Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How Can I leave Syria now and get asylum in Europe (Germany)

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 228 posts

Re: Ask HN: How Can I leave Syria now and get asylum in Europe (Germany)

#181

Post by Too »

DeGi wrote: post #74
antocv wrote: post #26

Skip Germany and go to Sweden or England, where people are more than happy to speak English, and there is already many Syrians in Sweden, especially in Sodertalje. Sweden will accept you based on your skills far more easily than Germany, all you need is to find a job, and right now the market is open for a guy of your skills - programmers are in high demand. Look around on various Sweden/Stockholm job posting sites,…

Can you survive in Sweden/Stockholm without speaking Swedish, just with English? Also, can you post any Sweden/Stockholm job posting sites where startups seek new hires?

Getting around on the streets is no problem, everybody in sweden speaks quite good english, even paperwork from bank/government can some times be found in english. Finding a job is possible but you only have 5% of the job market that natives do (95% of all statistics are made up on the spot), and that's assuming you are looking for a position that requires higher education. Finding a basic job such as being a waitress without native language is hard.

Re: Ask HN: How Can I leave Syria now and get asylum in Europe (Germany)

#183

Post by vr000m »

kleiba wrote: post #136
wheels wrote: post #110

There's a lot of bad information here on Berlin. For context, I'm a non-EU software developer that lives in Berlin and now has permanent residence, as is my girlfriend. Germany is actually one of the easiest countries to get an immigrant work visa for. I would recommend skipping seeking asylum. There's a large enough job market in Berlin for developers that the work visa route will almost certainly be the fastest and…

- software development is an in-demand job ("Mangelberuf") - €39,192/year [...] is above the standard salary that you'd find for development positions at Berlin startups Are you sure about that? Somehow these two statement don't sound like they can go together, I think. Wouldn't that be a ridiculously low salary for a European capital, even for startups?

Salaries are pretty low compared to the US. 50-75k euros for developers is pretty common (even in Scandinavia).

On the other hand living costs in berlin are much lower compared to other cities in europe (even compared to other cities in germany).

However, I cannot confirm the minimum wages required by a job under blue card. AFAIR, the blue card covers a broad spectrum of jobs and the wage listed above probably take diverse industries into account.

Re: Ask HN: How Can I leave Syria now and get asylum in Europe (Germany)

#184

Post by Kiro »

antocv wrote: post #70
straight_talk_2 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very cold in Sweden. May not sound important, but people with genes from warmer countries get all kind of medical problems from the cold weather - joints are especially vulnerable. Also Sweden is the poor neighbor of Norway and Denmark ;-)

Yes, the weather and the cold people are basically the only downside. That and having Carl Bildt in any position of government.

What's wrong with Carl Bildt?

Re: Ask HN: How Can I leave Syria now and get asylum in Europe (Germany)

#185

Post by zb »

wheels wrote: post #110

There's a lot of bad information here on Berlin. For context, I'm a non-EU software developer that lives in Berlin and now has permanent residence, as is my girlfriend. Germany is actually one of the easiest countries to get an immigrant work visa for. I would recommend skipping seeking asylum. There's a large enough job market in Berlin for developers that the work visa route will almost certainly be the fastest and…

I'm guessing that you (like me) come from one of exactly 7 countries whose citizens have the privilege of being able to apply for a work visa from within Germany while here on a tourist visa (or, more commonly, a visa-waiver). I can assure you that Syria is most definitely not on that list, and that almost everyone in the world is actually required to obtain a work visa in their home country.

Re: Ask HN: How Can I leave Syria now and get asylum in Europe (Germany)

#186

Post by rcruzeiro »

wheels wrote: post #110

There's a lot of bad information here on Berlin. For context, I'm a non-EU software developer that lives in Berlin and now has permanent residence, as is my girlfriend. Germany is actually one of the easiest countries to get an immigrant work visa for. I would recommend skipping seeking asylum. There's a large enough job market in Berlin for developers that the work visa route will almost certainly be the fastest and…

Are there any work permits needed for EU citizens? I'm planning on trying the Berlin startup scene this year.

Thanks,

Re: Ask HN: How Can I leave Syria now and get asylum in Europe (Germany)

#187

Post by nakkiel »

level09 wrote: post #114
wheels wrote: post #110

There's a lot of bad information here on Berlin. For context, I'm a non-EU software developer that lives in Berlin and now has permanent residence, as is my girlfriend. Germany is actually one of the easiest countries to get an immigrant work visa for. I would recommend skipping seeking asylum. There's a large enough job market in Berlin for developers that the work visa route will almost certainly be the fastest and…

its not as easy as you picture it, especially for Syrians. I wanted to send my sister (Syrian) to continue her education in medicine, the German embassy in Syria completely rejected the application. I tried in Dubai, they asked me to open a bank account for her in Germany, all banks refused to do so. I had eventually to find workarounds (through some powerful friends) and I was able finally to open that account in Wi…

Don't worry, racism goes both ways.

Re: Ask HN: How Can I leave Syria now and get asylum in Europe (Germany)

#188

Post by nakkiel »

I don't know if I'm late on this or not. Anyway, you may want to go to Thailand for some time. Live on tourist Visa, renew them in neighbouring countries while enjoying time off. You could easily spend about a year without running into any Visa problem and work remotely for the Australian company. There are a couple of startups there (http://playbasis.com for example) and many startup guys spend a sizeable amount of time working from there while enjoying life. I suppose it would give you time to prepare for your next move. I can help with anything Thailand-related if you need (though I'm back in Europe now). As I see things, Europe is not the immigration heaven it used to be although there's room for skilled workers due recent policies in most countries. Either way, it won't be simple.

Re: Ask HN: How Can I leave Syria now and get asylum in Europe (Germany)

#190

Post by F30 »

levosmetalo wrote: post #135
the-kenny wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I approve this too. Don't go to Germany. As a German citizen I really hate to say this, but recently there has been a hitch in the media where there were protests by neonazi groups in front of asylum homes. Sadly, there are still people who see asylum seekers as potential job-stealers, showing them nothing but hate and would like to throw them all out, regardless of their skills. This is absolutely not the general op…

I would say don't go to former East Germany, including Berlin. Bayern and Baden Württemberg are one of the most peaceful and safe regions in whole Europe, though a bit conservative. I absolute love leaving there, although I'm a foreigner which still can't speak proper German or Schwäbisch. Though, as a white man, my experience about behaviour of natives might lack first hand perspective of how it looks for black peop…

Including Berlin, seriously? I'm tempted to agree with you on the rest of eastern Germany, at least rural regions. But Berlin is more of a multicultural, open-minded island.

Southern Germans however, as you say, tend to be quite conservative. I'm glad for you that you like it here. But as I see it, the most important reason keeping the south from being as unfriendly to foreigners as the east, is its relative economic success and therefore less need for scapegoats.

Post reply on HN