 <p>I have the answer. Apparently jQuery doesn't support the <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/a/1694803/1062281">default behavior of links clicked programmatically</a> </p> <p>Creating and submitting a form works really well though (tested in <code>Chrome 26</code>, <code>FF 20</code> and <code>IE 8</code>):</p> <pre><code>var form = $("&lt;form&gt;&lt;/form&gt;"); form.attr( { id : "newform", action : "https://google.nl", method : "GET", target : "_blank" // Open in new window/tab }); $("body").append(form); $("#newform").submit(); $("#newform").remove(); </code></pre> <p>What it does:</p> <ol> <li>Create a form</li> <li>Give it attributes</li> <li>Append it to the DOM so it can be submitted</li> <li>Submit it</li> <li>Remove the form from the DOM</li> </ol> <p>Now you have a new tab/window loading "<a href="https://google.nl" rel="nofollow">https://google.nl</a>" (or any URL you want, just replace it). Unfortunately when you try to open more than one window at once this way, you get an Popup blocked messagebar when trying to open the second one (the first one is still opened).</p>