An European country perhaps? If you get a visa for q few years in Germany, for example, then you can apply for permanent residence. There are freelance visas.
Ask HN: How can I escape my 3W country as a freelance dev with passive income?
21–27 of 27 posts
Re: Ask HN: How can I escape my 3W country as a freelance dev with passive income?
#22You'll need lots of money or a high education to move to one of the European Union countries. Try getting a job that offers a work visa in one of the countries of your choice. But that's temporary by definition. Another option, move to a country like Mexico that has options. Immigration is not as difficult as it is in the US or Europe and you can make a relatively good living if you have marketable skills. I know of…
Canada might not be as good of an option. I've spend a month in Canada in September 2024 and spoke with people from Uber drivers to an immigrants. Everybody keeps mentioning that it's close to impossible to find a job for last couple of years and it is getting really expensive day by day.
Re: Ask HN: How can I escape my 3W country as a freelance dev with passive income?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're looking for a beautiful place to go outside, Svalbard is not it lol. Thailand is awesome, however they're not like many other well developed places where English is important to them. They are proud of their language and you'll need to learn it to get on. It's a shame because you speak English perfectly. If you want something that your English can be a skill that you can put to use, Europe and the English s…
> If you're looking for a beautiful place to go outside, Svalbard is not it lol. It'd be a nice change from the desert climates I've been stuck in all my life though haha > You can get work as an English teacher in Korea or Japan since you're so good at it Let's be real here, they won't feel much confidence in learning English from a brown person :') I grew up on English media and then raised on the internet so my ac…
> There are some "gray" options like paying someone to "hire" you as their employee, basically getting an employment visa but doing your own thing. Or paying someone to marry you :') Both options are legal but rely on trust and make you dependent on a person you don't know: They can take your money then give you the boot any time if they want.
That's exactly the problem with even the most "benign" expats (I was an expat myself). They bring with them the same practices and prejudices from which they are trying to escape.
Re: Ask HN: How can I escape my 3W country as a freelance dev with passive income?
#24The Netherlands has the Highly Skilled Migrant (HSM) visum:
https://ind.nl/en/residence-permits/work/highly-skilled-migr...
In summary, it requires:
- a company willing to apply for the visum for you, and,
- a minimum salary that varies on age and education level (this is how we measure how sought after your skillset is in our market).
In your case the salary requirement would be 5331 euros/month because you are over 30 and don't have a recognized master's degree.
If you have the Turkish nationality there are some more relaxed requirements (e.g. you can apply for the visum yourself, you don't need to company to do the paperwork, although in practice it will be faster and easier if the company is an official HSM sponsor).
Apart from the HSM visum you can also pursue a Startup Visum or a Self-employed visum, see https://www.netherlandspointofentry.nl/start-a-business/ for more information. If you don't want to work for someone else I suppose you can also set up a Dutch company and hire yourself as a HSM, but I don't have direct experience or knowledge about that.
If you can get a job that meets the salary requirements the highly-skilled migrant visum is very straightforward. The Netherlands is a good place to live and we also offer tax facilities to highly skilled migrants (https://business.gov.nl/running-your-business/staff/terms-of...).
There is a path to citizenship. If you qualify for the HSM visum that means you'll be getting a salary that will allow you to build a good life here, including getting a mortgage and buying a house, for example.
The difficulty of finding a job like that and an employer willing to sponsor you depends on your skillset. Once you get here, it can also be difficult to find a place to live, especially if you insist on living in crowded places like Amsterdam.
I would recommend doing your own research or getting advice from people qualified to talk about immigration law, which I am not. If you have questions that I can answer from the perspective of an employer that sponsors these visa and helps colleagues move here my email is in my profile.
Re: Ask HN: How can I escape my 3W country as a freelance dev with passive income?
#25You'll need lots of money or a high education to move to one of the European Union countries. Try getting a job that offers a work visa in one of the countries of your choice. But that's temporary by definition. Another option, move to a country like Mexico that has options. Immigration is not as difficult as it is in the US or Europe and you can make a relatively good living if you have marketable skills. I know of…
Canada might not be as good of an option. I've spend a month in Canada in September 2024 and spoke with people from Uber drivers to an immigrants. Everybody keeps mentioning that it's close to impossible to find a job for last couple of years and it is getting really expensive day by day.
If he’s able to freelance it might not be a big deal honestly.
Canada is far better than other options and he can immigrate to the best country for tech (USA) later if he wants.
If he wants to get out of the shithole country (I’m also from 3rd world bottom middle class - f that those countries are a lost cause) then Canada is a huge upgrade.
Re: Ask HN: How can I escape my 3W country as a freelance dev with passive income?
#26Sorry, I don't have any advice. But earning $1K-2K as a passive income is huge! Atleast as a fellow 3W resident. Do you mind sharing what you do?
Anyway, wishing you good luck!
Re: Ask HN: How can I escape my 3W country as a freelance dev with passive income?
#27Sorry, I don't have any advice. But earning $1K-2K as a passive income is huge! Atleast as a fellow 3W resident. Do you mind sharing what you do? Anyway, wishing you good luck!
Without giving away too much PII, some of it is interest from various savings accounts and subscriptions/donations from Patreon etc. and some from sporadic sales.