vote in federal elections.^[47]

TheUnited Nations estimates the number of migrants by origin and destination of all countries and territories. In 2019, the organization estimated that about 3.2 million people from the United States were living elsewhere.^[48] This number is mostly based on country of birth recorded in censuses, so it does not include U.S. citizens who were not born in the United States, such as those who acquired U.S. citizenship by descent or naturalization.

One indicator of the U.S. citizen population overseas is the number of Consular Reports of Birth Abroad requested by U.S. citizens from a U.S. embassy or consulate as a proof of U.S. citizenship of their children born abroad. TheBureau of Consular Affairs reported issuing 503,585 such documents over the decade 2000–2009. Based on this, and on some assumptions about the family composition and birth rates, some authors estimate the U.S. civilian population overseas as between 3.6 and 4.3 million.^[49]

Sizes of certain subsets of U.S. citizens living abroad can be estimated based on statistics published by theInternal Revenue Service (IRS). U.S. citizens with income above a certain level are required to file aU.S. income tax regardless of where they reside. During 2019, the IRS recorded about 739,000 U.S. tax returns filed with a foreign address, representing about 1.3 million people including spouses and dependents.^[50] Other indicators are the number of U.S. tax returns with apartial exclusion on income from work abroad (about 476,000 in 2016^[51]) and those reporting foreign income other thanpassive income (about 1.5 million in 2016^[52]), but not all of these were from people actually residing abroad full-time.

The list below is of the main countries hosting American populations. Those shown with exact counts are enumerations of Americans who have immigrated to those countries and are legally resident there, does not include those who were born there to one or two American parents, does not necessarily include those born in the U.S. to parents temporarily in the U.S. and moved with parents by right of citizenship rather than immigration, and does not necessarily include temporary expatriates.

1.  Mexico – 899,311 United States-born residents of Mexico (2017)^[53]
2.  European Union – 800,000 (2013; all EU countries combined)
3.  Canada – 738,203 (2011)^[54]
4.  India – 700,000 according to a press release from the White House on 12/06/2017^[55]
5.  Philippines – 600,000 (2015)^[56]
6.  Germany – 400,000 (2020)^[57]
7.  Brazil – 260,000^[58]
8. Israel – 185,000^[59]
9.  United Kingdom – 158,000 (2013)^[60]
10.  South Korea – 140,222 (2016)^[61][62]
11.  Costa Rica – 130,000^[63] to 170,000^[64]
12.  Australia – 109,450 (2021)^[65]
13.  France – 100,619 (2008)^[66]
14.  Japan – 88,000 (2011)^[67]
15.  Dominican Republic – 15,000^[59]
16.  China – 71,493 (2010, mainland China only)^[68][69]
17.  Italy – 54,000^[59]
18.  Spain – 48,225^[70]
19.  Hong Kong – 60,000^[69]
20.  Pakistan – 52,486^[71]
21.  Netherlands – 47,408 (2021)^[72]
22.  United Arab Emirates – 40,000^[73]
23.  Republic of China (Taiwan) – 38,000
24.  Belgium – 36,000^[73]
25.  Saudi Arabia – 36,000^[73]
26.   Switzerland – 32,000^[73]
27.  Poland – 31,000 to 60,000^[73]
28.  New Zealand – 31,779 (2023)^[74]
29.  Lebanon – 25,000^[75]
30.  Panama – 25,000^[76]
31.  Colombia –21,000 (2019)^[77]
32.  Kuwait – 20,000^[59]
33.  Norway – 19,000^[59]
34.  Sweden – 16,555 (2009)^[78]
35.  Austria – 15,000^[73]
36.  Hungary – 15,000^[73]
37.  Singapore – 15,000^[69]
38.  Indonesia – 13,000^[59]
39.  Ireland – 12,475 (2006)^[79]
40.  Libya – 11,000^[59]
41.  Venezuela – 11,000^[59]
42.  Argentina – 10,552^[73]
43.  Peru — 10,409 (2017)^[80]
44.  Chile – 10,000^[73]
45.  Portugal – 9,794^[81]
46.  Denmark – 9,634 (2018)^[82]
47.  Czech Republic – 9,510 (2019; 7,131 have residence permit for 12+ months)^[83]
48.  Norway – 8,013 (2012)^[84]
49.  Malaysia – 8,000^[69]
50.  Ecuador – 7,500^[73]
51.  South Africa – 7,000^[59]
52.  Honduras – 7,000^[59]
53.  Romania – 6,000^[59]
54.  Egypt – 6,000^[59]
55.  Trinidad and Tobago – 6,000^[59]
56.  Jamaica – 6,000^[59]
57. Finland – 5,576^[85]
58.  Guatemala – 5,417 (2010)^[86]
59.  Belize – 5,000^[59]
60.  Bolivia – 5,000^[59]
61.  El Salvador – 5,000^[59]
62.  Portugal – 4,768 (2022)^[87]
63.  Qatar – 4,000^[59]
64.  Thailand – 4,000^[59]
65.  Nicaragua – 4,000^[59]
66.  Bermuda – 4,000^[59]
67.  Malta – 4,000^[59]
68.  Antigua and Barbuda – 3,000^[59]
69.  Uruguay – 3,000^[88]
70.  Cayman Islands – 3,000^[59]
71.  Jordan – 3,000^[59]
72.  Russia – at least 2,008^[89] up to 6,200^[90]
73.  Ukraine – 3,000^[59]
74.  Luxembourg – 3,000^[59]
75.  Cyprus – 3,000^[59]
76.  Greece – at least 2,000^[59]
77.  Paraguay – 2,000^[59]
78.  Vietnam – 3,000^[59]
79.  Bulgaria – 3,000^[59]
80.  Albania – 2,000^[59]
81.  Croatia – 2,000^[59]
82.  Morocco – 2,000^[59]
83.  Haiti – 2,000^[59]
84.  Mali – 2,000^[59]

• Immigration to the United States
• Lost Generation
• Taxation of non resident Americans
• American Citizens Abroad
• Taxation of United States persons
• International taxation
• Relinquishment of United States nationality
• Samaná English
• List of Americans who married international nobility
• African-American diaspora

• Americans in India
• American Canadians
• American Mexicans
• Americans in Cuba
• American Brazilians
• Americans in the United Kingdom
• American Australians
• American New Zealanders
• Americans in France
• Americans in the Philippines
• Americans in Japan
• Americo-Liberian people
• Sierra Leone Creole people
• Americans living in Saudi Arabia
• American settlement in the Philippines
• Mexicans of American descent
• Confederados ofBrazil
• Americans in Haiti
• Americans in Costa Rica
• Americans in Germany
• Americans in the United Arab Emirates
• Americans in Uruguay
• Americans in Ireland
• Americans in Qatar
• Americans in Taiwan
• Americans in China
• Americans in Guatemala

• The American Diaspora,Esquire, 26 September 2008.
• Jones, Chris.The New American.Esquire, 23 September 2008.
• Sappho, Paul.A Looming American Diaspora,Harvard Business Review, 2009.
• Sullivan, Andrew.The New American DiasporaThe Atlantic, 29 September 2009.
• Go East Young Moneyman,The Economist, 14 April 2011.
• William Curtis Donovan.The Coming American Diaspora, 1 October 2008.

• American emigration
• American diaspora
• Social history of the United States
• History of the United States by topic
• Cultural history of the United States

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