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Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

181 points feraligators | 1 comments | 25 Jan 22 15:44 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source

I've long considered leaving this country for a multitude of reasons.

I'd be curious to hear some first hand experiences of those who've made the move to Europe and what you think of the process and considerations one should make.

A few questions to start the conversation:

- Where do you live?

- What's the biggest sacrifice you had to make (i.e. pay, housing, friends, etc.)

- What have you gained?

Show context
killdisk ◴[25 Jan 22 15:58 UTC] No.30073267[source]▶
I can't answer all these questions, but I'm doing this right now. Moving from Denver, CO -> Berlin, Germany. I start in May. I'm taking about a 50% pay cut on paper (for a Senior Software Engineer position), although what's interesting is Berlin has a lower cost of living, and in particular rental prices are actually reasonable. My plan is for this to be a ~5 year thing, just because it would be hard to leave my family. I already know I'm going to miss gaming with friends online due to the time difference.
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karaterobot ◴[25 Jan 22 16:38 UTC] No.30073931[source]▶
> I'm taking about a 50% pay cut on paper (for a Senior Software Engineer position)

A friend of mine moved from Seattle to Munich for work as an SSE, and his experience with respect to the pay cut matches yours. He was expecting that, but did not factor in the increase in taxes on top of that. He said he was broke and living off savings for the first time in his adult life, while working 40 hours a week for a major software company.

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Hamuko ◴[25 Jan 22 16:45 UTC] No.30074047[source]▶
How can you be broke as a senior software engineer? Even if the wages are lower than in the US, they're probably still in the better half of the wage pyramid.

(I'm a senior software engineer in Europe, doing alright)

Did he have massive student debt or something?

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karaterobot ◴[25 Jan 22 17:51 UTC] No.30075175[source]▶
He didn't mention debt. I kinda wanted to be vague, since I'm just recapitulating a breakfast conversation I had nine months ago, and don't know a ton of details. I believe that he had to continue paying U.S. taxes in addition to the higher German taxes.
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1. larkost ◴[28 Jan 22 23:33 UTC] No.30121983[source]▶
If your taxes wind up higher, then you have to file your U.S. taxes, but they wind up being minimal to 0, as the U.S. counts the taxes you pay there in lieu of paying to the U.S.. Mostly your extra expense should be in fees paid to one of the tax accountants who actually know their way around these tax laws/treaties.