No. of Recommendations: 4
If I move to Austria or Portugal, is it possible I could become a target of anti-Americanism; the new class of unwanted migrant?
I can't claim to understand the dynamics of racism and immigration in Portugal having been here only a year and a half, but it's pretty clear that the immigrant Black population from Brazil and Angola (and a few other CPLP countries) is a much bigger target of the far right(*) (who are in coalition with the center-right party in power at the moment, which has led to immigration slowdowns and restrictions).
Probably that is partly because there are far more of those folks than US / UK white folks, partly because they tend to be much poorer and often have more irregular immigration status. The government is not chasing down / imprisoning / shooting them on the streets for being out of status, though.
Wealthier white Anglo immigrants tend to receive general dissatisfaction over rising housing prices and limited availability of housing, although I don't think there are enough of us to have much effect except at the high end. There has not been a single instance of anti-Americanism directed at me as an individual.
N.b. there are an amazing amount of decaying, abandoned buildings, at least in my part of Lisboa. Partly because there used to be big port and naval base facilities along the river here, but it's not like there's no room to build new housing if the funding for it existed. I see a lot of reconstruction of existing older buildings into fancier condos, but not much in the way of removal of abandoned ones.
(*) Every time I see the far right party leader on a billboard I am struck by how closely he resembles JD Vance. It's like there's a template for smarminess.