If you could live anywhere on planet Earth right now, where would you live… and why?
Now imagine that you’re going to move there for real. What steps would you take… and what would be the cost?
On 9 September 2025, I co-recorded a podcast named “I left the United States” with my dear friend Heather Luna of keduzi. But that story of emigration was her story (and it’s an important one that changed her life; take a listen to it).
Today’s newsletter is about our emigration story… “our” referring to the story of my wife and me (and our cat!).
On 25 March 2026, I had the honor of sharing our emigration story with Elizabeth Silleck la Rue, Esq. on a Substack livestream that’s now available for you all to watch on Substack and YouTube. Elizabeth is the founder and CEO of Silleck Consulting Services, LLC; she also left the USA with her husband several years ago. The return of Trump to the White House has elevated people’s interest in her Conscientious EmigrationTM services, which are now straight-up booming. (And yes, Conscientious EmigrationTM is a registered trademark on file with the US Patent and Trademark Office.)
Over roughly 1 hour, Elizabeth and I cover a range of topics:
Why my family and I selected Romania, one of the poorest countries in Europe, as our emigration destination
Why we make the distinction between "ex-pats" and "emigrants" even though dictionaries might define them to be equivalent
What happened when la migra (USA immigration enforcement agents) showed up at the apartment building next to mine in New York City… and how that changed what the word “safety” means to me
Why I fired myself from the aviation environmental sector in the United States, and how that decision helped my family and me leave the country
Why this conversation was titled “Earning a Decolonial Living Abroad”, and why I openly use the word “post-capitalist” to find my ideal clients
I provide marketing services to post-capitalist business owners and freelancers. (Yes, this is a big pivot from providing aviation environmental services!) And I’ve been honored to serve clients in multiple countries with a range of specialties, from gender-inclusive language translation to database management system optimization. Though their locations and industries differ, my clients are all doing their part to create the same thing: a world that maximizes care rather than profit. Our emigration to Europe enables me to do this work in ways that were not feasible in the United States.
If my marketing services would be of interest to you, connect with me on LinkedIn at the link here. I’d love to talk to you.
Watch “Earning a Decolonial Living Abroad” (1 hour, 4 minutes, and 30 seconds) on Substack and YouTube
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My position
My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of enslaved Africans brought to the Caribbean during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father is Goan and was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.
My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18, until very recently. Now I live in Eastern Europe with my wife and our cat.
I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing our positions. Because of our positions, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects. Positionality expresses how our individual positions affect our relationships with other people and with the world as a whole.
Image source: La Rue, E. S., & Musei-Sequeira, C. (2026, March 26). Earning a decolonial living abroad - recording of live session. The Conscientious Emigrant by Conscientious EmigrationTM. https://substack.com/inbox/post/191857122
