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

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

visa.lafrenchtech.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

341–350 of 751 posts

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

#341

Post by bsaul »

chrisper wrote: post #147
bsaul wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i highly doubt it, especially if you speak english.

Don't a lot of people in France look at you badly if you only speak English? I read that this is especially true in more "proud French areas" like Paris etc.

Clearly not in start up environments. What do bother some shopkeepers or restaurants owners for example, is when tourists speak english to them very fast and naturally assuming everybody speaks english. But then if you ask first politely "i'm sorry i don't speak french", then you'll only receive warm welcomes.

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

#342

Post by mgbmtl »

krzyk wrote: post #206
mootothemax wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>As someone from the UK, my main reason for not moving anywhere else in Europe is the language barrier. I'm not even sure I'm capable of learning another language I moved to Poland from the UK yonks ago, and have equally disastrous - if not worse - language skills as you. Not long after arriving, I accidentally got a job at a startup, and I'd been led to believe everything was done in English internally: communicatio…

> even variable names in the code, all was in English As a English-is-my-second-language person I can't imagine naming variables using any other language but English. English is most of the times more concise than my mother language (Polish), and it is much easier to share code on the net, find help on stackoverflow, etc.

Say you're implementing a field-specific solution, do you use the US English term or the term that's written on the users know? (specs, documentation, etc)

If another developer comes on board, will their English be fluent enough to know those terms? There's also a huge risk in having a translation error. We're programmers, not translators.

For general variable names, I agree. On the other hand, in my experience, when the programmers aren't fluent enough in English, if English is imposed, they tend to choose really bad variable names and not comment their code properly. So I tend to impose clear names/doc over imposing a specific language.

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

#343

Post by kofejnik »

pyvpx wrote: post #138
kogepathic wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany offers a special visa for people who want to be self-employed. [0] Additionally, if you have a Bachelor/Master degree in STEM, you can easily get a Blue Card if you receive a contract paying over 50,800 EUR/year. [1] Lower salaries would still enable you to obtain a regular work visa (which is specific to the job title and company). I've heard Germany is a difficult country to establish a company (GmbH). I ca…

I moved to Berlin almost three years ago, and extended/expanded my company here. I am not a start-up, though I am developing a product, but more of a one-man consulting shop. Getting a self-employed VISA is not easy unless you have some serious credentials. My partner has three degrees, two post-graduate, from highly regarded US universities; an extensive profile of speaking engagements; a very, very solid financial…

solution to your visa problems: just pretend to be a refugee

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

#344

Post by adventured »

bru wrote: post #320
adventured wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People making the kind of money being discussed here, such that you trigger higher bracket income taxes, have great health insurance in the US as well. Further, decent jobs in the US almost always include health insurance compensation above the salary. I have a brother that works in a pretty normal job earning $42,000 per year (not an outsized salary in the US), he pays $27 per month for his health insurance through…

> The education system you're referring to is not free at all. The very substantial income taxes in France pay for it. That's like my whole point… You'll effectively get less money than in the US, but you're subsidising a fraternal economy which you enjoy too.

Here's the same exact same free education logic applied to the US system:

US universities are free. The money you don't pay in taxes covers the cost.

What evidence would you hold up to suggest the French fraternal economy system is the one to mimic? As opposed to Sweden, Germany, or the UK, which have all produced superior results the last few decades with different approaches from that of France.

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

#345

Post by noplay »

frwo wrote: post #172

French salaries are much lower and taxes are extremely high for high income earners. There's more than one tax on your income! There's the regular "impôt" but also the "contribution solidarité" which is legally considered "not a tax" but cost you a percentage of your income. And a "taxe d'habitation" too (which is proportional to your rent rather than income). There's quite a bit of misrepresentation and wordplay all…

And in the US you have federal and state taxes.

For a family with child you will probably pay less taxes in France than in San Francisco.

Bonus point: all your taxes are prefilled by governement you just need to confirm on the website.

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

#346

Post by School-Cotton »

renaudg wrote: post #330

Raw salary comparisons miss the point : you can't really compare pre-tax salaries between countries with such a completely different taxation and benefits structure. The take home pay certainly is much, much lower in France than in the US, but it comes with access to top-notch free healthcare, free university, pension contributions, 5-7 weeks paid leave and generous unemployment insurance amongst other things. It all…

I have only three years of experience as a software engineer. I made over $200,000 in 2016. This is more than the Prime Minister and President make in France. I also have health insurance provided by my employer.

Granted, I only get four weeks of paid leave, which is less than would be typical for a French person, but not by a dramatic amount.

I would understand your point if the raw salaries were closer with France's only slightly lower. But the difference (for people working at top tech jobs) is so extreme that no amount of free university and pensions can make up for it.

Even if I have to save for my retirement, save for my hypothetical children's future education, and so on, I'm still making a lot more in the US than I would in France.

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

#347

Post by noplay »

EliRivers wrote: post #335

"guaranteeing identical family treatment and automatic labor market access" There's a winning move. You can bring your spouse and your spouse can work. That's a dealmaker, right there.

And also she get healtcare even if she doesn't work

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

#349

Post by EduardoBautista »

renaudg wrote: post #330

Raw salary comparisons miss the point : you can't really compare pre-tax salaries between countries with such a completely different taxation and benefits structure. The take home pay certainly is much, much lower in France than in the US, but it comes with access to top-notch free healthcare, free university, pension contributions, 5-7 weeks paid leave and generous unemployment insurance amongst other things. It all…

I've never found the healthcare argument to be relevant. Software Engineers in the USA usually have generous health care plans provided by their employers.

Same with vacation time.

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

#350

Post by adventured »

esw wrote: post #272
adventured wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People making the kind of money being discussed here, such that you trigger higher bracket income taxes, have great health insurance in the US as well. Further, decent jobs in the US almost always include health insurance compensation above the salary. I have a brother that works in a pretty normal job earning $42,000 per year (not an outsized salary in the US), he pays $27 per month for his health insurance through…

>he pays $27 per month for his health insurance through his employer, and it's a nice plan. This is really an outlier. The US average for employee premiums is $104/month for individuals and $392/month for families.

Show me the US median instead of the average. The average will usually be substantially tilted higher by extreme examples at the top end. I'd be willing to bet the median is closer to $60-$70. That's not expensive.
Post reply on HN