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My wife is an American and we live together here in Denmark. If you move, please reach out. We'll be glad to welcome you!

by kalms 10y ago

shostack 10y ago
Generally speaking how is Denmark for Americans in terms of culture, job opportunities, cost of living, etc.?
- M_Grey 10y ago
  High cost of living, fantastic culture, job opportunities really depend on you.
- klausjensen 10y ago
  Pretty good. Lot's of opportunity for an American. Cost of living and taxes are very high, but then there is of course public healthcare, schools and education paid by taxes. If that's OK with you, then go for it.
  - chris_7 10y ago
    For Americans coming from NYC or SF, is the cost of living really that much higher?
    - tom_mellior 10y ago
      Here are some numbers you may or may not choose to trust: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&city1=New+York%2C+NY&country2=Denmark&city2=Copenhagen https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...
    - qadevleadgrunt 10y ago
      I can only speak for myself having lived in Copenhagen/Boston/NYC; cost of living is lower in Copenhagen, but so are salaries, expect a huge cut in pay as well as on your ability to live a comfortable life on a tech salary. In NYC I can do a normal sit down lunch at $40 multiple times a week, without really batting an eye - whereas that would be painful in Denmark - on the plus side you usually have catered lunch which quality, choice and taste wise is not nearly as good, but significantly cheaper and with it being better for team work within the company. For health care you should expect longer lines and significant delays in case you have a non-urgent issue; whereas that in NYC is something you can handle easily by setting up an appointment on Zocdoc so that you can see a specialist the next day - with it being covered by your health insurance. On a NYC tech salary I tend to buy gadgets / items as often as I want, if the cost is below maybe $200, in Denmark that threshold is more like $60. Vacation policies are generally substantially better in Denmark; and workload also being significantly lower. Pros and cons
      - kalms 10y ago
        Healthcare in Denmark is just fine in my opinion. We also hold a private insurance through work. What is it you feel you need to wait for? Also, in regards to salary: Yes, it's lower overall. But it's still high, especially in the tech sector. I get paid roughly the same as my US counterparts (we have offices in Copenhagen and New York).
      - shostack 10y ago
        What is overall work/life balance like over there? And is it very different if you are not an in-demand engineer?
        qadevleadgrunt 10y ago
        It's tough for me to say - I've generally been doing 40-70 hours a week in NYC, and average in Copenhagen is more like 35 (defacto); In NYC I'm expected - more or less - to be available 24/7 incase of outage / stability issues, wrt my company, whereas it in Denmark is more about the client/company adjusting to your work schedule, and them living with potential outages.
- kalms 10y ago
  I think the biggest obstacle was for my wife to connect with other Danish women. Basically how to find friends, since social norms and culture is different. That lasted 6 months, and she now has a big group of friends consisting of expats/danes. Job opportunities are very good, especially if you work within healthcare, engineering or similar fields. There's a shortage in the workforce for highly qualified workers.
mkaziz 10y ago
Would Muslim Americans be welcome, given current trends?
- kalms 10y ago
  I don't see why not?
- geodel 10y ago
  Here is what a quick google search throws: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151220/05391733140/denmark-looking-to-asset-forfeiture-to-solve-immigrant-problem.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151220/05391733140/denma... http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/europe/denmark-vote-jewelry-bill-migrants/ http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/europe/denmark-vote-jewelry-bi... Suffice to say not exactly a paragon of liberty and freedom for all. But it might work for white techno elites for whom being not in US/UK and writing web apps is all they want.
  - kalms 10y ago
    That law hasn't been used once. It's also the same if you get government benefits. If your wealth exceeds 10.000 DKK, you will have to use your own money to get by, until you run out.
qadevleadgrunt 10y ago
How did you handle permanent residency requirements for your wife? I'm a Danish citizen, with the fiancé being a US citizen - and my understanding is that it wouldn't be easy for us to live in Denmark due to us having an unreasonable burden in demonstrating attachment to Denmark vs the US (https://www.information.dk/indland/2016/07/nye-regler-familiesammenfoering-rammer-hoejtuddannede-udlandsdanskere https://www.information.dk/indland/2016/07/nye-regler-famili...) --- and with the president-elect having talked about pausing legal immigration for 1-2 years it makes for pretty scary times as my employer currently is applying for PERM status for me (meaning things could be paused randomly by the president - and with no where for us to go but maybe Canada/other European countries)
- kalms 10y ago
  She's doesn't hold a permanent visa yet. It needs renewal every year, and after 5 years, she just needs to apply for a permanent one. We were lucky, since I have 3 kids from a previous relationship, so my attachment to Denmark is nonnegotiable. It took 5 months for our family reunification visa to go through. In regards to your visa in the US, I think you should just wait it out. I doubt it'll get paused overnight, since the business impacts would be too great.

My wife is an American and we live together here in Denmark. If you move, please reach out. We'll be glad to welcome you!

by kalms 10y ago

My wife is an American and we live together here in Denmark. If you move, please reach out. We'll be glad to welcome you!

shostack 10y ago

Generally speaking how is Denmark for Americans in terms of culture, job opportunities, cost of living, etc.?

M_Grey 10y ago
High cost of living, fantastic culture, job opportunities really depend on you.
klausjensen 10y ago
Pretty good. Lot's of opportunity for an American. Cost of living and taxes are very high, but then there is of course public healthcare, schools and education paid by taxes. If that's OK with you, then go for it.
- chris_7 10y ago
  For Americans coming from NYC or SF, is the cost of living really that much higher?
  - tom_mellior 10y ago
    Here are some numbers you may or may not choose to trust: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&city1=New+York%2C+NY&country2=Denmark&city2=Copenhagen https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...
  - qadevleadgrunt 10y ago
    I can only speak for myself having lived in Copenhagen/Boston/NYC; cost of living is lower in Copenhagen, but so are salaries, expect a huge cut in pay as well as on your ability to live a comfortable life on a tech salary. In NYC I can do a normal sit down lunch at $40 multiple times a week, without really batting an eye - whereas that would be painful in Denmark - on the plus side you usually have catered lunch which quality, choice and taste wise is not nearly as good, but significantly cheaper and with it being better for team work within the company. For health care you should expect longer lines and significant delays in case you have a non-urgent issue; whereas that in NYC is something you can handle easily by setting up an appointment on Zocdoc so that you can see a specialist the next day - with it being covered by your health insurance. On a NYC tech salary I tend to buy gadgets / items as often as I want, if the cost is below maybe $200, in Denmark that threshold is more like $60. Vacation policies are generally substantially better in Denmark; and workload also being significantly lower. Pros and cons
    - kalms 10y ago
      Healthcare in Denmark is just fine in my opinion. We also hold a private insurance through work. What is it you feel you need to wait for? Also, in regards to salary: Yes, it's lower overall. But it's still high, especially in the tech sector. I get paid roughly the same as my US counterparts (we have offices in Copenhagen and New York).
    - shostack 10y ago
      What is overall work/life balance like over there? And is it very different if you are not an in-demand engineer?
      - qadevleadgrunt 10y ago
        It's tough for me to say - I've generally been doing 40-70 hours a week in NYC, and average in Copenhagen is more like 35 (defacto); In NYC I'm expected - more or less - to be available 24/7 incase of outage / stability issues, wrt my company, whereas it in Denmark is more about the client/company adjusting to your work schedule, and them living with potential outages.
kalms 10y ago
I think the biggest obstacle was for my wife to connect with other Danish women. Basically how to find friends, since social norms and culture is different. That lasted 6 months, and she now has a big group of friends consisting of expats/danes. Job opportunities are very good, especially if you work within healthcare, engineering or similar fields. There's a shortage in the workforce for highly qualified workers.

mkaziz 10y ago

Would Muslim Americans be welcome, given current trends?

kalms 10y ago
I don't see why not?
geodel 10y ago
Here is what a quick google search throws: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151220/05391733140/denmark-looking-to-asset-forfeiture-to-solve-immigrant-problem.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151220/05391733140/denma... http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/europe/denmark-vote-jewelry-bill-migrants/ http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/europe/denmark-vote-jewelry-bi... Suffice to say not exactly a paragon of liberty and freedom for all. But it might work for white techno elites for whom being not in US/UK and writing web apps is all they want.
- kalms 10y ago
  That law hasn't been used once. It's also the same if you get government benefits. If your wealth exceeds 10.000 DKK, you will have to use your own money to get by, until you run out.

qadevleadgrunt 10y ago

How did you handle permanent residency requirements for your wife? I'm a Danish citizen, with the fiancé being a US citizen - and my understanding is that it wouldn't be easy for us to live in Denmark due to us having an unreasonable burden in demonstrating attachment to Denmark vs the US (https://www.information.dk/indland/2016/07/nye-regler-familiesammenfoering-rammer-hoejtuddannede-udlandsdanskere https://www.information.dk/indland/2016/07/nye-regler-famili...) --- and with the president-elect having talked about pausing legal immigration for 1-2 years it makes for pretty scary times as my employer currently is applying for PERM status for me (meaning things could be paused randomly by the president - and with no where for us to go but maybe Canada/other European countries)

kalms 10y ago
She's doesn't hold a permanent visa yet. It needs renewal every year, and after 5 years, she just needs to apply for a permanent one. We were lucky, since I have 3 kids from a previous relationship, so my attachment to Denmark is nonnegotiable. It took 5 months for our family reunification visa to go through. In regards to your visa in the US, I think you should just wait it out. I doubt it'll get paused overnight, since the business impacts would be too great.