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Comment by jpatokal | Hacker News Reader

+1 for Singapore, at least from a business perspective:

http://gyrovague.com/2013/10/30/half-the-donut-why-an-entrep...

Personally, I'm going for Australia though -- there's more to life than low taxes.

Yeah, while our taxes here in Aus are high, so are our standards of living. Although our new government seems intent on ruining that, in a bid to out-do the US in terms of idiotic legislation and curbing freedoms...

Actually, our taxes are not high compared to other OECD countries (only Mexico and Chile have significantly lower tax/GDP ratios):

http://www.treasury.gov.au/Policy-Topics/Taxation/Pocket-Gui...

As jsankey says, we're really not highly taxed. Our tax load is on par with the US, and we have the benefit of a much simpler tax system, from income tax to business taxes. Cost of living is high, though.

Mmm, yeah I suppose that's more what I meant. Our tax isn't that high per se, but you feel what tax there is more as our cost of living is quite high.

I'm starting the work for my PR in Australia. We love it here, plus the paths are short and straightforward: 2 years as 457 => PR through employer sponsorship, 1-2(?) years as PR => citizenship.

Another traditional route to Australian citizenship is via New Zealand. Get a kiwi citizenship first, which is easier than an Aus one. With an NZ passport, it's easier to get an Australian one.

It's actually quite a serious problem for the kiwis, because they do the hard yards of bringing immigrants up-to-speed with the local culture (eg English language lessons), only to have them jump the ditch (Tasman sea) to Australia.

You need 4 years total though. Which is still pretty good though, in places like the US you're lucky to get even a green card in 10 years...

The EU also has 8-10 year residency requirements, based on country. Malta is the shortest, at only a year, but you have to cough up € 1 million.

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