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Ask HN: How did you migrate to the country you are living in now?
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Re: Ask HN: How did you migrate to the country you are living in now?
#21) Saved up freelancing money to live here while looking for a job for 6 months to 1 year
2) In the meantime work on getting Australian citizenship (at the time I was an Australian permanent resident, but Ukrainian by nationality), which would allow me to:
3) Apply for a working holiday visa to target country
4) During the above use flexibility of freelancing to spend a year at home learning to code and building up a game dev portfolio and blog
5) Start applying for work 1 week after arriving to target country
6) Apply for normal work and residency visa with employer's help after getting a job.
Re: Ask HN: How did you migrate to the country you are living in now?
#3China: Applied for a job at a big name local company via the internet. Got paperwork and Z visa (if anyone's thinking about China, this is a must, as working illegally is taken much more seriously than in the past). The company provided dormitory style accommodation.
If you're thinking of China today (that was 10 years ago) and do technology, the easiest way would be to get a job with a well known Western company such as HP, IBM, etc big names as a regular Engineer or QA perhaps at a junior lead level (assuming not going in as more senior management, which in any case is usually internally picked). I'm absolutely sure anyone competent in a similar role with 3+ years' experience can get in AS LONG AS you can convince you'll be comfortable in a completely new culture and stay modest, and I've seen it done with experience that's not that relevant, simply because diversity and English skills are very much in need and appreciated most of the time (a minority of managers can get defensive). Chinese language not needed in most international companies.
Re: Ask HN: How did you migrate to the country you are living in now?
#4I sold my business, started renting my furnished apartment, and took the airplane to Cambodia. Did volunteering work for the first few months, and now do small technical contract work -- around 10 hours of work a month pays for all the bills. I live in a small villa that comes with a gardener and security.
Aside from the lack of a real justice system and dealing with the government, it is actually a very welcome break. It makes you appreciate a lot of things in the "first world" that you might not see, and am looking forward to moving back to Europe in 2016!
Re: Ask HN: How did you migrate to the country you are living in now?
#5A recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn with a job offer. The interview went well and I got the position, so I quit my previous job and moved to the UK.
Re: Ask HN: How did you migrate to the country you are living in now?
#6I migrated from Australia to Canada.
I came initially on a 1 year working holiday visa. Then got a 1 year work visa through an employer while I worked on my permanent resident application (spousal sponsorship).
PR was granted about 6 months after submission, and I got citizenship about 5 years later.
Re: Ask HN: How did you migrate to the country you are living in now?
#7I migrated from Australia to Canada. I came initially on a 1 year working holiday visa. Then got a 1 year work visa through an employer while I worked on my permanent resident application (spousal sponsorship). PR was granted about 6 months after submission, and I got citizenship about 5 years later.
Don't spouse visas take over 12 months? I'm about the start the process of sponsoring my spouse and we are expecting it to take almost 2 years (we aren't living in Canada at the moment).
EDIT: well they do say "up to 16 months" at the Ottawa processing center. So I guess given the time you'd already spent in Canada 6 months isn't that wild.
Re: Ask HN: How did you migrate to the country you are living in now?
#8I migrated from Belgium to Hong Kong.
It actually begun when I did my internship in China, after graduating I started looking for jobs in Hong Kong and one company offered me a working visa. 4 years later and I'm still there. (Although at another company)
Re: Ask HN: How did you migrate to the country you are living in now?
#9Finished army service in Finland, the company I'd been working for opened an office in Singapore, jumped at the chance to become its first engineer and not see snow again for a while. Spent 8 years in Singapore and traveling around the region (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, UAE, Saudi, Kuwait...), met my wife, founded a startup, which flopped but led to a job offer from Australia. We headed over on a work visa, applied for and received permanent residence 2 years and a bit later [1], and I became a citizen last year.
[1] http://gyrovague.com/2012/08/10/notarizing-your-fingerprints...
Re: Ask HN: How did you migrate to the country you are living in now?
#10Berlin, Germany: Took some savings from working back in the States, got here on a 90-day tourist visa, found an apartment and got my first working visa (without about 2 weeks to spare!, although you can extend a tourist visa here) as an English teacher. Later transitioned into a full-time development job.
Came here with my German girlfriend though, so I had a bit of help in terms of language, talking with bureaucracy, etc. But getting a visa (at least as an American!) was fairly straightforward and cheap, if occasionally slow and, well, bureaucratic.
Been here about 4 1/2 years now and love it.