So no children? It only mentions the spouse.
A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
61–70 of 751 posts
Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
#62Don't go there. The limit of freedom of speech is real and can block you. Even when you run a startup that has nothing to do with local politics or anything controversial. Plus, we are still in "state of emergency", that gives the state more rights than the patriot act. Go to the US, Canada or New Zealand.
I don't necessarily disagree, but citing a few references regarding the current state of freedom of speech in France might help your case here.
Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
#63Don't go there. The limit of freedom of speech is real and can block you. Even when you run a startup that has nothing to do with local politics or anything controversial. Plus, we are still in "state of emergency", that gives the state more rights than the patriot act. Go to the US, Canada or New Zealand.
What limit to the freedom of speech would cause problems to a startup? Do you have any example?
Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
#64Does anyone know how big of an impediment is not knowing French? EDIT: I should have articulated my question better by saying "in the short term." I agree its foolish to not learn the local language if you plan on staying. But if the office language is French that is going to be almost a non-starter for someone who doesn't already speak it. It can be intimidating enough changing jobs in your native language. I know S…
I've said this before in another relocation thread: I'm an expat working in Paris in tech. Sure, everybody at work is able to speak broken English, but most don't enjoy it. Of other expats I know, the ones who went to the effort of learning French, even just the basics (and are working on improving it), are happy here. The ones who came without intending to learn French are miserable. Many French people aren't exactly welcoming to people who don't show effort. If you work in a startup, your ten French colleagues won't happily switch to English during lunch breaks just so you can follow the conversation. (As opposed to Scandinavia, say.)
You're welcome to come, it's great here. But don't come without wanting to learn French. You'll be unhappy.
Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
#65Does anyone know how big of an impediment is not knowing French? EDIT: I should have articulated my question better by saying "in the short term." I agree its foolish to not learn the local language if you plan on staying. But if the office language is French that is going to be almost a non-starter for someone who doesn't already speak it. It can be intimidating enough changing jobs in your native language. I know S…
Human brains are wired to soak up languages. Anybody immersed in another language making a minimum effort, will be fluent enough in six months.
People who say they have experienced the contrary typically go to great length to speak and read their native tongue. It doesn't matter how much you tried at home with a book etc... Once you're immersed and have made the decision to understand and speak the local language, it's like your brain goes on steroid. It is difficult to imagine until you've experienced it.
Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an interim CTO who helped a number of clients find good hires, I can say I'm definitely under the impression that a large part of grandes ecoles talents is siphoned every year by FB, Google, MS and the likes (which makes it harder for new startups to hire).
And that's when they don't go to finance/consulting/audit instead. But you can't really blame them given the salary difference.
Yeah, well, you can blame the "risk aversion" mentality though. It's a true waste of talent for the country.
Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
#67Why put this out prior to French elections?
Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
The timing can't be too much of a coincidence.
The issue is why can't France even attract engineers and investors from WITHIN the Eurozone, these people don't need Visa. The issue is elsewhere, not in the pool of engineers. France can't even retain its own engineers.
Because those of us in say, Berlin, are doing our damnedest to encourage them here, where we need them for our engineering teams?
Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
#69Paris is great, grew up there. You just have to be comfortable with the fact that more than half of your money get taken by the government for taxes and social security.
Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
#70Does anyone know if there similar opportunities for other European countries?
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 can't speak as an entrepreneur, but as an employee it isn't difficult at all to get a work visa from the government. I'd say the only difficulty is that you need to have every document prepared, with a spare copy, and make sure you've provided all the necessary information. German bureaucrats are especially irritable when things are missing/incomplete.
Germany is desperate for skilled workers. You don't even need to speak German to get a job in a big city like Berlin or Frankfurt.
As someone from North America, I'd highly recommend you consider Germany if you'd like to work for a start-up. Berlin is the start-up capital of Europe, and there are so many companies looking for talent you can quickly climb the corporate ladder/salary by moving companies every 12-18 months. You won't be paid as much as in Silicon Valley, but rents are sane and I'd say the quality of life is higher than in the US.
[0] http://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/for-qualified-professio...
[1] http://www.bamf.de/EN/Infothek/FragenAntworten/BlaueKarteEU/...