For obvious reasons, I desperately want to get out of the United States. Unfortunately, every country I look at doesn’t seem interested in gaining a retail worker with no savings.
Am I just fucked? Is anywhere accepting us as refugees? Is there anywhere that’s both relatively friendly to trans people AND relatively easy for an American to immigrate to?
idk if it’s still in effect (i fucking hope not) but canada has a mutual agreement with the US that considers both countries to be “safe”, and therefore any immigrant crossing one country to go to the other can be deported back (to the other country)
if you’re coming from the US and asking for asylum in canada, i doubt it would be granted because of this…
edit: it’s called the safe third country agreement if anyone wants to read on it (and it seems to still be in effect)
The STCA is still in effect but only for foreigners, US citizens can claim refugee status anyway. It might help to contact a lawyer or a non-profit like Rainbow Railroad or at least consult this guide (May 2025).
Either way, there is a major push to create LGBT+ exemptions in the STCA or repeal it altogether, and it has been successfully challenged in court by a non-binary person.
There are some cases yet to be tried for Canadian asylum for trans people. We will have to see how they play out.