It's also worth noting that more and more American students are moving to Europe for free university and staying for the jobs. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this demographic begins to explain the increase in the US exodus, at least partially. Student debt can be a scary thing.
In looking at recent history, it's well worth remembering all of the Americans who emigrated to Canada and Europe to avoid the Vietnam draft. Many stayed.
It's very unlikely that the uptick in expatriation is due to a recent increase in the number of US students enrolled overseas. It takes 6-8 years of residency to get German citizenship, and while I don't know the details for Germany, in Sweden that excludes residency as a student.
> It takes 6-8 years of residency to get German citizenship
That doesn't sound any slower than the US - it'll probably take me around 8 years of post-student residency to become a US citizen (3 on H1-B, then 5 on a green card - and bear in mind it's much faster for me than for someone born in India or China, who face massively backlogged green card quotas).
A lot of people fixate on citizenship, but permanent residency is 99% as good as citizenship. Ask any green card holder, they'll tell you the real challenge is getting the green card. The subsequent 5 year wait for US citizenship is gravy by comparison.
We're talking about expatriation. It's difficult to live as a stateless person. You really want to have citizenship in another country before giving up US citizenship.
While permanent residency might be a possible substitute, the lack of any citizenship will likely make it more difficult to travel to another country, and there may be legal problems should you have a child as a stateless mother.
True, assuming you're not a dual citizen to start off. Some of the Americans moving to Europe might already have a European citizenship by descent (although not necessarily of the country they end up settling in).
Oh, I see! I read "begins to explain the increase in the US exodus" and interpreted it as "exodus from US citizenship"/expatriation not "exodus from US residency"/emigration.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/why-american-students-are-...