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A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

visa.lafrenchtech.com

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Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Short answer: no. This may have been true at one point in time, but it's certainly no longer the case. I think this myth comes from a mix of two things: a) differences in intonation that some people (mostly Americans) interpret as aggressive or hostile, when really they're not b) the possibility that this was true in the past (e.g. during the 50's, perhaps because the French were eager to see stationed GIs leave)

> b) the possibility that this was true in the past (e.g. during the 50's, perhaps because the French were eager to see stationed GIs leave) Or amybe, you know, because of the historical rivalry between France and England :)

Very true. Silly of me to overlook this obvious point! :)

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California is consistently at the top of polls ranking by taxes paid. Sooo... it's not entirely fair to extrapolate to the USA from California, despite its size. Two random results pulled from a search: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/califo... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/us/millionaires-consider-l...

And high rents, but then they're also among the highest earners. It's not like you can easily find a $200k+/year software dev job in Montana. edit: s/mo/year :D

You can easily find $2,400,000 / year software development jobs in California?

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#334
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm French and I agree with this. I left a long time ago. Add: - the absurd administration burden to do anything - the absurd prices of anything in Paris - the lack of consideration for anything that is not in Paris - the denial of your rights because there might be some terrorists No way, no reviens Leon.

What if I don't want to live in Paris? After all, there are other cities, yes?

There is a startup scene in Toulouse and this city is really nice (and close to the sea and the moutains)

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#336
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About state health insurance, this link should be clearer, despite not being an official source. People with more Google-fu than me can post other links if they wish. http://www.agipi.com/espace-public/consulter-nos-experts/san... "Depuis le 1er janvier 2007, des sanctions contre toute personne qui, par quelque moyen que ce soit, inciterait les assurés sociaux à ne plus s’affilier à un organisme de Sécurité sociale o…

> [inciting] people to have no health insurance at all can get you to jail (up to 6 months). As your previous source said, not having health insurance is illegal in France. We're a far cry from your original "saying that you don't need health insurance". You can say that as much as you want. You just can't push other people to put themselves in an illegal situation. > If it is not limitation of freedom of speech, I t…

First, thank you for changing the overall tone of your comment.

You assume that the state is always right. I agree it is right in most cases, but not always. And calling arguments like "public safety", like "fighting terrorism", is a way for a government to have more power than it ought to (at least from the point of view of its libertarian citizen).

Voting a law should not necessarily close the debate around it. Societal truths may change: "false information" may just be opposite opinions. Saying it is false is not enough to discard it. A non-issue for you (e.g. abortion) may be an issue for the guy or girl next door.

Activists should not be banned from having strange opinions as it is the root of democratic debates. Let them be ashamed in society, but do not jail them. Today's fundamental rights may be revoked tomorrow because society may someday realize that it was, in the end, not such a good idea.

This is basically a political tradeoff between public safety and free speech/freedom in general. I personnally and currently support more free speech. You look like rather supporting public safety. I'd be happy to read your opinion on that topic.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#337
post #67

Why put this out prior to French elections?

Well, the current government could be trying to have one positive result. And have some example of migrants with a positive economic impact.

Are you trying to imply that Syrians and Tunisians have NO positive economic impact?

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more like 40%. But at least we have free schools, free universities (ok, sometimes 500EUR/year) and a decent public health service. I also grew up and lived in France for 20+ years and have lived in UK for 5+ years. It's true that I earn more in UK than in France but for example to compare public health systems, although both are free, NHS is really the worse and it does not seem it's going to get any be…

What have those non-free, taxation based, universities produced? 25 years of economic stagnation, low innovation, increasing marginalization of France as a consequential economy in the global order (they've been sinking down the list for 40 years), perpetual high unemployment, and a GDP per capita that has failed to keep up to such a dramatic degree that it needs to climb 70% to catch the US. With results like those,…

Other than GDP (which frankly benefits 5% of US population), everything is better in France. Better roads, better public transportation, high speed rails, healthcare, education. Even small and remote villages in France have high quality roads, rail connections etc. and doesn't look run down and entrenched in poverty.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#339
post #267

I've heard France is a poor location for startups due to their existing regulations, incentives etc. It sounds like they should fix that first.

If by "due to their existing regulations" you mean not being able to fire any employee overnight after they pass their renewable 3-month trial period, then yeah, it sucks. (But let's be honest: you seriously need more than 6 months to figure out if someone's a good fit?) If you meant anything else it's mostly an urban legend IMO: speaking for myself, I found the administration to be more streamlined than most I've interacted with (including that of the US).

Startup friendly capital is scarcer in FR than in the UK or the US, but there's still some and you can always head to London (which you can reach by TGV) to meet startup friendly VCs.

And yes, the tax rate is high, blah blah blah. But try other EU countries for even worse. You're covered for healthcare, retirement, get 5-7 weeks of paid vacation, etc., and public services, good infrastructure, etc. all of which come at a cost indeed.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#340
post #305

How favorable are France's labor laws ? Is it possible to have at will employment?

Labor laws are not favorable ; french like to feel protected by their state. "At-will employment" doesn't exists but since 10 years we have an easy-to-get freelance status ("auto entrepreneur") with low tax for under 36 K€/year.
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