3w ago

Could I seek asylum as a US trans person in Costa Rica (or other countries)?

I’ve experienced torture, it’s essentially legal to fire me at any point for being trans (which has happened multiple times) and I’m financially fucked to the point where I am bordering homelessness.

I can teach science, math, history and have experience and certifications. I will move anywhere in the world (that is safe/has access to testosterone) to teach, as long as I can have help figuring out visas and maybe help with the cost of the plane getting there.

I’ve thought about Peace Corps, but I am concerned that the current administration will fuck with that program too.

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I know https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/ is an org that facilitates this kind of thing and https://www.translifeline.org/ might be able to get you with the visa and such.
I wish you luck. I would be heading out as well if it was feasible.
- Rainbow Railroad does not help individuals in the US, because if a cop murders me, it’s still technically illegal.
  I have already contacted Translifeline, and they were not able to help me either.
  
  oof, i had both of those in my pocket for if things got worse where I am. I will be watching this thread keenly
- I reached out to them back in February and they said they don't help US peoples. They were also backed up then, I can only imagine now.
  Fwiw I did eventually flee but it was through work
idk about asylum but Thailand has a pretty permissive visa system where you just keep renewing it every few months for a small fee
- Heads up: my partner is a refugee from Thailand. She was locked up for criticizing the monarchy on Facebook. It still might be better than your current situation, just saying.
  
  Tbh, all I want is a single room apartment, a full time job, and access to medical care. If the monarchy can give me that, I’ll shut off all socials and shut up. I am not going to be alive if I am here in October.
  
  That's the one thing you don't do in Thailand.
- Not at all how it works. I live in Thailand on a work visa, but you can only get those for a very short job list (like a teacher). People do border and visa runs every few months but that’s tiring and you can be denied entry randomly, and obviously you can’t have a job in Thailand with that. There’s a DTV visa you can get if you can prove a remote job and have 500 000 baht in your bank account (that money will always have to be there, you can’t move it out). Other than that there’s a marriage visa and retirement visa (800k in a bank account at all times).
Everywhere in the EU is probably more safe than the US. We have pretty good protection for trans people and we all speak English (well, most of us). You could try Switzerland https://www.eda.admin.ch/countries/usa/en/home/visa.html and I suggest going to Bern as it's quite liberal. Excellent health care system. Expensive though, but also good wages. Germany is cheaper and in the bigger cities you'll be just fine. Good luck!
- You have to be rich to migrate into Switzerland... That's literally their entire MO
  
  I mean, there are plenty of wealthy immigrants here, but I would say there are probably more immigrant families from regular or (relatively) poor families around. Like, people with a regular income who are working a regular job, not your average finance expat from an English-speaking country on an all-expenses-paid expat package plus a neat half million bucks per year salary on top.
  That said, the non-expat immigrants I know are overwhelmingly from eastern European countries, so I wouldn't be surprised if the acceptance policy is biased against non-Europeans. You don't see many average working-class Americans around here unless they married a Swiss person.
  
  I'd disagree. We are definitely not rich. All they ask for, is that you can prove that you are able to support yourself. If you have a job, that's enough.
- Switzerland isnt EU.
  
  I know. I live here. Should have said "EU and some other countries in Europe that are technically not in the EU" but I didn't think about it.
- Romania almost elected a fascist twice and i have only seen 1 person while living in the country that doesnt hate trans people
- Skip Germany. They've just banned wearing the LGBTQ+ flag in parliament claiming it's "not neutral". Even though, yanno, banning the damn thing definitely isn't neutral.
  
  I used to live in Berlin and while it's not perfect, it has a vibrant LGBTQ+ scene and I'd say it's still much better than the US.
Check out teaching programs in Thailand which is probably the most trans safe country in the world. If you're a native English speaker with teaching training you can get a work visa and a ~1k usd/mo job which is more than enough in this region and generally the organization hiring you handles everything including housing except the flight and initial embassy application.
The trans culture here is ancient and thus a bit different though so you might need to familiarize with that first and see if its acceptable for you.
Feel free to PM me for more info. I don't have particular experience here but I've seen people do this and I do live in Thailand almost full time now.
You're very unlikely to get asylum, but with your skills you can get a work visa in many places. You can start by narrowing down to places in which language isn't a barrier for you. Then look at their embassy website and search for residence or work visa to check the process and retirements.
In parallel, have a passport handy. You aren't going anywhere without one.
If your Spanish is good and you can get a job teaching, Uruguay may be a good option.
Also, if you just need to try and move to a safer place within the US, feel free to DM me.
Passing this on bc some beautiful person posted this somewhere before and I sent to my brother. You do not have to be Jewish to apply, although I believe it is domestic (though could help you find relative safety in the meantime).
Are there any transoutreach orgs you can contact?
A larger trans community might be able to help you with getting the right resources regarding this.

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