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.