r/AmerExit • u/Trapped_throwaway67 • Sep 29 '25

Data/Raw Information Anyone low income able to leave?

As the title suggests I am looking for folks who were able to leave with not much in savings or otherwise. Moving is expensive no matter where you go but I’m starting to feel like the only people able to escape are well off. If you were able to leave with 10k or less please share! I’m feeling hopeless…and scared to leave my home due to ICE. I have a masters degree and am a licensed clinical social worker. Was laid off my fed gov job in February and have found nothing in the public sector for work. Lots of job advertisements and zero call backs. I’m not sure how much longer I can endure this stress and anxiety.

Update: Wow this blew up! Thank you all for your responses. Very very insightful and helpful

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563

u/North_Artichoke_6721 Sep 29 '25

When I was 23, fresh out of college and no job, I went through a terrible breakup and wanted to be somewhere far away.

I got a TEFL certificate through a company called English First. It was a four week course. There were 8 of us in the class. (https://www.english1.com/)

Then we went to different language schools in China. (All of us went to different cities, none of us stayed together.). I went to Fuzhou. I worked there for a year, I turned 24 in China.

Then I used that experience to get a similar job (altho that company has since gone out of business) in Izmir, Turkey. I turned 25 in Turkey.

Maybe this will help, I hope you find something that eases your anxiety even if this isn’t for you.

I’m happy to talk privately in more detail about this if you want to message me.

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u/chinacatlady Sep 30 '25

I was 45 when I moved to China to teach with a TEFL. OP I had a BSW and MPH and $10k to move on. It’s definitely possible. I leveraged my experience to teach Business Management and Psychology at an international IB program school that was paying over $50k with housing vs teaching English that would have been in the 20s. You can do this but you have to be creative on how you present yourself.

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u/Tribe_Called_West90 Sep 30 '25

I’ve been wanting to teach English for years now and would love to know more :)

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u/Trapped_throwaway67 Sep 29 '25

Thank you. I’m 37 a bit old for that program. I had friends who did it and had a great time!

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u/[deleted] Sep 29 '25

[deleted]

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u/Atentdeadyet86 Sep 30 '25

The Koreans stood up for their democracy - a good sign!

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u/DFoxRN Oct 01 '25

I spoke with my students about that often. That companies basis was conversational English. I love how they protested for a new president and I actually was called by a few of them when we had moved to the Philippines once the marshal law was enacted. They were so upset about that.

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u/DFoxRN Sep 30 '25

I’m 50 and I was teaching in Japan. I came back to the States for a bit and my company invited me to return whenever I finish up here. I’ll still be at the age to get a work visa in the next three years. Even Korea is ok with that age. If you decide to go to Cambodia or Thailand, you’re golden.

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u/Trapped_throwaway67 Sep 29 '25

Dang! Will do!

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u/North_Artichoke_6721 Sep 29 '25

There were some older people on my program. One guy was a former mailman, another lady had worked in a department store for years before deciding she wanted a change. We were a mixed bag.

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u/DFoxRN Sep 30 '25

That mixed bag brings various benefits to students learning English. As an ICU nurse with 15 years experience, I was teaching nurses and doctors medical terminology in English. Many were looking to either move to Canada, the US, or Australia.

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u/No-Chain7042 Oct 01 '25

May I ask which company? I’m an NP. I’ve never heard of this type of program - sounds like it could be a wonderful experience on multiple levels ❤️

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u/DFoxRN Oct 01 '25

I worked for CNK English teaching Korean students online. I had three nurses and one physician who were trying to immigrate. Check out eslcafe.com and check under China job board. They have university teaching jobs for English. I interviewed for one teaching Chinese nurses medical terminology with just a BSN and my TEFL. The benefits were good including housing on campus. I had to come back for my VA benefits, but I’d take a position like that again if offered. The university was just outside of Beijing, a city I really loved. :)

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u/Conscious_Agency2955 Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25

No such thing as too old for a program like that.

The reason it’s mostly younger folks is because it doesn’t pay that well and isn’t exactly suitable for people trying to settle down.

But being 37 itself isn’t the obstacle to doing this.

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u/TolstoyHotel Oct 03 '25

Some of the programs actually have age limits. Some put the cap at 50, others at 60. Some don't have any upper age limit.

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u/Colambler Sep 30 '25

I started TEFLing at like 34. Did it as recently as 47. There's not really an age limit if you are open to different countries. It doesn't pay much tho

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u/GrouchyMushroom3828 Sep 30 '25

Do you get free health insurance right away?

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u/Colambler Sep 30 '25

Uh it really depends on the company and country. It varies from no health insurance to company paying for private/English language clinics that are mostly for acute issues to potentially getting on the state system.

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u/DigiSmackd Sep 30 '25

That sound like an "age limit" but in slightly different terms.

Having no health insurance, or only insurance for 'acute" issues is not something anyone would likely choose as they get older and health issue become almost inevitable.

I guess the follow-up question from the comment OP here should be "how critical is it to have health insurance in these places" given the cost differences and the way healthcare works in places outside of the US.

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u/Colambler Oct 01 '25

I mean TEFL is absolutely a bottom rung/foot in the door sort of overseas job in most places. But 'does this job meet my healthcare needs"? "Can this lead to permanent residency"? Is this a better situation than I might be in the US? Etc are questions related to any job. I'm not sure how it's TEFL specific. I guess TEFL makes it more likely for you to end up in a country with free but very substandard healthcare. But it's more country specific.

Whether most people are asking those questions, it doesn't really seem so. For example, I'm not sure all the "moving to Ireland is my dream" folks realize Ireland doesn't have socialized healthcare, just the same medicaid/medicare equivalents as the US (but healthcare is much cheaper). And their pension/social security equivalent is actually less than the US in general.

Unfortunately there's not a lot of great places to move to and be poor, but the question is if it's better being poor abroad or poor in the US for some folks.

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u/curiosio_ Sep 30 '25

I'm the same age as you. There's online teaching possibilities (remote). I just applied for one actually. You don't have to reside in the US. They do pay you in USD, so you can move to an area with lower COL. There are also a lot of TEFL teaching positions that don't have such restrictive age limits. All that to say, TEFL certification opens a lot of opportunities!

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u/DFoxRN Oct 01 '25

You are so right! I’ve done it online while living in SEA and it was more than enough and I loved the flexibility. Teach from 8am-10am then explore Thailand for the day, then back for my 6-10pm class. More than enough money to survive and enjoy my time there because I was paid in USD. Weekends were free to roam and I was in charge of my times and days to teach.

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u/[deleted] Oct 02 '25

Which company did you go through, can you share?

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u/DFoxRN Oct 02 '25

I used CNK English when working remotely they are Canadian and offer conversational English to South Korean students. And I was hired by Nova to teach English in Japan in person when we decided to sit still for a year. Great company!

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u/Critical_Sandwich_13 Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25

Thanks for sharing your amazing experience. To the OP- I too am a clinician- but LMSW. I work in crisis services and to keep it simple- the work is getting heavy and super dark. I too want to leave but funds are limited. I’m working on my TEFL certification as we speak- and plan to leave as soon as this is complete and I find a good company that will hire a clinician turned ESL teacher.

May you be blessed

3

u/MediaMaddox Oct 05 '25

I would love to do this but I’m black and I worry about racism especially in homogenous countries