Ask HN: living and working in US • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: living and working in US

#31

Post by DrJokepu » Fri, May 23, 2014, 11:33 AM UTC

neverminder wrote: post #8

KhalPanda wrote: post #4

Just out of curiosity (as a UK resident), how would you plan on moving to the states from a legal standpoint? As far as I'm aware, if you don't have immediate family who are US-citizens, $500k-$1M to invest in a business, marry a US citizen or take employment on a H1-B (not easy), it's not possible?

I'm an EU citizen as well and I have to agree with you, aside from all you've mentioned plus winning a green card - moving to US is anything but trivial.

The Diversity Visa Lottery will be likely repealed in the near future by the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 so that won't be an option for very long.

Re: Ask HN: living and working in US

#32

Post by lukasm » Fri, May 23, 2014, 11:33 AM UTC

Remote work from Spain?

Re: Ask HN: living and working in US

#33

Post by empressplay » Fri, May 23, 2014, 11:34 AM UTC

Emigration is going to be difficult, isn't it? Companies seem to rarely sponsor immigrants unless they're total rockstars or aqui-hires because in-sourcers like TCS can bring "average" IT workers in cheaper.

It looks like the days of Google et. al. recruiting from far-afield are over, unless you're CTO of an early-stage startup someone like Google might buy, or at least have some kick-ass side projects you can point to that will make you irresistibly attractive enough for someone to deal with all of the associated immigration headache, perhaps being better / worse off from a lifestyle perspective is a bit of a moot point?

Sorry to be a downer but... cart before horse, etc. etc.

Re: Ask HN: living and working in US

#34

Post by mkr-hn » Fri, May 23, 2014, 11:34 AM UTC

abcd_f wrote: post #14

My all time favourite place in North America is Europe. I am a European. I lived in US for two years, I lived in Canada for 15. I also lived in Sweden and Japan. States are good because it's just one big Walmart - everything is ridiculously cheap, but what it gets in quantity it tends to lose in quality. Canada in this respect is somewhat better, but it has the same problem - it feels ... I don't know ... diluted? To…

> No better manifested by the fact that most of the restaurants are there for eating and not for socializing.

We use bars and the internet for that.

Re: Ask HN: living and working in US

#35

Post by kasey_junk » Fri, May 23, 2014, 11:35 AM UTC

Not to put too fine a point on it, but just saying California isn't really even enough to narrow things down. Remember that California is about the size of Spain, but in many ways with more geographic, population and economic diversity.

The cost of living, job opportunities, weather, and life style varies dramatically from San Diego, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Sacremento, and San Francisco.

I'd recommend a trip to see. That said, California is the last place I'd move if I were a tech worker right now. You can get many of the same benefits (except possible access to VC money) in lots of other places. The Research Triangle NC and Austin TX for instance both offer much of what you are asking for at a much more affordable price.

Re: Ask HN: living and working in US

#36

Post by Morgawr » Fri, May 23, 2014, 11:35 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #9

gcp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is Belgium disappointing you? Well, given that his wife longs for "finally have some sunshine, lots of affordable fresh food, perhaps live in a house with garden, beautiful nature close enough to actually go camping for the weekends, and friendly and approachable people." I'm going to guess: high housing prices, population density killing nature & unfriendly people. Given that this is HN, I'd add "government and…

When I read that I thought: South of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy. Any one of those would solve the majority of those wishes, and would be a lot easier to get into than the US. The problem is that no country is perfect. You can't get 'free daycare', 'good weather', 'affordable fresh food', 'beautiful nature close by', 'free healthcare', 'friendly and approachable people', '5 weeks of holiday' and 'free education' a…

>You can't get 'free daycare', 'good weather', 'affordable fresh food', 'beautiful nature close by', 'free healthcare', 'friendly and approachable people', '5 weeks of holiday' and 'free education' all in one serving.

I agree with your general statement but this description actually fits a big chunk of Italy. It's ironic, I don't like my native country (Italy) and I'm an expatriate and yet I can realize how awesome it might sound to people not from it. The description fits everything you're going to find in Italy. However there are huge downsides, mainly the corruption, government, economy, large taxation for small businesses, very backwards tech (especially IT) industry.

If one can get a remote well-paying job, Italy is probably one of the best options to go for that. Downside: the language, Italians are very proud of their language and most of them have a hard time speaking English.

Re: Ask HN: living and working in US

#37

Post by jacquesm » Fri, May 23, 2014, 11:36 AM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #12

KhalPanda wrote: post #4

Just out of curiosity (as a UK resident), how would you plan on moving to the states from a legal standpoint? As far as I'm aware, if you don't have immediate family who are US-citizens, $500k-$1M to invest in a business, marry a US citizen or take employment on a H1-B (not easy), it's not possible?

[deleted]

It works as long as it works. Posting here under your real name is maybe not the best idea, people have been turned back by US immigration based on google searches of their name.

Yes, that sounds Orwellian.

Before we get the 'citation needed' police:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070427/095314.shtml

Re: Ask HN: living and working in US

#38

Post by kghose » Fri, May 23, 2014, 11:36 AM UTC

The only way to figure out if you like it is to try it out. Unless this was a bash US starter, in which case, carry on.

Re: Ask HN: living and working in US

#39

Post by davidw » Fri, May 23, 2014, 11:37 AM UTC

abcd_f wrote: post #14

My all time favourite place in North America is Europe. I am a European. I lived in US for two years, I lived in Canada for 15. I also lived in Sweden and Japan. States are good because it's just one big Walmart - everything is ridiculously cheap, but what it gets in quantity it tends to lose in quality. Canada in this respect is somewhat better, but it has the same problem - it feels ... I don't know ... diluted? To…

> what it gets in quantity it tends to lose in quality

To some degree, yes, but I feel that's something that has been changing some. In the town of 150K people I'm from, you can now get a decent variety of food products from Italy. They're expensive, but at least you can get them. 20 years ago, there's no way you could have even found that stuff. So I think some people are starting to 'get it'.

As another example, when my parents moved to Oregon in the 70ies, you could count the number of wineries on one hand. Now there are plenty of them, and some of them produce some decent wine.

Re: Ask HN: living and working in US

#40

Post by comrade1 » Fri, May 23, 2014, 11:39 AM UTC

For the sake of your child you should probably stay in Europe. The education system in the u.s. is terrible. 100% of my European friend couples have moved back to Europe as soon as they've gotten pregnant or gave birth in order to provide a better education for their children.