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Comment by Aeolun | Hacker News Reader

People from Sweden should have a fairly easy time emigrating to the US right?

It's a bit of a myth that it's easy for people from European countries to emigrate to the US. Generally speaking there are no special visas available. You would either have to look into getting an H1B or one of the O1 visas. The O1 route is difficult, and the H1B route, while attainable, is a big PITA, and leaves you in a rather insecure position (especially if you have a spouse).

I think it’s a reference to US leaders with European heritage use Swedish immigrants as exemplary prospects versus people from non-white nations.

The US doesn't have explicitly racist immigration laws. Being white might give you some kind of an advantage (even though it obviously shouldn't), but you'll still have to go through the same process as anyone else.

Not explicitly; I agree. I meant that while it is a myth, it is a myth perpetuated by elected officials in the US and what they say when they hold power and especially the campaign promises they make to win power.

Not directly racist, but there's a huge difference in effective waiting times for employment based green cards by country, mainly due to the per-country cap.

Roughly speaking, for similarly qualified folks applying in the EB2 category in 2021, Indian immigrants (worst case), approval can take 15+ years, while immigrants from Sweden will take 2-3 years at most (was less than a year pre-COVID).

That's true. However, even getting to the point where you can apply for a green card is not a straightforward process. And if you are on an H1B it is still the case that your spouse cannot work in the US until you are (at least) in the process of getting your green card. So I would say that few people in Sweden would have a "fairly easy" time of immigrating to the US (though it is certainly possible).

While I completely agree the H1B is a PITA, it has been and continues to be the primary vehicle for the huge % of tech-employed immigrants to attain the sort of independence referred to in the OP.

I don’t think so. The easiest/surest path I know of is a H1B work visa.

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