Living abroad is a dream many people have, whether it’s spending a summer in a foreign country or packing up their entire life to make the permanent move. In fact, according to a 2025 Harris Poll, more than half of Americans believe they could have a higher quality of life abroad, and many say they’d move if they had the means. Some estimates show that an estimated 5.5 million Americans live abroad, according to the Association of Americans Resident Overseas.

But life is funny, and sometimes these expats come back to the United States for a variety of reasons like family or career, which gives them an extremely interesting perspective when they begin their re-entry.

Take American-born TikTok user Kayleigh Donahue, for example. She’s going viral on the platform because of her unflinching take on why it was a mistake for her to move back to the U.S. after spending 4 years in Ireland.

Moving to the U.S. was a step backwards

Kayleigh moved back to the Boston area from Ireland to make more money, but that didn’t go as planned.

Even though she got paid more, the cost of living was so much higher that she saved less money than she did........

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