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Unless you have a green card, if you say that at the border (that you are coming to the US to look for work), you'll be deemed inadmissible.

It will also be illegal for you to be self-employed, work without authorization, "trade work for board", or start a startup, once you are here.

Basically, you'll probably need to find a company that can sponsor H1B (but I'm not sure if that can happen for people who didn't finish college)

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Fuck. Suddenly I love EU.

Edit: As a EU citizen you can get a work permit in any countries in the European Union. Not sure if that's appealing to you, though.

Bear in mind that the US is almost as large (population-wise) as the EU, is a collection of Europe-size states, and we don't have to get work permits when moving between states. Unfortunately we haven't extended that courtesy across the Atlantic yet.

And the US has the benefit of a near universal language.

Mobility in the EU is not entirely limited by language, especially with manual work, but in professional circles it's a killer.. so EU mobility is pathetic compared to the US (hardly anyone I know in California is from California.. :))

'Fuck. Suddenly I love EU.' Yea - me too!

It is massively, I think that might be the way forward. Thanks : )

Berlin - Cheaper than London but has a startup community

I definitely like Berlin - considered living there for a year (I speak German which makes it easier). It is a city of experiments, both good and bad, full of great art, and a very active night-life scene.

Do people speak good English? How hard do you think it would be for a foreigner (not speaking German) to get around in Berlin?

"Do people speak English well?" you mean. I normally wouldn't point it out, but given the context...

I think "Do you speak good English?" is correct given that the adjective "good" indicates the quality of his English.

Since I'm not a prescriptivist, I'll point out that there's a subtle difference of meaning between "speak good English" and "speak English well", and the meaning here is better reflected by the second phrase.

Consider the similar phrase, "Did you eat good pie", versus "Did you eat pie well". In the pie case the former is correct because you're referring to the quality of the pie. In the case at hand, we're talking about the quality of the speaking.

Your example isn't quite the same, since the speaking is what creates the English. A better analogy would be "Do you bake good pies" vs. "Do you bake pies well" -- which don't mean quite the same thing, but they're pretty close.

Yup, this is what I had in mind.

You probably had something like "Do people speak English good?" in mind.

In the startup scene and among anyone with a technology-oriented college education, it won't be a problem at all. Almost all Germans learn some English in high school, and most retain enough to at least a have basic dialog.

In short: working in the startup scene won't be a problem; grocery shopping might be an adventure. ;-)

In most major European cities, you can "get by" with English. The problem is that "getting by" is not that satisfying, and after a while you start wanting to be able to communicate in more meaningful ways, and the only way to do that is to either limit yourself to the people that speak English really well (which are fewer in number, and who, in any case, also have friends themselves who don't speak English so well), or learn the local language.

I've been to Berlin several times. Most everyone I met spoke better English than I do. I asked some of them whether this is a common German trait and they said yes, but primarily amongst younger people.

I think it's fairly easy to get around without speaking german. btw Berlin is great :)

How's the Berlin startup scene these days? I visited the place around 2005 - it was a great city and had thriving culture, but seemed to be lagging behind Hamburg or Munich as far as startups. Has it changed since?

"Berlin is the Startup Capital"

http://www.deutsche-startups.de/2007/11/29/berlin-ist-die-st...

Do you have some more info on that? I'm thinking about moving to SFO as well; but Berlin is probably a lot better!

Berlin's fun, cheap and is a moderate startup hub. You can't compare the startup activity here to the valley, but well, you can't compare the Valley's music and arts culture to Berlin's.

Plus, as has been mentioned here several times, you can't just up and go to SFO without the appropriate paperwork. You could spend three months there, but that's really more like an extended holiday than really moving.

As for English in Berlin, it's definitely doable. Socially I really find it worthwhile to put effort into learning German since otherwise you're often stuck being the odd-man-out when going out in a group or hanging out with other foreigners.

* You can't compare the startup activity here to the valley, but well, you can't compare the Valley's music and arts culture to Berlin's.*

The Valley maybe, but not San Francisco and the Bay Area generally. San Francisco has an extremely mature (though not in a classic sense) arts and music scene.

Sure. It's there and it's good in San Francisco. And Berlin still blows it out of the water.

Right now Berlin's one of, if not the, place to be for arts and culture in the west. Which was kind of the point of the analogy -- the Valley / San Francisco is the epicenter for the startup world. Berlin is the epicenter for new music, art, etc. (And this isn't just coming from a biased Berliner; I'm an American that ended found his way here. :-) )

I was about to do the same, but then work for free possible in exchange for a license of the company's software. Is it legal to work for free like this in the US though?

I can pony up a couple grand and do a housing swap which should allow me to live decently in SF and let me work with a truly interesting tech company for a change ...

No. You can not "work." That means doing anything for any sort of compensation. That includes working for your own business. People do it - but people have broken the law since day one, so you have to make your own decisions and take any possible consequences.

Disclaimer: IANAL, but I spent time with one trying to get on top of this very issue.

So if I did it without the license as compensation it could be classified as a really weird holiday and then it would be legal?

Depends on your definition of "legal." It'd still be "work." You need to think whether a US border agent would let you in if you told them the truth. I once told an agent I was going to help a friend set up who'd just moved into a new house.. even that got me in the interrogation room!

You need to have your entire story planned out before you get to the agent whether your entry is for legitimate purposes, arguable purposes, or illegitimate purposes. It doesn't matter which - and then stick to it.

I go to the US legitimately, and often they throw some real curveballs that, if you hadn't got a clear picture in your head, could get you into trouble fast.

I suspect you could get away with it, but that's probably illegal. Ask a lawyer if you want a real answer.

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