List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits • Hacker News Board

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#161

Post by badpun » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 9:33 AM UTC

kogepathic wrote: post #50

badpun wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do the post-tax salaries (Paris vs US) look like? I’m asking because France is reported to have the highest taxes in the world.

I live and work in Paris. My net income after taxes, social contributions, etc is 65% of my gross salary. This includes the new prélèvement à la source, so in theory I shouldn't owe additional taxes next year. I personally calculate every mandatory contribution that comes off my gross salary as "taxes" even though many people will disagree. IMHO, it's mandatory, it comes off the top, so it's "taxes" I wouldn't consid…

From what I've read, France is using a trick (used by other countries in Europe as well, Poland for example) where the "gross" amount stated on your employment contract is not the real gross amount, because the employer pays additional taxes (invisible to you) on top of it. So, effectively the employment contract is taxed on both your end and employer's, for a total 50%+ of effective taxation. I suppose this trick is used to not make people angry when they see their payslip.

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#162

Post by dragonwriter » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 9:37 AM UTC

badpun wrote: post #161

kogepathic wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live and work in Paris. My net income after taxes, social contributions, etc is 65% of my gross salary. This includes the new prélèvement à la source, so in theory I shouldn't owe additional taxes next year. I personally calculate every mandatory contribution that comes off my gross salary as "taxes" even though many people will disagree. IMHO, it's mandatory, it comes off the top, so it's "taxes" I wouldn't consid…

From what I've read, France is using a trick (used by other countries in Europe as well, Poland for example) where the "gross" amount stated on your employment contract is not the real gross amount, because the employer pays additional taxes (invisible to you) on top of it. So, effectively the employment contract is taxed on both your end and employer's, for a total 50%+ of effective taxation. I suppose this trick is…

> France is using a trick (used by other countries in Europe as well, Poland for example) where the "gross" amount stated on your employment contract is not the real gross amount, because the employer pays additional taxes (invisible to you) on top of it.

You mean (insofar as this is a trick), just like the US does?

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#163

Post by akaralar » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 9:38 AM UTC

I’m in the process of applying for Spanish Highly Skilled visa and the company told me that university diploma is required. I wonder where the author of the document got his info on that visa, to make sure whether it’s required or not.

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#164

Post by repolfx » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 10:33 AM UTC

MagnumOpus wrote: post #160

repolfx wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that surprising? The UK has had huge immigration numbers for decades and a centrist/centre-right government that is (mildly) interested in simplifying government procedures.

Wrong on two counts. The UK home office is not interested in simplifying but in creating a hostile environment for skilled immigrants [0]. Second, the current government is certainly not centrist but far-right nationalist - if the above policy doesn't clue you in, Brexit should... [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Office_hostile_environm...

I was referring to simplifying procedures in general and yes, they have done a lot of that. Look at gov.uk, look at how there are now new banks in the UK after hundreds of years with none.

The "hostile environment" is all about illegal immigration and as such is certainly not about pointlessly complicated paperwork for people who are legal immigrants. It says absolutely everything about the extremist position that some people have reached that you appear to be treating illegal and legal immigration as exactly the same, and then describe a government that tries to enforce its own immigration rules as "far right nationalist". If that's the case then practically every country in the world is "far right nationalist", which would make it a meaningless designation. Exactly what it's become!

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#165

Post by badpun » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 1:01 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #162

badpun wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've read, France is using a trick (used by other countries in Europe as well, Poland for example) where the "gross" amount stated on your employment contract is not the real gross amount, because the employer pays additional taxes (invisible to you) on top of it. So, effectively the employment contract is taxed on both your end and employer's, for a total 50%+ of effective taxation. I suppose this trick is…

> France is using a trick (used by other countries in Europe as well, Poland for example) where the "gross" amount stated on your employment contract is not the real gross amount, because the employer pays additional taxes (invisible to you) on top of it. You mean (insofar as this is a trick), just like the US does?

I do not know US taxes, if US does that as well, then I guess the trick is just too good to not be used. If you're wondering if this is a trick at all, just read some tax theory, where they define a well-constructed tax as (amongst others) one that brings lots of revenue and does not create lots of resentment/social unrest in return.

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#166

Post by gnulinux » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 7:31 PM UTC

TomMarius wrote: post #159

gnulinux wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked in a startup in Turkey (Istanbul) years ago (currently working in a startup in Boston). The culture was pretty "Western". The office had a beer fountain and my manager was really chill, it was an enjoyable experience. Not sure if you would be able to find that in any other part of the country though.

I heard Turkey has changed a lot in the past 5 years. Do you think it'd be the same today?

I don't know sorry. This was ~7 years ago and I lived in the US since then. I would guess it highly depends on the company. The company I worked for was a hardware/iot/web startup that was doing really fascinating work, and got good investment, and founders were graduates of best universities in Turkey. My guess is if you research the company and see that the culture is something you like, it's probably possible to find another company like that. Though I would admit finding a job somewhere else in Europe is probably orders of magnitude safer. I wouldn't do it today, but that's because I have a job I love in the US.

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#167

Post by woahitsraj » Mon, Mar 11, 2019, 9:10 AM UTC

danilocesar wrote: post #97

woahitsraj wrote: post #48

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

What's so bad about Toronto? Ontario looks like a nice region to live.

It's all right but the housing market is absolutely insane. I was paying 1600 CAD for a 50 sq ft apartment.

The public transportation was also awful. TTC is a joke. I also wasn't a big fan of the culture of the city. Lots of finance people and I also feel a lot of the hyper competitive status focused culture of the states has seeped in to Toronto.

I also have much more flexibility and vacation with my current job. 6 weeks vs 4 plus I can work remotely now though this is more of a function of the company I work for

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#168

Post by woahitsraj » Mon, Mar 11, 2019, 10:52 AM UTC

Gpetrium wrote: post #128

danilocesar wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's so bad about Toronto? Ontario looks like a nice region to live.

I don't think anything is bad with Toronto per say (maybe housing prices), he explicitly said states, maybe life just pulled him to the EU

Pretty much this but there are some gripes I have with Toronto as I posted above

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#169

Post by woahitsraj » Mon, Mar 11, 2019, 10:53 AM UTC

Pandabob wrote: post #57

woahitsraj wrote: post #48

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.

It's a very different pace of work. I really loved working at a startup but there were some months where I was working 60-70 hours a week to get something shipped because runway was short. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun but I prefer agency life. Lots of variety of projects, reasonable time budgets, generous time off, and I always get to work on pretty cutting edge technologies.

Re: List of 30 European Tech Visas and Work Permits

#170

Post by woahitsraj » Mon, Mar 11, 2019, 10:55 AM UTC

oblio wrote: post #74

woahitsraj wrote: post #48

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

Affordable housing? I heard that Stockholm is super expensive relative to local salaries.

I live in Göteborg but there are other things than relative salary that make Sweden attractive. I think it depends a lot on what you want out of life. The US or Canada might be good for some people. If you want to maximize your salary relative to cost of living, Austin or Seattle may be a good choice.