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On November 09 2021 14:56 plasmidghost wrote:
For a number of reasons, I'm looking to leave the US permanently next year. The two cities I'm looking to relocate to are either Amsterdam or Brussels. I've looked into what their respective governments are like and they seem far better than what I deal with as a trans person in Texas. Is there important political and economic things I should know about relocating to the EU as an American with no citizenship or residency ties to the EU?
Just thought I'd toss this out there because as others have said it is apparently not that easy to immigrate to the EU. Comparatively, it is probably far easier for an American to immigrate to Canada.
Now, I don't how trans issues are all across Canada or anything, probably depends a lot on location. So, I have heard that the city of Nelson, in the province of British Columbia, is quite welcoming/friendly to trans people. I lived in a nearby small city/town for about 8 months and went to Nelson only a handful of times. One I head people talking about this, including anecdotal stories. So, I don't how true it is, but it may be worth looking into, as it sounds like immigrating to Canada will probably be easier.
One thing to consider though is that Nelson is a small city, ~10,000 people, so there probably aren't a lot of job opportunities. As well, it is quite expensive for a small city, though most housing is expensive in BC. I doubt there is a house there for less than $500,000, and for rent when I as looking for a place to live (several years ago, I did not end living in Nelson) the cheapest I could find was $600 for a small room in someone's house. In the present it is probably more expensive.
I don't know if any of that helps, but I just thought I'd toss it out there for you to consider.
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On November 10 2021 09:19 plasmidghost wrote:
I've got a job pretty much lined up already. I'm a penetration tester by trade and my company is starting the process of getting me the paperwork for relocating to either city I mentioned. I looked into the blue card situation and I beat the salary requirements by tens of thousands of euros. I would love to use that to move permanently to either city.
I don't want to stay in the US because of our federal government very likely to target me when the GOP take over most likely next year, and I don't want to go to Canada since there's indications of a rising anti-trans sentiment. The UK is such a bad place for trans people that New Zealand has let UK trans people claim asylum.
Also, I've got about €100,000 saved up that I plan on dipping into to finance the move, so hopefully everything goes through lol
Thank you all!
Congratulations, that sounds as if you have your stuff well set-up! It is a bit sad, but i do agree that getting out of the US might be a good idea, the place is looking as if it is likely to go full fascist in the next few decades. Also, i am pissed off that there is a situation where you need to change countries just because a bunch of people are bigoted idiots.
I would like to reiterate that you and the parts of your family you might be taking with you should immediately start to learn the local language, if you haven't already.
(Also, penetration tester sounds kind of dirty, but i am sure you have already heard every joke about that)
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On November 10 2021 09:19 plasmidghost wrote:
I've got a job pretty much lined up already. I'm a penetration tester by trade and my company is starting the process of getting me the paperwork for relocating to either city I mentioned. I looked into the blue card situation and I beat the salary requirements by tens of thousands of euros. I would love to use that to move permanently to either city.
I don't want to stay in the US because of our federal government very likely to target me when the GOP take over most likely next year, and I don't want to go to Canada since there's indications of a rising anti-trans sentiment. The UK is such a bad place for trans people that New Zealand has let UK trans people claim asylum.
Also, I've got about €100,000 saved up that I plan on dipping into to finance the move, so hopefully everything goes through lol
Thank you all!
Sounds like you have the most important stuff sorted out! Good for you!
From this I understand that Brussels and Amsterdam are your only two options? In that case I would go for Amsterdam without any doubt.
As a matter of fact, I would not recommed Brussels to a non-trans person either. It struck me as a particularly dirty city. It also felt like sizeable parts of the population are marginalized, which translates in large areas looking desolate (even central parts of the city). Brussels is the only city in West Europe where I noticed the majority of buildings having steel bars in front of the windows on the ground floor (in central areas). Basically everything outside the EU district and the main tourist streets looked kinda sad and let down.
I have only been to Amsterdam a couple of times and I am sure it also has its bad parts, but overall the city looked soooo much better than Brussels - cleaner, prettier, more welcoming, less chaotic. From a purely practical perspective, assuming you do not speak neither French nor Dutch, your odds of being able to communicate in English with random people are what feels like an order of magnitude higher in Amsterdam than in any francophone city.
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That's because the official second language in the netherlands is english. In belgium the official second language is french.
edit: not to mention that, if you learn dutch, you get around somewhat reasonably in germany and austria as well (of course most people speak english too, but you can communicate with a german in dutch too, to some extend).
Gives options. Assuming you don't want to go to france, which, after seeing paris, i don't understand why you would.
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On November 10 2021 19:53 m4ini wrote:
That's because the official second language in the netherlands is english. In belgium the official second language is french.
edit: not to mention that, if you learn dutch, you get around somewhat reasonably in germany and austria as well (of course most people speak english too, but you can communicate with a german in dutch too, to some extend).
Gives options. Assuming you don't want to go to france, which, after seeing paris, i don't understand why you would.
As a German, i would put a huge question mark onto the being able to communicate with Germans if you know Dutch thing. It is somewhat possible to make sense of written Dutch most of the time. But spoken Dutch is completely different. I do not understand any spoken Dutch.
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On November 10 2021 22:11 Simberto wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2021 19:53 m4ini wrote:
That's because the official second language in the netherlands is english. In belgium the official second language is french.
edit: not to mention that, if you learn dutch, you get around somewhat reasonably in germany and austria as well (of course most people speak english too, but you can communicate with a german in dutch too, to some extend).
Gives options. Assuming you don't want to go to france, which, after seeing paris, i don't understand why you would. As a German, i would put a huge question mark onto the being able to communicate with Germans if you know Dutch thing. It is somewhat possible to make sense of written Dutch most of the time. But spoken Dutch is completely different. I do not understand any spoken Dutch.
Yeah, in my experience many Dutch people understand German but not the other way round... You would probably fare better just speaking English in Germany.
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On November 11 2021 00:48 justanothertownie wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2021 22:11 Simberto wrote:On November 10 2021 19:53 m4ini wrote:
That's because the official second language in the netherlands is english. In belgium the official second language is french.
edit: not to mention that, if you learn dutch, you get around somewhat reasonably in germany and austria as well (of course most people speak english too, but you can communicate with a german in dutch too, to some extend).
Gives options. Assuming you don't want to go to france, which, after seeing paris, i don't understand why you would. As a German, i would put a huge question mark onto the being able to communicate with Germans if you know Dutch thing. It is somewhat possible to make sense of written Dutch most of the time. But spoken Dutch is completely different. I do not understand any spoken Dutch. Yeah, in my experience many Dutch people understand German but not the other way round... You would probably fare better just speaking English in Germany. Many understand atleast a little bit of German because its taught in school. I don't think German schools teach Dutch by default.
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On November 11 2021 01:06 Gorsameth wrote:Show nested quote +On November 11 2021 00:48 justanothertownie wrote:On November 10 2021 22:11 Simberto wrote:On November 10 2021 19:53 m4ini wrote:
That's because the official second language in the netherlands is english. In belgium the official second language is french.
edit: not to mention that, if you learn dutch, you get around somewhat reasonably in germany and austria as well (of course most people speak english too, but you can communicate with a german in dutch too, to some extend).
Gives options. Assuming you don't want to go to france, which, after seeing paris, i don't understand why you would. As a German, i would put a huge question mark onto the being able to communicate with Germans if you know Dutch thing. It is somewhat possible to make sense of written Dutch most of the time. But spoken Dutch is completely different. I do not understand any spoken Dutch. Yeah, in my experience many Dutch people understand German but not the other way round... You would probably fare better just speaking English in Germany. Many understand atleast a little bit of German because its taught in school. I don't think German schools teach Dutch by default.
It's that and also I think German sounds are easier to understand for a Dutch speaker than Dutch sounds for a German speaker. Similar to how Portuguese tend to have an easy time understanding spoken Spanish, but Spaniards generally don't understand a word of spoken Portuguese... whereas written it's similar enough.
My guess is the harsh g and r in Dutch are harder to get the hang of for a German whereas German doesn't really have any sounds that are hard for Dutch to wrap their heads around. Grammar is a different story, but you don't need perfect declension of nouns (and articles) to understand German  Combine that with some minor amount of education, a long history of Germany influencing the Netherlands, and greater exposure on TV/literature to the language, and Dutch tend to at least have a working understanding of German.
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Zurich15366 Posts
[QUOTE]On November 10 2021 09:19 plasmidghost wrote:
I've got a job pretty much lined up already. I'm a penetration tester by trade and my company is starting the process of getting me the paperwork for relocating to either city I mentioned. I looked into the blue card situation and I beat the salary requirements by tens of thousands of euros. I would love to use that to move permanently to either city. /QUOTE]
That's pretty much the jackpot in almost every European country. Pen tester should be on the list of rare professions with which you get exceptional immigration treatment in most places. And a great salary too.
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On November 10 2021 01:23 Mohdoo wrote:
Out of curiosity for my euro-homies, what would compel you to move to the US?
Sorry US, but there is no Spezi in your country. I could live with most other things, but having to buy two drinks and mixing everytime i am in a restaurant is just not a thing i want to do. Also, good bread is important.
In regards to Amsterdam vs Brussels, my company has a department in Amsterdam i regularly work with, and there is no team that is more diverse. Same with the last company i worked for. Overall Amsterdam seems to be the craziest melting pot, at least work wise, so i would think that you might find it easier to be there compared to most other places in Europe.
In regards to Germany, i would probably not recommend coming here for the foreseable future, if you are not white. While living standards are high and a good part of the country is liberal or is trying to be liberal, there is also a very big part of the country that is getting more and more entrenched in right wing ideas, anti-intellectualism and general hate for everything. This might not be different in other countries, but i feel like Germany is getting less stable and more dangerous for everyone that is not well integrated.
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On November 28 2021 03:10 Broetchenholer wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2021 01:23 Mohdoo wrote:
Out of curiosity for my euro-homies, what would compel you to move to the US? Sorry US, but there is no Spezi in your country. I could live with most other things, but having to buy two drinks and mixing everytime i am in a restaurant is just not a thing i want to do. Also, good bread is important.
Do they serve spezi outside of Germany/Austria/Switzerland? I mean, that seems like a pretty serious limitation excluding most of the world.
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I got it in Southern Tirol (5 km off the border to Austria). That's it. So annoying that the world does not know of this elixier 
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On November 28 2021 03:10 Broetchenholer wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2021 01:23 Mohdoo wrote:
Out of curiosity for my euro-homies, what would compel you to move to the US? Sorry US, but there is no Spezi in your country. I could live with most other things, but having to buy two drinks and mixing everytime i am in a restaurant is just not a thing i want to do. Also, good bread is important.
Fuck me man do you know how hard it is to find Dr Pepper in Switzerland
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Yes! You want some? They hzave it in my next super market 
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Sorry US, but there is no Spezi in your country. I could live with most other things, but having to buy two drinks and mixing everytime i am in a restaurant is just not a thing i want to do. Also, good bread is important.
If i'd have known that the UK doesn't have bread (they call toast bread), i would've thought twice about coming here as well. Not to mention that if i dwell in nostalgia about having a nice Mettbroetchen with salt, pepper and onions, i get looked at weirdly. If i then explain that Mett is one of the most favourite german breakfast spreads, and that it's raw pork, people immediately "eww" at me, in shock.
Out of curiosity for my euro-homies, what would compel you to move to the US?
I don't think there's an easy answer to this, as it is a very individual question.
I do think the very universal answer to that would be "lots and lots of monies". I can deal with all kinds of bullshit if i get paid enough.
In reality, for me personally to move to the US, the two party system would need abolishing (i moved into one when moving to the UK, i'd not repeat that mistake), the fake friendliness would need to be abolished, the understanding of mental health problems (and support for it) would need to improve vastly, and guns would need to be removed.
Some of these things are basically part of american identity, so generally, nothing could compel me personally to move to the US. Other than mentioned, lotsa money.
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Sorry about our bread. To be fair, it depends if you have an actual proper bakery in your local area.
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There is an ongoing fight in EU about the future of atom. France, Poland, Czech Republic vs Germany, Austria, Denmark, Portugal https://www.euronews.com/2022/01/01/brussels-unveils-plan-for-green-gas-and-nuclear-label
Germany is strongly opposed to labeling nuclear as green. Despite science saying so. Let's not be fooled, Germany has huge economical interest in Nordstream 1&2 and its beloved democracy loving ally (Russia), they will fight atom with everything they can. They already started with their usual lies. Lets hope France and EU commission won't budge.
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Nuclear energy is green in some ways, and very ungreen in others. It is kind of okay with regards to climate.
But there are massive problems with long-term storage of nuclear waste, and as history has shown, it seems to be very hard to make nuclear power completely safe, and if something goes wrong, it goes very wrong, is an ecological catastrophe and absurdly expensive for the country, but not the people who built it.
I might be okay with nuclear power if the companies who build it, but also the executives personally, are on the hook for storage until basically the end of time, and need to actually set aside reasonable amounts of money for that. They would also need to get insurance against catastrophes, but apparently insurance companies don't want to insure nuclear power plants afaik. But this is not how nuclear power is set up.
I am not okay with nuclear if the profits go into private pockets while the costs are offloaded to society as a whole. If a nuclear power plant catastrophe happens, it is the tax payer who has to pay for it, the company (or probably only a very small part of the company that they managed to somehow legally isolate) simply goes under because they don't have enough money, and the executives keep on swimming in their lakes of money.
I am not a fan of russian gas either, though.
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EPT
