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Tech workers flee Belarus as IT haven takes authoritarian turn

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Re: Tech workers flee Belarus as IT haven takes authoritarian turn

#151

Post by dragonwriter »

dominotw wrote: post #149
jakozaur wrote: post #60

Emigrating from Belarus to Poland is easy. Even if one of your grandparents has Polish origins you can get easily equivalent of USA green card. Polish governament is working on new law to make it even easier and available more broadly. Given Poland borders before World War II were covering huge part of today Belarus a lot of people can take of the advantage. Regular work permit for IT proffesional is also rubber stam…

>Even if one of your grandparents has Polish origins you can get easily equivalent of USA green card. >Nothing compared to cruel H1B. H1B doesn't need your grandparents to be from USA.

H1B doesn't qualify you for a green card, either, it just gives you temporary residency and work authorization, without prohibiting you from intending to later seek a status that would qualify you for a green card without leaving first.

Re: Tech workers flee Belarus as IT haven takes authoritarian turn

#152

Post by jdminhbg »

dominotw wrote: post #149
jakozaur wrote: post #60

Emigrating from Belarus to Poland is easy. Even if one of your grandparents has Polish origins you can get easily equivalent of USA green card. Polish governament is working on new law to make it even easier and available more broadly. Given Poland borders before World War II were covering huge part of today Belarus a lot of people can take of the advantage. Regular work permit for IT proffesional is also rubber stam…

>Even if one of your grandparents has Polish origins you can get easily equivalent of USA green card. >Nothing compared to cruel H1B. H1B doesn't need your grandparents to be from USA.

You're quoting two different things. The first is a green card equivalent, the second is a work permit.

Re: Tech workers flee Belarus as IT haven takes authoritarian turn

#153

Post by mhh__ »

burfog wrote: post #144
mhh__ wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if Biden is boring, he's a good man to lead the US out of the quagmire it's in at the moment. Trump is totally amoral, whereas Biden has experienced loss in a way that few can imagine. He's not perfect, but he knows how to play the congressional game and when he reaches out to people looking for change in the police who have lost a loved one you know he isn't lying. The alternative was also Bernie, which I just…

What loss, his marbles? If you mean his son, well, Trump lost two brothers. When in congress, Biden pushed for the harsh sentencing that we had, with the 1994 crime bill. Trump supported and then signed the First Step Act, which is legislation to undo some of that. "Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle" -- Biden, in 1977

As in Joe Biden's wife and children died in a car crash, and later one of his surviving sons died?

Trump has no concept of morality or loss - you realise why he wasn't invited to John McCain's funeral, right?

Re: Tech workers flee Belarus as IT haven takes authoritarian turn

#154

Post by jen20 »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #121
sam_lowry_ wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Language is not that much of a problem. They all speak Russian. Lithuania has a sizable minority of Russian speakers, and has historical ties to Belarus. Latvia is predominantly Russian-speaking. Ukraine as well. Knowing Belarusian, they can pick up Polish rather quickly. As a last resort, Russia is still freer than Belarus politically and better off economically. Smolensk is half an hour drive from the Belarusian bo…

This is quite inaccurate. Lithuania's minority of Russian speakers is not "sizable" at all. Much fewer ethnic Russians lived there historically compared to the other two Baltic states, and loads of the Soviet-era Russian transplants left after '91. Russian is pretty useless for doing business as a foreigner, people expect English. In Latvia, especially Riga, Russian is spoken, but younger generations of ethnic Latvia…

Lithuania is an interesting case (I don't know much about the other Baltic states). I've been there at least twice a year for the last decade, and have helped organise one of the largest software conferences there for several of those. Several of my best friends (British and American expats) live in Vilnius and are married to Lithuanians.

My experience is anyone 30 or over speaks fluent Russian, but many of those will not admit to it - those in the 30-40 range are highly distrustful of anything Russian - and reasonably so given the history of the country. Anyone under 30 barely speaks Russian unless they themselves are immigrants from Russia.

I'd agree that in Lithuania a software engineering candidate that spoke Russian and not at least a "very good" standard of English or fluent Lithuanian would struggle to find work.

Re: Tech workers flee Belarus as IT haven takes authoritarian turn

#155

Post by dominotw »

jdminhbg wrote: post #152
dominotw wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Even if one of your grandparents has Polish origins you can get easily equivalent of USA green card. >Nothing compared to cruel H1B. H1B doesn't need your grandparents to be from USA.

You're quoting two different things. The first is a green card equivalent, the second is a work permit.

you are right. i misread the comment.

Re: Tech workers flee Belarus as IT haven takes authoritarian turn

#156

Post by Nginx487 »

Tostino wrote: post #109
severino wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> be hopeful that their country improves in the future Yes, but things can go into the other direction too, if for example the EU takes over and their good old country turns into another failed state ala Ukraine...

If the EU takes over they are more likely turn into a failed state? Not quite sure I'm getting what you mean.

In any internet topic covering Ukraine or Belarus, you can find at least one toxic Russian actively hating its Western neighbors.

Re: Tech workers flee Belarus as IT haven takes authoritarian turn

#158

Post by Nginx487 »

sam_lowry_ wrote: post #33
akira2501 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, whoever wrote that never heard of a "language barrier." IT is not some universal language.

Language is not that much of a problem. They all speak Russian. Lithuania has a sizable minority of Russian speakers, and has historical ties to Belarus. Latvia is predominantly Russian-speaking. Ukraine as well. Knowing Belarusian, they can pick up Polish rather quickly. As a last resort, Russia is still freer than Belarus politically and better off economically. Smolensk is half an hour drive from the Belarusian bo…

> As a last resort, Russia is still freer than Belarus politically

That's an arguable statement. Russia is also ruled by lifetime president, any protests are being brutally oppressed, opposition leaders are being assassinated or imprisoned, state TV airing anti-Western propaganda 24/7. Ukraine and Lithuania look much better choice by all measures.

Re: Tech workers flee Belarus as IT haven takes authoritarian turn

#160

Post by ornornor »

bonoboTP wrote: post #111
crispyporkbites wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most likely they will want to stay close to Belarus, as most will have family that remains and be hopeful that their country improves in the future.

Germany is just one country further; flights are fast and dirt cheap. If you go abroad, might as well go to a place where salaries are higher.

Then go to Switzerland. If you find a job and have EEU citizenship (not sure about residence permit), getting a permit to stay is just a form and less than 100.-. you can’t find a better place in the EEU for salaries imho. In a small town, your expenses are rather low and these jobs pay 80–120k CHF with taxes around 15–30% depending on the kanton.
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