I moved from Argentina to the Netherlands in 2017. I wanted to experience living in a safe, stable and low-burocracy country. Turns out The Netherlands is much more and I've been here for more than 4 years already.
As a big fan of bikes, learning about bike centric cities... I don't know where else I could go now. Living surrounded by cars is terrible.
Ask HN: What is your story of immigrating to another country?
31–40 of 180 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is your story of immigrating to another country?
#32Moved twice - once to the USA, 30 years ago, from Eastern Europe. US is a perfect place to make [more than enough] money (and enjoy some, when not at/with/connected to work), while strong / well fit educationally, psychologically and physically, in a country where jungle capitalism shrunk social safety to nothingness. So make sure you don't need it.
After 30 yrs moved out of the USA, to France, to enjoy the financial fruits of my labor in probably one of the best-to-enjoy-life-at-its-fullest places on earth. Planning to stay here until the end.
Re: Ask HN: What is your story of immigrating to another country?
#33For reference, I’m from the Netherlands. I didn’t have any plans to emigrate until my friend introduced me to a small company in Japan that was looking for an engineer. I applied, but was rejected, so I thought that was that. Then a few months later I got another email. Their initial hire didn’t work out and now they wanted me to join. I worked remote for about a month while we got the visa process sorted (apparently…
> I didn’t speak the language at all, but western civilization is oddly similar even if the details are different. Never heard Japan being referred to as part of western civilization before.
I think that's just the good old ambiguity of the English language, I read it as: western civilization being oddly similar to Japanese civilisation (I'm a British native, but I don't claim to be any kind of arbiter of the English language!)
Re: Ask HN: What is your story of immigrating to another country?
#34Background: normal indian software dude mid 20's. Always wanted to go abroad from childhood but poverty. Recently got the urge to do something with my life (probably because the whole pandemic situation was really monotonous). Tried hard and got an opportunity to move to Amsterdam and I took it. I went with almost zero preparation because, I mean its a first world country, I can buy everything there and what could go…
I moved recently to netherlands and a lot of your experience mirrors with mine, but thankfully i have been able to make some connections by joining different activities like gym, kick boxing, soccer etc.
I think if your are earning well enough in India, it's always going to be more comfortable than here but that doesn't mean one shouldn't get out of one's comfort zone and travel.
It's okay to go and work outside, gain some experience and then later on return if you don't end up liking it.
Re: Ask HN: What is your story of immigrating to another country?
#35Sweden -> Denmark
Denmark -> Sweden
Sweden -> Malta (2 kids, stayed only 4 months in Malta)
Malta -> Bolivia (stayed 2 years)
Bolivia -> Sweden (bought a house and finally we will settle)
Sweden -> Spain (with 3 kids, got an offer I could not refuse)
Spain -> Sweden (in year 2023, hope this will be the final)
Some pain points: changing schools for the kids, learning new languages, residency and citizenship, paperwork, selling and buying house, transporting 98 boxes of stuff, having friends and relatives spread around the globe etc
My wife is from Bolivia and there I learned spanish. I like to live in all 3 countries (spain, sweden, bolivia) - they all have their pros and cons. We have kept our house in Bolivia and we will also keep our house in Spain when we move back to Sweden.
Important question: has this been a net positive for our 3 kids? I think yes. They speak 3 languages and have seen the world and lived in different cultures more than most other kids.
Re: Ask HN: What is your story of immigrating to another country?
#36I married an Austrian while living with her in Texas. I made exactly zero plans before moving. She had the better degree by far so it only made sense to move to Austria. Getting a job was easy by local standards due to a tight local market for programmers. Getting through German classes to earn the permanent residency was the toughest part. I would never consider moving back to the USA. I was always a sceptic of the…
Funny, I live in Austria and I wish to emigrate to the US. I consider Europe, and Austria in particular a living nightmare.
Re: Ask HN: What is your story of immigrating to another country?
#37I immigrated to the Netherlands for 3.5 years and came back. I really recommend immigration as an experience as it's real character building and gives you so much perspective on life and on your home country.
I realized my close family and culture were more important than I thought and I moved back. Also there are some genuine annoying things about being an immigrant - like the fact you will be seen as an immigrant :) I just didn't like it too much. My homecountry still has water running down the pipes and the supermarkets have food - I found out it's not such a terrible place and every place has problems, even the Netherlands.
Re: Ask HN: What is your story of immigrating to another country?
#38I married an Austrian while living with her in Texas. I made exactly zero plans before moving. She had the better degree by far so it only made sense to move to Austria. Getting a job was easy by local standards due to a tight local market for programmers. Getting through German classes to earn the permanent residency was the toughest part. I would never consider moving back to the USA. I was always a sceptic of the…
Funny, I live in Austria and I wish to emigrate to the US. I consider Europe, and Austria in particular a living nightmare.
Why? It could be it just doesn't suit your personality. If you a 'rise and grind' type of person, I can see it being hell.
Re: Ask HN: What is your story of immigrating to another country?
#39I'm from Canada and have been a full time expat since I'm 19 (32 now). I've lived in Hong Kong, China, USA, Dominican Republic and now Turkey. I never really planned anything, I just visited places and eventually decided to stay longer than expected. I'm lucky that I can work from home and made some lucky investments. For me, the most difficult is dealing with bureaucracy like getting visas and bank accounts. Another difficult part is not having many close friends nor many people I can relate to. I also sometimes envy people who identify to a culture and have their important life choices made for them. I have a lot of analysis paralysis / paradox of choice regarding that. But overall, I'm very happy with my trajectory.
Re: Ask HN: What is your story of immigrating to another country?
#40For reference, I’m from the Netherlands. I didn’t have any plans to emigrate until my friend introduced me to a small company in Japan that was looking for an engineer. I applied, but was rejected, so I thought that was that. Then a few months later I got another email. Their initial hire didn’t work out and now they wanted me to join. I worked remote for about a month while we got the visa process sorted (apparently…
> I didn’t speak the language at all, but western civilization is oddly similar even if the details are different. Never heard Japan being referred to as part of western civilization before.
Similar or arguably higher levels of development, very different culture though.