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Comment by aantix | Hacker News Reader

Move to the U.S. where your skills have a much higher value?

Sure, you have a visa for me? I will be on the next flight over if so

I'm assuming that based on your username, you are an EU citizen? If so, apply for a job with any large US based company in one of their European offices. For example, Google in Zurich or Dublin, Amazon in London, etc.

After one year, you qualify for what's called an L1B 'internal transfer' visa. You can then transfer to another team within the same company that's based in the US. In many cases the company will sponsor your visa application and even the cost of moving (e.g. plain ticket, cost of shipping your belongings, etc.)

Once in the US, you can start the application process for a green card. As long as you're not a citizen of either India or China, this should take 2-3 years.

I'm Dutch and this is the path I took.

> As long as you're not a citizen of either India or China, this should take 2-3 years

Whats different with these two? Why does it take so long in general?

India and China go in a different bucket, and it often takes 6+ years for the exact same process. Sucks hard :|

You say that as if it's easy to do.

hard to get visa. and I don't fancy trekking across the mexican desert to get in the other way.

If you are a Mexican citizen, then a TN visa for a software engineer is pro forma - should be about $50, no caps/quotas and adjudicated in a few weeks. If from further south then why not have an employer sponsor you for an H-1B around lottery time and you either get it or you don't? The employer handles the cost and paperwork. You don't start until they do. If this really is life changing money it seems like the risk-reward profile favors application.

Of course if you're willing to take 20-30% less pay, immigrating to Canada and working for one of these tech companies in Vancouver or the Toronto area is much, much easier.

briton, just making a joke about how you sometimes see people from all corners of the world land in mexico and take their chances with los coyotes for the journey north

I did get a British accent in your original comment haha, I knew a Briton who moved to South America so I guess it seemed plausible :)

try 50% less once you factor exchange rate and culture of underpaying engineers.

Depends which company, and whether you're looking to work remote or not. I know my employer is far closer to my number than yours, but I do expect wide variance. I'm not sure I'd call it "underpaying" just that market rate is lower in that market.

For instance, folks doing well-paid jobs in let's say China or Hong Kong aren't underpaid, they're paid well, relative to their local market. The same is true in Canada, it's just that Canadians live very close to a very different market with a very different cost structure and externalities - but 'feels' about the same from the other side of the fence. Consider 50% more folks live below the poverty line per capita in the US than in Canada so clearly it's not all bad.

Remember, Canadians can show up at the US border with $50USD and an offer letter in a SWE job and get a 3-year TN status adjudicated on the spot. There's clearly more to it.

> employer sponsor you for an H-1B around lottery time

The vast majority of employers will not sponsor you for a H1B, esp. if you don't currently work for them.

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