Ask HN: Ways from the EU to the USA | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Ways from the EU to the USA

7 pointsnsiradze23 comments

Hi,

I’m 19, a software dev working full-time on-site in Europe.

I visited the USA and SF in January. There was a conference in Vegas, and then I moved to SF and worked from there for a month. I can say this is the place where I need to live.

I think there is a moment in everyone's life when you’re constantly searching for your place, and I can say this is what I found. SF/LA or somewhere near is the place I would really relocate to.

I didn’t go to College, as I have been working since I was 14, and now I’m searching for ways to relocate to SF.

I know my full-time job can’t do it, so I’m free for everything else. What can I do? Are there any study programs near me that I could apply to?

For those who have a question about why I need it, I don’t like how the EU works, startup life, or everything else that is very complicated. I love how free the United States is. they know the value of justice. It really fits in my mind.

So. yeah, please tell me if there’s any way to do that. As a dev, I can create great things there. I’m working on AI, and this can be a top level area for me to improve.

I would appreciate any feedback, Thank you!

Without going into whether it's a good idea, or how the current administration and climate might affect things, these are some common options I have personally heard of:

- L1 visa: Get an internal transfer from a company that has offices both in the EU and the US

- H1B visa: Get hired by a US company and enter into a queue/lottery type of thing

- Green card lottery: Enter the annual lottery to get a Green Card to enter the US

- OPT visa + extensions: Graduate from an accredited college/university in the US

- O1 / EB-1 visas etc: Convince the immigration office that you have some extraordinary ability that would greatly benefit the US

- E2 visa and similar: Start a business in the US and invest a substantial amount of money into it

- New "Gold Card": Buy your way into the US with 5 million

Some of these also have different variations with slightly different requirements

What are the chances of getting O1 / EB-1 visas? Thanks for this detailed response. I appreciate.

Just to be more realistic

H1-B without a degree and 19 y.o.? Not gonna happen

I'd believe the same for O-1 (and very few 19 y.o. have "extraordinary ability" without a degree. Very, very few.)

Easiest way would be to go get a degree in the US (of course, you need $ for this)

> I love how free the United States is. they know the value of justice

Definitely get out from behind your computer and read the news.

I get it. I can’t see many details from here. I’m watching the news, but tech comes from the US.

It’s hard for me to sleep when new stuff launches there in the meantime. Everything is delayed for me, and I'm struggling to move forward.

I need to improve myself, and here I have to work on a full-time job, +4 different side projects that are none of mine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Everything seems good from X(Twitter), but not as much as I thought I guess there, too.

I’m not sure if it is worse than in my country.

Thanks a lot for replying. I appreciate.

The fearmongering is outrageous. Life goes on in the US and not much has changed. Unless you are joining terrorist gangs or openly supporting known terrorists organizations you will be fine, just like all my German, French, Spanish, Indian, Mexican, Iranian and whatever else neighbors I have are.

Life goes on in the US but innocent people were detained and deported without a due process, let alone a reason to be.

And the people behind it would like to make it even worse

Really? Absolutely not the case. But, keep your head in the sand and read the slanted media.

Most everything parent said was true. People were punted to a concentration camp in a foreign country without due process or proof of any criminal record. Then, the administration refused to ask for those prisoners back despite a court order and a 9:0 Supreme Court rebuke. Now, Trump wants to send “homegrowns” to those same one-way camps for crimes as petty as vandalism.

Not sure what “slanted media” you’re referring to, but it can’t be any more slanted than whatever tabloids you’re inhaling. If there is no due process for “illegals,” there is also none for the rest of us.

"tech comes from the US"... today perhaps, but there are many opportunities to build a more equal and socially just tech from Europe

A lot of tech comes from US / China, but it's also a tech based on control and enslavement...

Make sure they never find out you worked remotely from SF for a month.

It was not remote. My last company was based there. I was remote from the EU all the rest of the time :D

You say you're 19. I take it you don't watch the news or at least not the U.S. news (which is understandable)? I have some bad news for you my aspirational friend. Things are changing very fast.

It seems as if we're quickly losing the freedom to have the wrong ideas. This was certainly a thing when Dems were in office, but now it has been amplified into an Orwellian form. And as far as immigration goes, if you don't have the right aesthetic or your social media doesn't look right, you may have a problem here as well.

Good luck.

Go to Europe and say/tweet mean things about specific groups and you will be locked away. Go to the US and support MS-13 and terrorist organizations and you will be locked away. These are not the same level of Orwellian.

“““Terrorist organizations””” — how long until antifa or BLM is considered one of those? Meanwhile, the Jan 6 rioters all got a royal pardon. What a joke.

Slippery slope argument is a fallacy

Come to the U.S. and say something bad about Trump while also being in a compromised position, and you might find yourself in a similar situation. At what level this will end, I can't say; but we know where we were and we know where we currently are. Any average Joe could've talked shit about Biden with impunity. It seems we're getting away from that.

The fact that Europe has some aspects "worse" from your perspective is immaterial. I'm responding to a change in my environment not a change in the European environment. Having the president threatening schools and libraries for having certain books, and organizations for using certain terms when things weren't like that before is a rather jarring change and to pretend that it isn't indicates intellectual dishonesty or a lack of paying attention.

I was just listening to a story about immigrants with student visas being hunted down by ICE while they still have student status (even if you visa expires your legal status is maintained with your student status normally). The fact that this person is trying to immigrate from Europe means he/she may very well have an issue depending on background.

As things stand now, I wouldn't feel safe even briefly visiting the States.

Then don't go to the United States. Europan immigrants to America faced much worse risks.

As long as OP is not an MS-13 gang member he will be fine.

...and has never, once, even suggested that Trump might not be the ultimate genius he pretends to be...

even slightly criticizing their president is enough for them to feel triggered like little snowflakes

Some people end up in serious trouble when crossing the border for far less.

I literally just got done reading an article about two German high school graduates who decided to visit Hawaii to celebrate spent time in jail because ICE didn’t like the paperwork they had for their accommodation.

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