Ask HN: Thinking of moving to Europe from USA
If you are a programmer/designer you can get a 3 year freelance visa in Berlin, Germany. I currently live in Berlin with that visa.<p>Your standard of living in Europe will vary. Sure, some places offer free healthcare (not exactly free - see taxes), better public transportation, and decent quality food at lower tier supermarkets. That's all great. On the other hand, you'll likely take a huge hit in salary and pay higher taxes. That does make a difference in lifestyle. A personal anecdote: in NYC I paid $2500/month to live alone in a decent apartment in a vibrant area (East Village). That's a lot of money! In Berlin I paid $700/month for an apartment of similar quality, but because salary and taxes are so low, I wasn't able to save nearly as much as I did in NYC paying high rent, a lot of money for quality groceries, etc.<p>There are other benefits of living in Europe like 30 days of vacation, ample maternal/paternal leave, and some financial security if you lose your job. That said, it's harder to get these jobs. Because of the risk companies need to take when hiring new employees (ie paying for all the benefits above), there's currently a huge workforce of temporary employees. Everyone is aiming for the seemingly elusive "permanent contract."<p>I say make the move. You'll learn a lot about the world and yourself. You can always move back to the US.<p>FYI this comes from the perspective of a software engineer turned entrepreneur turned software engineer.<p>Berlin freelance visa: <a href="https://service.berlin.de/dienstleistung/305249/en/" rel="nofollow">https://service.berlin.de/dienstleistung/305249/en/</a>