You can only remain in the Schengen Zone for 90 days every 6 months as a US Citizen. Have you given any thought to your strategy there? Some countries will allow a language learning visa which could help you get some extra time until you get yourself sorted out for work. You don't want to overstay your tourist visa either, as it will likely cause problems for you when you leave and try to come back.
Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
101–110 of 239 posts
Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
#102You can only remain in the Schengen Zone for 90 days every 6 months as a US Citizen. Have you given any thought to your strategy there? Some countries will allow a language learning visa which could help you get some extra time until you get yourself sorted out for work. You don't want to overstay your tourist visa either, as it will likely cause problems for you when you leave and try to come back.
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Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
#103If you are a programmer/designer you can get a 3 year freelance visa in Berlin, Germany. I currently live in Berlin with that visa. Your standard of living in Europe will vary. Sure, some places offer free healthcare (not exactly free - see taxes), better public transportation, and decent quality food at lower tier supermarkets. That's all great. On the other hand, you'll likely take a huge hit in salary and pay high…
Thanks for the insight. Could you share more about how you went about getting a freelance visa as a programmer.
Most of the bullet points for Documents Required in you link actually say "not required for freelance" but then I see:
"Proof of a secure livelihood must also include sufficient health insurance."
Did you have to show a current consulting contract?
Do you have to show that you are currently contracting for a company via invoices?
If so does that consulting contract or invoices have to be from a German company or could it for a company in the US?
Is it possible to contact you off list?
Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
#104The New World is better for fresh starts than Europe.
Source? Not just an opinion please, I mean an actual source - with facts, figures, data. Also, you would have to define what you actually mean by "better" (as well as what "fresh start" really means). Details. What kind of person (with enough relevant details to actually be a useful description) doing what can expect what based on what where exactly (US and Europe are both huge and very diverse places)?
Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
#105I assume you want a career as a software engineer. This is my list: - Berlin: cheap (getting expensive quick, but still cheap for a large city), multicultural (many, many people from all around the world, lots of people speak English, those who don't usually understand you), Germans themselves are very open and interesting as a nation. Berlin has a vibrant startup scene, which is nice for getting your first job as a…
I would not suggest Germany or (german) Switzerland to people that don't speak german.
Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have more info to support the "usually of very questionable quality" claim? Edit: corrected "low" to "questionable".
Sorry, I only have my personal experience and that of my family and friends. And I didn't say "low". Usually it's highly bureaucratic - you have to "climb a ladder" of doctors. First your GP, then a specialist, then, maybe a hospital. You wait a lot (sometimes weeks and months, because you are not "emergency"). And sometimes you encounter outright incompetence and have to go to a private doctor/hospital to have your…
My experience of the NHS in the UK is exactly the same. I've heard of some people gaming the system a little by using private insurance to supplement their healthcare. Then they can get a referral to see a NHS specialist from a private doctor, so no waiting to see a GP who might not give you the referral you want anyway.
Not to say that there aren't also significant problems with US healthcare.
Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
#107Man, you have a very vauable asset for a tech career - a US Citizenship. I am very envious of folks who have it. The tech career opportunities outside of US are really not that diverse and are heavily scattered across the world - i.e. maybe the rest of the world combined is as interesting tech-wide as US is - but with lower salary and language/immigration barriers (i.e. try job-hopping, over a span of say 5 years, fr…
I agreee with you. As a mexican with no college degree (I'm entirely self-taught), one of my 'career dreams' is to work at a company like Airbnb, Uber, Google, Facebook, etc, but the lack of work visa, or in this case, US citizenzhip, makes it IMPOSSIBLE for me unless I do some crazy stuff like getting an O-1 visa (extraordinary ability). I was offered a Product Design position at Medium but I couldn't move forward b…
There's always the L-1B visa option: work for a company that has offices both in the US and somewhere you can already work. After one year, apply to transfer to the US offices.
Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
#108Man, you have a very vauable asset for a tech career - a US Citizenship. I am very envious of folks who have it. The tech career opportunities outside of US are really not that diverse and are heavily scattered across the world - i.e. maybe the rest of the world combined is as interesting tech-wide as US is - but with lower salary and language/immigration barriers (i.e. try job-hopping, over a span of say 5 years, fr…
> Man, you have a very vauable asset for a tech career - a US Citizenship
This isn't really that important at all. I don't really recognise this as a specific asset in any way.
> The tech career opportunities outside of US are really not that diverse and are heavily scattered across the world
That's an extremely biased and, in my opinion, incorrect view. Even if you just take the big tech capitals in Europe - London, Berlin, Paris etc - you have hugh tech opportunities in each. The opportunities in London alone rival those in New York. Sure there's not really a specific place similar to Silicon Valley - but that's really the only thing missing.
Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you trying to spread fud? Because everything you said is either plain wrong or made to sound worse than it is. 1. All prices in europe include tax, unlike in the US where it's customary to not include tax in the price and pay it at checkout. Stuff tends to be more expensive not just because of VAT but also because of shipping prices and extra consumer protections such as mandatory 2 year warranties. 2. Just like…
What you say is correct. All things have variations. The Athens flat for 100 euro (though I highly doubt the price you cite) has it's equivalence somewhere in cheap cities of the US I never said that healthcare was "bad", only that it has its problems. Please note that I didn't say that Europe is worse, just that you'll be worse financially, which I didn't see you disproving.
Depends where you are. You'll probably make way more in Switzerland than in the US for equivalent positions.
Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it's merely generally harder and for less money. My experience has been the opposite in terms of difficulty. In most EU countries the market of software engineers who can also speak the native country's language is really small so its way easier to stand out from the crowd. In the US, you have to compete in a 350 million+ population pool plus global candidates who have studied English their whole lives. In any give…
You can't ignore the demand side of the equation though. US is leading economic and military (which leads to lots of tech as well) superpower and a lot of European countries are relatively backwater in comparison. For example, in the UK, there's little real tech companies and most developer roles are confined to non-tech support roles in other economy sectors (finance, retail etc.).
This is just complete rubbish. Sorry, it looks like you have extremely limited experience of tech jobs outside of the US, and/or are purposefully trolling.