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Comment by garbawarb | Hacker News Reader

Is a green card the equivalent to a first time residence permit in Europe? It's notoriously hard to get a green card: it'll take 3 years for a normal skilled worker who's already in the US and that's assuming nothing goes wrong in the process, and something always does. Plus many visa categories don't even have a path to a green card. "Long term stay visas issued" might be a better comparison.

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While each EU country has its own immigration rules, there is an EU-level route for the highly skilled workers, called the EU Blue Card:

* https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/migration-and-asy... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Card_(European_Union)

Each EU country has its own rules about immigration.

A green card is probably equivalent to a permanent residence permit, those vary quite a bit between countries, and skills. Some countries might give a permanent residence in as few as 3 years, I believe quite a few have the 4 years threshold. Depending on what skills you have or how much you invest in the country you are moving to this timeline also shortens.

Generally continental Europe -- except the Scandinavian countries -- makes it relatively easy to get long-term residency and even a passport. The UK is considerably more difficult, but very easy to work in for an extended period of time (intra-company transfer visas etc).

Scandinavia had Sweden until yesterday's vote in Riksdagen, I moved here 10+ years ago, got my permanent residence after 4 years, citizenship after 5.

Rules have been changed now, citizenship in 8 years will become law on June 6th, also requiring language and cultural tests which weren't required before.

Continental Europe used to vary, Germany was stricter with 8 years to citizenship but permanent residence would vary depending on work skill and language skills.

Can you give some specific examples? I would say that, unless you have some additional qualifications (European ancestors, EU spouse and similar), the majority of EU countries actually don't make it that easy. Of course, it depends on your definition of "relatively easy".

Yes, it's never a trivial process, so a lot of work is certainly being performed by that "relatively": I have extensive personal experience with the UK immigration process and know of the US equivalent through the experiences of former colleagues back home. France, for example, is five years to a passport/naturalization. Germany is three years of skilled work to indefinite leave to remain. The Netherlands is five years to indefinite leave to remain. None of those examples require European ancestors, EU spouse etc, but generally it's easier if you have a university degree and work in the various fields most readers of hacker news do.

Well, naturalisation in most EU countries would involve some other requirements: language knowledge (you'd have to pass an exam) + civic/constitutional exam or integration test + naturally, no criminal record, etc + some countries are quite restrictive on dual-citizenship (i.e. they don't allow it for foreigners, meaning that you would need to renounce your original citizenship).

Visas and residence permits are, of course, easier.

It's not that hard to get a temporary residence permit somewhere in the EU if you're well-employed. Every country has its own rules and some are more lax than others, but there are plenty of e.g. "tech worker" visas you can get. You often don't need a job to officially sponsor you.

Just depends where and where you're from. Even though it's the EU each country has its own rules.

Can't you basically buy citizenship through "investment" in one of the countries?

If you're rich enough, you can buy a small local business, like a local pizzeria, and hire x amount of people or invest x amount of money and you get a permanent residence visa through investment. This path is available in pretty much countries including the US.

Some of the more corrupt ones offer straight up money for citizenship deals. Citizenship not permanent residence, meaning you get that country's passport.

I think more than one. I think Portugal's program is over but you can still do it in others (Greece? Romania? I can't remember). You can do it in the USA too.

the golden visas were banned in the EU last year https://amp.dw.com/en/eu-citizenship-no-longer-for-sale/a-72...

Wow, that's rich. Literally. So even money can't get you in anymore. You'd need money & influence.

Portugal still has citizenship by investment routes, but it will take 10+ years to get actual citizenship due to changes in the law and wait times.

Many countries, this is often called a golden visa (term predates the current US president).

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