The idea of climbing a corporate ladder doesn't jump out at me personally, but this is definitly something to consider.

My ideal company size is like 2-10 employees. I thought I could just waltz into SV, join a cool early-stage startup, etc etc. Lol. Startups seems even less likely to sponsor than large companies, as they don't have the capital to spare on a bureaucractic process like that. And European tech hubs just don't have the same culture unfortunately. By the time I'm eligible to simply pick and choose startups to join in SV, I'll (hopefully) have too much responsibility to risk like that.

Thanks for the advice anyhow.