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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

#91

Post by pyrale »

intralizee wrote: post #85

I would love to go to France. I'm in US right now, 1 semester left for degree and have interned at a respectable company. I wonder if they're looking for experienced engineers over fresh ones. I've read so much that work life and culture is so much better in France, so heres hoping...

> I've read so much that work life and culture is so much better in France, so heres hoping...

Yes and no. There's certainly room for a healthy work-life balance, but don't believe that you're guaranteed to get an interesting job AND great work-life balance. You can find it, but it's not 100% of the market.

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

#92

Post by grive »

hartator wrote: post #51

Don'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.

> 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.

Give a specific example or avoid baseless accusation.

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

#93

Post by misterhtmlcss »

jlangenauer wrote: post #68
camus2 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Why would France chase an engineer in Germany? That has to be considerably more expensive then acquiring talent from abroad.

Just eyeballing this would indicate going after a German or Fin would likely cost more, because 1. They have similar programs, 2. They don't care about Visas and therefore are less likely to be invested in being or staying in France long-term. If France gives me a visa you can be sure I'm there for more than just my business. 3. Language. 270+ million people speak French, so why not pull from countries and cultures that have some shared history and association.

Seems to me this makes way more sense for France than chasing down Germans, Dutch, Fins or anyone else local.

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

#94

Post by nkkollaw »

jlangenauer wrote: post #5

Apropos of this, I was in Paris recently at a startup event, and was pleasantly shocked at the sheer number of startups and people I saw doing things. This is a good move by the French, and will help attract entrepreneurs away from other countries (particularly like those just across the channel currently inflicting generational economic damage on themselves.)

What's "currently inflicting generational economic damage on themselves"?

Would you do an ELI5?

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

#95

Post by tonfa »

partisan wrote: post #61

So no children? It only mentions the spouse.

I think it's covered: The “skills and talents”, “EU Blue Card,” “employee on assignment” and “scientist-researcher” temporary residence permits provide full rights to a “private and family life” permit for family members accompanying a non-EU national. (from http://ec.europa.eu/immigration/what-do-i-need-before-leavin...)

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

#96

Post by throwaway1892 »

nkkollaw wrote: post #36
paraboul wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm actually a French who lived 5 years in Berlin. I can tell you that not speaking german was really a burden (again in the long term). Everyone below 40 speaks english, but as soon as you have to deal with the administration, or just even the doctor, it really was a PITA. Also, Even the tech support (e.g. for Internet) wasn't allowed to speaks English on phone. I'm pretty sure the same "issues" apply to any country…

Yes. My point wasn't that it's not a problem in the long term, but that in some countries it's also a problem in the short term. In Poland I really felt unwelcomed on many occasions. The fact that they're extremely nationalistic doesn't help, I guess. I was surprised that even 18-year-olds wouldn't speak English to me. I'm now learning Polish.

That's odd, I felt very welcome when I was there hiking this summer. But then it might not have been in the same areas, plus the usual difference between the country and cities.

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

#97

Post by [deleted] »

intralizee wrote: post #85

I would love to go to France. I'm in US right now, 1 semester left for degree and have interned at a respectable company. I wonder if they're looking for experienced engineers over fresh ones. I've read so much that work life and culture is so much better in France, so heres hoping...

[deleted]

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

#98

Post by LunaSea »

pyrale wrote: post #81
camus2 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There's actually quite a lot of competition within EU, and France is not too shameful in that competition. It's hard to compete with London which is undoubtedly the #1 tech hub in Europe, but aside from that, Paris is top notch. Also, you're begging the question.

I would still pick Berlin or Amsterdam over France. Maybe even Sweden or Finland because of the average English language level spoken in those countries even though the startup scene there is smaller than Paris.

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

#100

Post by samf »

hacker_9 wrote: post #79
jlangenauer wrote: post #5

Apropos of this, I was in Paris recently at a startup event, and was pleasantly shocked at the sheer number of startups and people I saw doing things. This is a good move by the French, and will help attract entrepreneurs away from other countries (particularly like those just across the channel currently inflicting generational economic damage on themselves.)

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; 5 years in school trying to learn French + German, and can still only put together about two sentences. From what I remember, no one else seemed to really pick up the languages either.

It might help if you were immersed in it, as opposed to a small amount of time in school. But would you be able to function those first few months, that's the question.
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