Friday, November 25, 2016


           

Google searches for 'Australia immigration' spike as Americans try to move countries after Trump's win

  • Australia immigration' and 'New Zealand immigration' searched in Google
  • The searched terms in Google peaked about 4am Wednesday, U.S. EST
  • NZ's visa website has had more than double its usual traffic
  • Celebrities Miley Cyrus, Kesha, Cher, Barbra Streisand threatened to move
  • Canada's immigration website crashed as the results trickled in

 

Clinton voters have been frantically searching for an escape to Australia and New Zealand in the hours since Donald Trump won the presidential election.

'Australia immigration' and 'New Zealand immigration' were some of the most searched terms in Google over the past 24 hours, peaking 4am Wednesday, EST.
Canada's main immigration website remained down as NZ reported increased traffic to its website for residency visas from the U.S. as Trump surged to victory.
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Immigration officials said the New Zealand Now website, which deals with residency and student visas, had received 1,593 registrations from U.S. citizens since November 1, more than 50 per cent of a typical month's registrations in just seven days.
Rod Drury, chief executive of NZ-based global accounting software firm Xero, said the statistics matched up with interest his company has been seeing.
'I've got lots of messages coming through at the moment asking for a job in New Zealand, and we're saying 'Yes you can',' Drury told Reuters on Wednesday.
'It will be interesting to see whether it translates into real action, it's an active conversation that moved to getting more serious and we'll what will happen in the next month.'
Wellington-based startup base Creative HQ put a callout on Twitter 'for U.S. tech talent to relocate to safer shores and "make startups great again".' 
New-York based criminal defense lawyer Eliza Orlins joked she wanted to emigrate out of the country.
'If this ends badly, is either Australia or New Zealand going to let me stay?' she wrote on Twitter. 
The potential surge follows an already high population of Americans in Australia, New York Times reported just last week.
Over the past 15 years, the country's population in Australia has almost doubled from about 50,000 to 100,000.
They initially move to Australia temporary for well-paid jobs, but decide to stay on long-term after enjoying the quality of life.


Some of the celebrities who had promised to leave the country if Trump won the presidency include Lena Dunham, Miley Cyrus, Kesha, Cher, Bryan Cranston, Barbra Streisand, Stephen King and Ne-Yo.
A spokesperson for Canada's immigration department had confirmed the website crashed as a result 'significant increase in the volume of traffic' when Trump came out winning.
In the hours after Trump's victory, Americans were searching for jobs in Canada at 10 times the rate of previous nights, said Jed Kolko, chief economist for job website Indeed.
'It's far too soon to guess how many of these searchers will make a move after the shock wears off. But the jump in searches shows how many Americans were surprised by Trump's victory and are thinking about their options elsewhere,' Kolko said in an emailed statement.