4 ms·

What makes UK more attractive option over Germany? Language, existing communities (say, for Indians)? I may have a wrong impression, but outside of London, the

What makes UK more attractive option over Germany? Language, existing communities (say, for Indians)? I may have a wrong impression, but outside of London, the salaries are not that good, and living in London may kill any gaps in salaries. You can have a better living in many cities in Germany being an AI researcher or just a regular software engineer.

luckylion 5y ago
Language is probably a strong one, English is taught in school in Germany, but very much not spoken by a majority. That won't be much of an issue if you're working in an office in Berlin or Munich, where you'll have international colleagues, and everyone is expected to be fluent in English. But it's a very different affair when you're in a grocery store, or need to talk to some government office. I had a friend from the US who had lived in Germany for many years and still refused to go to the immigration office for visa renewals without his lawyer present because the office people refused to speak English and he was afraid that his (very good) German would fail him and he'd make a mistake. Taxes and salaries are likely another point. Germany is somewhere in the highest taxed countries in the world.
- voqv 5y ago
  UK has 40% tax on 50k pounds and Germany has 42% tax on the equivalent 58k euros, doesn't sound like big deal unless I'm missing something here.
  - alibarber 5y ago
    What are the bands and allowances though? I moved from the UK to Finland - I was in the 40% bracket, but now I'm 'only' in the mid twenties (plus about 8% insurances / pension) - but in the UK the first 11K is 0 rated, whereas Finland gives you nothing.
  - ipsi 5y ago
    Taxes are a lot more complex in Germany - you need to in add in social security charges (e.g., health insurance, nursing contribution, pension contribution, etc, etc), and you'll generally pay more in tax in Germany than you would for an equivalent number of pounds in the UK. I know, because that's what happened to me (I received a large enough pay rise to balance it out, so net income was the same either way). The exception is once you go over £100,000 and hit the brief 62% tax bracket (remember to include NI) - then it starts to equal out again.
    - voqv 5y ago
      It's the UK tax that is more complex for me as i'm not familiar with it. Isn't the NI more or less the equivalent of social security charges? But now I understand where my math is wrong - I got the UK tax brackets wrong. For Germany I took ~42% (actually 39%) as what the state will take from a 58k€ salary but in the UK the state will take 25% of the £50k salary (most of the income in the 20% bracket). That is indeed significantly less.
deleted 5y ago
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luckylion 5y ago

Language is probably a strong one, English is taught in school in Germany, but very much not spoken by a majority. That won't be much of an issue if you're working in an office in Berlin or Munich, where you'll have international colleagues, and everyone is expected to be fluent in English. But it's a very different affair when you're in a grocery store, or need to talk to some government office. I had a friend from the US who had lived in Germany for many years and still refused to go to the immigration office for visa renewals without his lawyer present because the office people refused to speak English and he was afraid that his (very good) German would fail him and he'd make a mistake. Taxes and salaries are likely another point. Germany is somewhere in the highest taxed countries in the world.

voqv 5y ago
UK has 40% tax on 50k pounds and Germany has 42% tax on the equivalent 58k euros, doesn't sound like big deal unless I'm missing something here.
- alibarber 5y ago
  What are the bands and allowances though? I moved from the UK to Finland - I was in the 40% bracket, but now I'm 'only' in the mid twenties (plus about 8% insurances / pension) - but in the UK the first 11K is 0 rated, whereas Finland gives you nothing.
- ipsi 5y ago
  Taxes are a lot more complex in Germany - you need to in add in social security charges (e.g., health insurance, nursing contribution, pension contribution, etc, etc), and you'll generally pay more in tax in Germany than you would for an equivalent number of pounds in the UK. I know, because that's what happened to me (I received a large enough pay rise to balance it out, so net income was the same either way). The exception is once you go over £100,000 and hit the brief 62% tax bracket (remember to include NI) - then it starts to equal out again.
  - voqv 5y ago
    It's the UK tax that is more complex for me as i'm not familiar with it. Isn't the NI more or less the equivalent of social security charges? But now I understand where my math is wrong - I got the UK tax brackets wrong. For Germany I took ~42% (actually 39%) as what the state will take from a 58k€ salary but in the UK the state will take 25% of the £50k salary (most of the income in the 20% bracket). That is indeed significantly less.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]