Miki Habryn can lastly sleep at night time. For a lot of months, within the run-up to and after President Trump had received the election, that wasn’t the case.
Up till June this 12 months Habryn was dwelling what many would name the American dream. She had a job at ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, surrounded by a number of the brightest minds in synthetic intelligence. Her pay was comfortably within the six-figures, and he or she owned a home in San Francisco, the primary metropolis she had ever lived through which felt like residence.
Her six-year outdated daughter, Steffi, was having fun with college and her spouse, Eden, was thriving in her profession as an artist.
However the household couldn’t shake their concern in regards to the course U.S. politics was transferring in. Whereas Habryn was born in Poland and raised in Australia from the age of 5, her companion and baby had solely ever recognized life within the States.
When President Trump returned to the Oval Workplace, the household made the choice to depart San Francisco—and Habryn’s dream job—and transfer to Stockholm, Sweden. There they hope to remain indefinitely.
Habryn stated she made the selection to depart the the U.S., the place she had lived since 2007, one night time in March. She stated: “My spouse was touring on the East Coast and I used to be residence with Steffi. And one thing about that exact night time, I used to be awake worrying about issues which was not unusual, and I simply received to the purpose of: It’s time to go, I can’t simply keep right here and do nothing, however doing something comes with such horrible dangers for me due to my standing.”
“If I got here to the eye of, or received arrested by the federal authorities, the result of that could possibly be tragic. It seems that my spouse, on the identical day, reached the identical conclusion.”
Habryn explains the “standing” she refers to: “In the course of the marketing campaign it was immigrants and transgender those that was occupying the airways and since I’m each, they’ve received me coming and going successfully.”
The household will not be alone of their resolution to depart Trump’s America. Whereas it’s exhausting to pin down the variety of folks leaving the U.S. yearly (the Division of State beforehand advised Fortune it doesn’t preserve such data) in 2024 purposes from Individuals to dwell in the UK alone spiked 26% in comparison with a 12 months prior. Greater than 6,100 Individuals utilized for British citizenship final 12 months, a report quantity.
Immigration consultants additionally beforehand advised Fortune their telephones had been ringing off the hook—notably since that notorious Trump and Biden debate, when many individuals felt the destiny of the November election had been determined. Montreal-based immigration consultants Moving2Canada, for instance, noticed inquiries spike in each 2016 and 2020 and in 2024 noticed enquiries triple in quantity after the Trump vs. Biden debate.
Life at OpenAI
Habryn isn’t any stranger to working in America’s tech elite: She moved to the U.S. initially to work for Google in Mountain View the place she stayed for the subsequent 12 years. Her expertise at OpenAI, the place she labored from Might 2024 to July 2025, is a well-known story to many in Huge Tech: An intense ambiance, “great” folks and riveting work.
“It’s difficult,” Habryn stated. “I feel it’s thrilling however I used to be fortunate sufficient to have numerous safety and confidence in my very own talents—I feel with out that it could have been very, very exhausting.”
The prospect of dropping her dream function within the analysis division of one of many world’s most-talked about firms was a key situation which held Habryn again from making the transfer earlier. Whereas her crew was supportive of the choice, finally the legalities of Habryn’s work meant it couldn’t transfer along with her.
“It was actually exhausting,” she stated. “That was in all probability the explanation it took me so long as it did to make the choice, as a result of actually I had this era of grief stepping away from this. I’ve been working in tech for a very long time … and actually the one factor I wish to be engaged on is AI.
“It was exhausting and I didn’t love making that call however, finally, it was only a query of precedence.”
Habryn is assured she’s going to discover fascinating work when she must, and the household are settling into their newly bought residence in Stockholm—the household doubt they may ever return to the U.S. That comes with “guilt”, Habryn says: “I purchase the narrative that you need to combat for the issues that you just consider in and that there’s worth to staying and preventing for that. If it weren’t for Steffi, I feel we might have.”
In the end her six-year-old daughter is their focus: “We put aside numerous issues that we like to do [because] we would like Steffi to have a routine, a steady residence, a steady college and all these issues. The toughest factor about this complete transfer has been worrying in regards to the affect on her and so the precedence was that we don’t wish to do that once more, we’re going to maneuver as soon as, and we wish to put down roots and spend the subsequent 15/20 years there.”
