Americans Are Using Their Ancestry to Gain Citizenship in Europe | Hacker News Reader

Americans Are Using Their Ancestry to Gain Citizenship in Europe

bloomberg.com

21 pointstwobitshifter17 comments

I tried to obtain a Polish passport but my grandparents left the country when it was still part of Russia under the Tsar. You have to have ancestors who were there post-WWI to qualify.

Oof that sucks. It's like you got screwed because you got screwed.

Is this news? Countries eager to have Americans retire back to 'the old country' have been encouraging this for a long time.

I think it’s surprising? that there has been an uptick. A number of my friends have followed me to the Netherlands in the last year or two after me being here almost 5 years. I get emails ~monthly asking questions about moving here, just in the past year.

It def feels like an exodus (albeit small scale, maybe just an order or half more than usual) of tech workers from the states.

Did you get a Dutch passport, or just the DAFT visa? The Netherlands makes it pretty cheap and easy for self-employed Americans to live & work there, but that's not the same as the dual citizenship angle that this article is talking about.

"The US has become so violent and backwards, while Europe is safe and cheaper"

(quoted inside the article)

Cheaper if you’re not on a European salary, maybe

No, generally in terms of QOL. If you make less, but what you have goes further (because of offsets like national health services and otherwise functioning societies)there are some tradeoffs that some folks are ready to make.

Most in the US have the majority of their heath insurance premium paid by their employer AND have higher than Euroland salaries.

After spending time in impossibly small Euro homes/apartments I’m still not sure what people are referring to when their cite some better quality of life. Better access to muesli?

Presumably things like not having to worry about bankruptcy if you lose your job and associated medical insurance, and then break a limb the following day.

Common myth.

Income based health insurance is available via every state govt.

Most low income people pay nothing for health insurance in the US.

Additionally, COBRA lets you continue coverage using your old plan under your employer. But that may be an expensive option.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6366487/ (Medical Bankruptcy: Still Common Despite the Affordable Care Act)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2323087/ (More than 26 000 Americans die each year because of lack of health insurance)

https://khn.org/news/article/diagnosis-debt-investigation-10... (100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt)

My destitute mother’s ACA health insurance in Indiana (which I paid) before her death was $500/month circa 2015-2017. This was for someone with no income. She spent years attempting to qualify for disability and exhausted her appeals months before her death.

American healthcare is a shit show, full stop, and it should come as no surprise those with the means are attempting to bail.

"Most low income people pay nothing for health insurance in the US."

...and get the commensurate level of care.

Google says the median salary for a dev in the UK is 45,000 GBP/year. I'm hesitant to believe any government services are sufficient to make up the compensation gap, even at the median level.

At the upper percentiles the gap widens significantly. Though global salaries may normalize somewhat along with broader adoption of remote work

uh, GREAT!

what is the problem?

state borders are ridiculous, and not just for the rich....

some more years and it will be more clear that the "king is naked".

I feel so bad for all law enforcement workers worldwide: what a stupid job! they made a documentary about those workers in France or Belgium, cannot recall, and how they fell by enforcing borders laws for years... then the EU came and they were not just completely useless, but they also fell they invest their energy for years in the name of the state for something completely useless, poor them.... try to explain your kids you did something for years that then become totally useless... if I recall well, many were pretty depressed ....

ahahaha: my 2 cents: trust yourself and not so easily what seems normal just 'cause the state or many says it is :)

Can I somehow do the opposite? I want to flee communist occupied europe for the freedom of america. I'll trade one of you. You come pay taxes and I go for speech and guns.

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