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Comment by ommunist | Hacker News Reader

I believe the only clear way for him is to leave the US and land some international job at some place good as Australia or Sing. Yes, the US will loose a good cyber cop. But as you can see here, this is entirely the US systematic problem. Simmons does not deserve to serve lifetime living in the US, struggling for foodstamps.

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How is that supposed to work? He can't even afford to leave Seattle.

Companies pay relocation to a suitable candidate.

Especially those in suitable roles which are really hard to hire for, like security.

They reimburse, you need the money upfront.

Not necessarily. I would have thought the company paying directly was preferable, since then they can see invoices, and query costs beforehand.

My employer paid to transport my belongings, all I did was get a few quotes. It was useful for them to be involved, since they knew about necessary insurance etc, but an international move was new to me.

They also offered to transfer my relocation bonus to me as soon as the contract was signed, but I didn't need the cash so I waited until I'd opened a local bank account in the appropriate currency.

You're right, it varies. I'd posit that most of the time however, you get reimbursed.

In the tech industry, I think you're generally given the option between all-expenses-paid and a lump sum paid in advance. That was my experience. The only caveat is that the money is potentially owed back prorated based on how long you stay with the company.

Many companies offer relocation packages including travel costs and temporary accommodation.

Yes but they expect you to pay and they'll reimburse you. Not saying it never happens any other way, but that's the only way I've ever seen it done.

When I was hired for my role as an SRE at http://imvu.com/ I had approximately zero savings. They were unable or unwilling to give me cash for my relocation bonus before my first employed day, but they were willing to pay for various moving expenses directly, renting me a moving van, paying for a hotel partway, renting a storage unit, and while I stayed on a friend's couch while looking for an apartment, I have heard of them paying for hotel accommodations for new hires while they were looking for housing before they received their relocation bonus or first paycheck. It's not uncommon at all, just be up-front and ask for it when discussing compensation and signing terms.

I have friends who work for Amazon (AWS). When relocation was discussed, they were just cut a check for the expected costs (and then some).

I got the option to get a check or just get movers (plus some other stuff). Same as the above person I was on the hook for repayment for 1 or 2 years.

Microsoft paid my entire relocation expense and I never (directly) saw a bill or paid a dime for it. I know Qualcomm does the same thing. I was on the hook for a year - if I quit before one year was up, I owed Microsoft some pro-rated amount of money.

In 1999 or 2000 I turned down an offer from Microsoft, and they asked if I owned a house and if I needed Microsoft to buy that house to get me to say yes. I don't know how that would have worked, but it was an impressive offer.

Microsoft probably doesn't buy the house directly. A relocation company buys it from you and holds onto it until it can be sold for a profit.

Amazon paid for my entire move (Europe to SF) without me having to incur any expenses beyond the taxi to and from the airports.

Not necessarily. My last internship paid my relocation expenses, they just mailed me a visa gift card with the money a month or two before I started.

Visas require background checks and I am not sure how that would work out.

passport is like $70 bucks.

And doesn't allow you to take permanent residence and a job? Also, that's likely $70 he doesn't have.

That was supposed to be my point, that just the passport is a lot of money, but apparently I failed.

Just goes to show how deeply people here cannot empathize with being poor. You said "passport is like $70 bucks" which people down-voted assuming you were were being naive and dismissive of the problem where you were really pointing out an even more immediate challenge.

The takeaway from all this being: This man's potential employers are unlikely to even begin to be able to fathom the challenges he faces day-to-day.

So is this like a magical piece of paper that lets you travel and work around the world? Wow...

This is not how it works

I meant that even it alone is expensive for a guy who's homeless, not that it's cheap.

$140

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