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Comment by novaRom | Hacker News Reader

Move abroad. That's simple. Lots of places with much better quality of life. European Union is terrific place: multiple nations, different climates, various cultures, freedom of speech, parlamentary democracy, clean ecology, safety, good education, inexpensive housing.

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Getting work visas for yourself and your significant other and moving your entire life across an ocean can hardly be called "simple".

Yeah, but if the US is a dystopia and the EU is a utopia, who is to argue? Or maybe a lot of those comparisons are simplistic.

We like and have most of those things, too.

I would love to live in Europe if there were any possibility of making a good living at what I do. Comparable level positions I've seen are in the $30-40k USD range for my six figure position in SF. I can't understand why developers are so poorly paid over there.

Software engineer in Munich, salary $120k, it's around $6k per month after taxes, healthcare, pension fund; 30 days paid vacation; 11 months paid parental leave; $2k rent for a big new 3 bedroom in city center, $500 for day care. Free schools, short commute, lots of inexpensive free time perks.

Moving to the EU as an American is not easy if you don't have the assistance of an employer, or the benefit of marrying into it.

Speaking for my small city corner of the European Union, inexpensive housing is decidedly not a feature.

For US Generation Student Debt, there's a significant long-term cost to that decision. If you don't have to double the years it takes you to pay back your debt to do so, maybe moving abroad is more of an option.

Won't you have to pay taxes twice if you're from USA though?

No, you deduct the taxes paid in your place of residence from what you pay in the US. Since taxes are lower in the US than in most developed countries you end up owing the US nothing -- but you still have to file.

Of course, though your taxes may be higher, other expenses may be lower (e.g. telecoms, health care, housing) so you'll probably end up with more in your pocket.

wel the IRS can come after you for property tax as Boris Johnson a dual national (who has never lived in the US) - when his mum died recently the IRS sent him a huge tax bill related to her home.

This is correct, up to a point. Once you pass the threshold of around $90k, you can no longer write the income tax you pay on your foreign income off. For example, if you make the equivalent of $100k in Europe, you can write off the income tax on the first $90k. However, you then have to pay US income tax on that remaining $10k.

Cost of living is really high everywhere comparably with the the salaries. I can't even imagine place where it make sense to live keeping in mind one day you want to settle and buy property, raise kids and so on.

You forgot high taxes and low salaries.

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