Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA

#1

Post by alexhakawy » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 12:52 PM UTC

Not sure where to begin I am a US Citizen not a felon but wondering what I can do or the process to get started in moving to Europe?

what's it like out there comparing to America. I want a new life fresh start new faces.

I have family in Europe I don't have a degree or anything yet. I know some programming but I plan to live with an aunt out there. No kids no job 26 years of age

Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA

#2

Post by neximo64 » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:19 PM UTC

Find a job in your country of choice and get your visa - then move, about as simple as that.

If you're looking at a job on the continent make sure you know the local language fluently (not English). It is said that its ok to know English alone but it really isn't.

You'll come to the reason that most Europeans in the tech space opt for the US - the compensation factor in Europe is relatively poor.

Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA

#3

Post by colinbartlett » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:35 PM UTC

You won't exactly get fresh faces, but have you thought about working remotely for an American company from Europe? Many companies are open to this and you can skirt visa issues just traveling as a tourist. This way, you can dip your toes into the locale you're interested in with less commitment and upending.

Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA

#4

Post by taway_1212 » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:39 PM UTC

Man, 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, from Germany to New Zealand to China vs NYC to SF to Seattle).

Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA

#5

Post by cylinder » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:41 PM UTC

The New World is better for fresh starts than Europe.

Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA

#6

Post by PaulHoule » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:42 PM UTC

I think Europe is going just as nutty as the states, maybe more. I am betting that the national front wins in France and France drops out; after that the euro collapses and we see a monetary nightmare.

Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA

#7

Post by shortsightedsid » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:42 PM UTC

I recently moved for an year's assignment to Amsterdam. Intercompany transfer.

The process has been interesting. The main thing which took time was getting my Birth certificate legalized under The Hague convention a.k.a apostilled. After that it's documentation work which my company lawyer handled. Once I got here it's taken time to get used to the differences but thoroughly enjoy it.

Highly recommend it, if you can. The best route has been this - inter company transfer.

Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA

#8

Post by drakonka » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:43 PM UTC

Does the US have a working holiday visa arrangement with Europe? This is how I moved, but I was moving from Australia. Got my Australian citizenship and applied for working holiday visa to Sweden. Visa documentation was emailed to me within a couple of weeks of the application. This allowed me to move with my savings and look for a job on-site. The employer I found then helped me out with the process of applying for my employee visa and residence permit once my working holiday visa was near expiry.

If you're a senior dev you may be able to just bypass the "move first" step and get a job remotely with a relocation package. I had experience in my chosen industry but was still considered fairly junior, so moving to the country and applying from there ended up being more productive than looking for a company that would deal with relocating a junior from the other side of the world.

Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA

#9

Post by raverbashing » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:44 PM UTC

> what I can do or the process to get started in moving to Europe?

Do your homework? Learn a language besides English (maybe?)

At least rejoice, European visa processes are usually straightforward (if you have a diploma) and it usually involves much less BS and waits than the corresponding H1-B process

Re: Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA

#10

Post by radicalbyte » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 1:44 PM UTC

I moved from the UK to The Netherlands a decade ago. It was a fantastic decision. It's nice here, most people speak English (although I learnt the language) and there's a lot of demand for Developers. There are also crazy tax incentives which result in you paying basically 0 tax for the first 5 years. That covers the costs of learning the language (3k EUR and it takes 2 years).