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Ask HN: Where Would You Emigrate To?

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31–40 of 53 posts

Re: Ask HN: Where Would You Emigrate To?

#31

Why do I feel this is a setup?? Still...Alright, I'll be the first to bite.... You're talking emigration, not just 'nomading'--which is that grey area of having a tourist visa but working remotely, thus technically you're not working illegally within that country. Since most countries are very strict about emigration, yes even EU ones, your best bet is to go for that Italian citizenship which if gained will grant you…

> allow access to more countries than any other passport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley_Passport_Index differs: looks like an IT passport currently beats a US (albeit not significantly) for visa-free travel.

Well the Netherlands really wants to attract Americans it seems to me https://expatlaw.nl/dutch-american-friendship-treaty. The treaty is one directional as far as I know (Dutch people who want to do the same in the U.S will find brutal requirements).

So yes there is a lot of strength in having an American passport...

Re: Ask HN: Where Would You Emigrate To?

#33
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for reminding me Romania is in the EU. Would I have issues there as a queer person? (The only folks I spoke with from there were some Romani who didn’t have the best view of the folks who reside permanently.) I worry I’d not fit in in Spain since I don’t think Catalonia becoming a nation is justified (not like Scotland where you’re throwing off royals plus staying in the union), and the other areas are more to…

Spain is very queer-friendly. I was recently in Valencia and it's also super bikeable. Malaga is also worth considering. I'm not really aware of the politics though, since I tend to live in a bubble wherever I live. Romania is not known to be queer-friendly. Where I live (Cluj) is as progressive as it gets (it's full of foreign students from Germany, France and Israel), but I wouldn't walk around all flambuoyant and…

I avoided being out a long time since I mostly date women (2 on kinsey scale) but I don’t think I could live somewhere I’d get jumped or can’t sustain a gay bar.

Re: Ask HN: Where Would You Emigrate To?

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d be ok living someplace rural and occasionally staying overnight in a larger city as long as the issue we have in America doesn’t exist in NL - in USA rural means lots of annoying right wingers. Also not great transit whereas in NL could get by wo a car right? As for herring, not a vegetarian, and while I’m usually a full on dirtbag leftist in terms of interaction style I’d be ok turning it down to passive aggress…

> I feel bad about it being an Italian passport I'll defer to any HN actual Italiani, but my impression is that they have a similar[0] relationship with bureaucracy as the french: the man spends so much time keeping you down, that if you find a loophole that works in your favour, go ahead and stick it to him. Other NL suggestions: Bergen, Noordwijk, Laren. Especially the last, if you're looking for cosmopolitan outlo…

>imx "verboten" means people don't do it; "defense de" means not if cops are watching; and "vietato" means sometimes even the cops do it.

Ty this is useful we need a similar breakdown in English imho - I had severe issues w harassment because of the police/local officials sometimes treating things as “vietato” and other times much more severely depending on if your politics are well liked.

(With my politics being I’d be in the NDP in Canada not… literally a communist or someone who’s gonna go full v for vendetta)

Re: Ask HN: Where Would You Emigrate To?

#35

Why do I feel this is a setup?? Still...Alright, I'll be the first to bite.... You're talking emigration, not just 'nomading'--which is that grey area of having a tourist visa but working remotely, thus technically you're not working illegally within that country. Since most countries are very strict about emigration, yes even EU ones, your best bet is to go for that Italian citizenship which if gained will grant you…

> allow access to more countries than any other passport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley_Passport_Index differs: looks like an IT passport currently beats a US (albeit not significantly) for visa-free travel.

That's an index of how many countries don't require a visa. But you might someday care much more about how hard your embassy will work to rescue you if you get kidnapped or falsely arrested in a less rule-of-law-oriented country. A US passport really comes in handy in an emergency.

Re: Ask HN: Where Would You Emigrate To?

#36

> Where would you go if you woke up one morning and felt like your US Passport was worthless? I get that you feel that but you have no idea how privileged that sounds...a huge chunk of humanity would love to trade places with you. Even Europe isn't having a ball lately economically. I really do hope you immigrate somewhere just to get a healthy perspective on your situation.

>I get that you feel that but you have no idea how privileged that sounds...

And I don't think you understand how many times I've gone into detail why I feel this way and had folks react, aghast, that I didn't do it sooner.

Did you miss the part where I interviewed at two FFRDCs? To have folks refuse to interview me except for "defense" or precarious nonprofit positions after years of abuse is unacceptable. I'm working on a sequel to this essay[1] that will explain my reasoning, but there are people within this system who will never stop abusing their access until I am dead.

Keep in mind everyone is mentioning countries when I said due to the breakdown of the USA, I'm open to other states.

I am not going to tolerate a situation where the people who obstruct my career because they perceive me as extremist are the ones who run up on the capital, as some of the members of the Pittsburgh FBI and my local police did.

These people, who met me as a child, feel entitled to tell me I'm "privileged" when I've been nothing but precarious most of my life save for accident, not design - I have survived by luck, not hard work to get where I am.

[1] https://boingboing.net/2013/01/05/pedagogyofthedepressed.htm...

Re: Ask HN: Where Would You Emigrate To?

#37

You don't sound like someone who has traveled a lot. I would encourage you to digital nomad in different countries for 2-3 months at a time (most countries will let Americans stay 3 months at a time). There is understanding to be gained that can only be gained through experience. There is great divide between civility (you are part of a culture because of your values) and ethnicity (you are part of a culture because…

>You don't sound like someone who has traveled a lot. I would encourage you to digital nomad in different countries for 2-3 months at a time

Never had enough to do that, and no amount of education or networking brought something that pays well enough, and I've suffered physical attacks that left me nearly dead in my current location.

Re: Ask HN: Where Would You Emigrate To?

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said nothing about working. I will save up enough money to live for a while without working, and see if I make local contacts, get married. Also "emigration" could mean one of the options with an EU passport, not just hanging around coffeeshops doing non-income generating projects and hoping to meet a partner or paying for a student visa to study a country's native language, which is cheaper than you'd expect in ma…

> Like a typical American, I only speak English, though I know enough German and Spanish to navigate public transit YMMV, but from my experience, I'd suggest budgeting ~2 years to get to reasonable fluency wherever you wind up going, and ~5 years to feel like you've got the hang of your adopted culture. (That's starting from scratch; these days with everything available from home on the internet you might be able to…

Thanks I know it would take a long time hence thinking hard where I will end up.

Re: Ask HN: Where Would You Emigrate To?

#40

California definately...if you cannot make it there then that would mean not only your passport is worthless

I spent three summers there and got zero offers, despite generating publications, a patent, and code. That's how I ended up at the Center for Democracy & Technology -- because I wanted to change law and policy so no one encounters the issues I ever had, but when you change things it severely angers people.

(The type who have or used to have more than one, and who I, a native Appalachian, cannot compete with unless I too become a literal spy for the Russians or Chinese)

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