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List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

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Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#51

Thanks for the list - would love to see which countries are new-grad friendly as well.

Netherlands is pretty favorable.

Get an MSc and you'll have full access to the Dutch job market for a whole year, then once you get a job you can get the highly-skilled migrant permit (with less restrictive criteria I think). After five years and passing some "integration" tests you can get permanent residence.

You're disadvantaged in some ways however because you're ineligible for the 30% tax ruling you'd possibly receive if you were recruited from abroad into a highly skilled position.

Then again, once you've started working you can do some tax adjusting and deduct a big chunk of your tuition costs from your first working year's taxes. I'm not sure if this will be possible much longer, though.

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#52

American in Paris for 1 year working as a Senior DevSecOps Engineer (or whatever they want to call us). Went from 225kUSD/yr in usa to 95kEUR in Europe (most senior devs are lucky to get 75k, paris tech salaries are lagging behind London, AMS and Berlin. I felt like I was getting underpaid until I figured out (awkwardly at a dinner) that i make more than a lot of doctors and government ministers. Plus the healthcare,…

Amsterdam is pricey and the salaries are not that good, if you want to come for the experience sure go for it. But to settle in? Think twice.

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because reducing the number of immigrants has been a hot topic politically for over the past decade.

I think almost everyone wants skilled immigration. People who were supporting Brexit specifically for immigration reasons were saying they'd support exceptions for skilled immigration, especially into the NHS. Even Nigel Farage is against a cap on immigration and for a points system for skilled immigration!

My point was more addressing why anyone might be surprised at the UK being relatively easy immigration wise.

That said, I'm not sure it really is as simple as skilled immigrants being welcome: there's plenty of people who'd rather we didn't have so many non-Western (culturally!) immigrants regardless of skill.

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#54
post #51

Thanks for the list - would love to see which countries are new-grad friendly as well.

Netherlands is pretty favorable. Get an MSc and you'll have full access to the Dutch job market for a whole year, then once you get a job you can get the highly-skilled migrant permit (with less restrictive criteria I think). After five years and passing some "integration" tests you can get permanent residence. You're disadvantaged in some ways however because you're ineligible for the 30% tax ruling you'd possibly r…

Graduates can receive 30% ruling...

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that you're moving to Berlin for a higher salary. I thought Berlin was infamous for very low salaries, but perhaps that's only among junior developers.

From personal friends, I know you can get paid >120k EUR if you have 5-10+ years of experience.

I would be interested to know what these friends do.

From my personal experience in game-dev in Berlin, the highest earning coding individual-contributor (so not a manager) salary I ever saw was 70-something €k per year (and it is quite rare to go above €65k even as a very senior programmer).

You will literally have to be C-level at a large and succesful company to earn €120k+ as far as I can tell (in this sector).

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#57

Left the states a few years ago. After a 2 years stint in Toronto at a startup I now work for a Swedish development agency in Gothenburg. 6 weeks of paid vacation, great public transit, and affordable housing all mean I'm never going back to the states. If your considering moving to Europe, I'd highly recommend it. Salary isn't everything in life. Happy to answer any questions

How's agency life compared to working at a startup? I'm currently at an agency in Stockholm and I'm thinking if I should go try out what's it like on the other side.

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#58

American in Paris for 1 year working as a Senior DevSecOps Engineer (or whatever they want to call us). Went from 225kUSD/yr in usa to 95kEUR in Europe (most senior devs are lucky to get 75k, paris tech salaries are lagging behind London, AMS and Berlin. I felt like I was getting underpaid until I figured out (awkwardly at a dinner) that i make more than a lot of doctors and government ministers. Plus the healthcare,…

For a fair comparison, look at contracting/freelance in Europe. You will have the same social safety net and benefits as the US (i.e. none) and the pay will be around 160kEUR per year (180kUSD) with 7 weeks of holiday. Given our lower cost of living you might even be better off.

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#59
post #17

I have a Danish startup visa and happy to answer questions. One thing re funding I wish I understood before I moved here: Europe has no favoured state laws which prevent governments from unilaterally propping up local companies, startups are no exception. However, there is a "no one cares" de minimus limit of 200k euros. Any published funding accompanying a startup visa will come out of this amount, and in practice t…

I'm moving to Denmark in a month. A few questions, if you have time:

- Do you have an opinion on the Copenhagen tech scene? Companies, talent, access to funding etc.

- How've you found integrating with the Danish culture?

- Any suggestions for how to build your network there?

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#60

It's strange when I think about it that I could tell you quite a bit about the US immigration and visa system (and I've never even used it apart from a J-1 years ago) but I have absolutely no idea how my own country the UK does immigration and visas.

I don't think it's that strange at all: information about your native country's visa system is almost entirely irrelevant to you. I also don't know what's on my country's citizenship exam because I'll never have to take it.

> information about your native country's visa system is almost entirely irrelevant to you

It's not irrelevant to me - I depend on doctors and nurses who are recruited on that system to give just a single concrete example, and what's more I'm responsible for the system via my representative as a voter.

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