6 ms·

I moved from Stockholm to NYC 3 years ago. Yes it's been worth it for me. I really enjoy my time in New York and I was looking for a change. Being far away fr

I moved from Stockholm to NYC 3 years ago. Yes it's been worth it for me. I really enjoy my time in New York and I was looking for a change. Being far away from friends/family is clearly not fun. I already changed countries several times within the EU before so I was used to it. Some random notes since the question is a bit open-ended: - I stayed with the same company, which helped me a lot because it gave me social contacts when I first moved (my colleagues). - Having a guest bedroom is great because having friends or family over for a longer time is easier. - The visa process is a pain while you're in it. Looking back on it, it's mostly the frustration at the lack of efficiency and unclarity that made it bad. Considering all the other things, it's a visible and easy to discuss "cost" but changing social circles is the bigger challenge and less easily discussed, I think. - Moving to a country where English is the native language is a _lot_ easier than moving to a country where you don't know the language as well. This holds even if a large part of the population speaks English very well; if you don't speak native language of a country, it's hard to feel like a part of society. - I personally don't like the "X in NYC" (X being your citizenship) facebook groups. Bonding based on interests (sports, books, ...) has been more rewarding for me. The experience has been totally worth it for me and I don't regret moving one bit. That said... I don't plan on having kids in the US/growing old in the US. (salary is better but I assume you looked that up already)

Winterflow3r 5y ago
Thank you very much for the very detailed and informative post! If you don't mind sharing - was it easy to convince your employer to get a transfer to the US? - Moving to a country where English is the native language is a _lot_ easier than moving to a country where you don't know the language as well. This holds even if a large part of the population speaks English very well; if you don't speak native language of a country, it's hard to feel like a part of society. -> I had to learn this the very hard way here in Sweden. Even though I come from another Nordic country, I guess I have an annoying or very noticeable accent which makes socializing extremely hard.
- throwaway_13490 5y ago
  Only speaking for my case; I told my manager I no longer liked living in Sweden and wanted to move to a different country. At the time, we only had engineering offices in Sweden and the US. That meant either 1) asking to be an exception in remote work, which HR didn't really like, 2) leaving my company or 3) my company helping me move to the US. I never saw it as a negotiation/threat of leaving, I just honestly told him that I never really connected with Sweden and that I wanted to move. I think he understood that, as we had quite a few expats and a lot of them leave after a few years to go back to their home country. Fortunately on his part, he was very supportive and helped me connect to several teams in the US to see if we'd be a good match professionally. I'd say it was easier than asking for a raise, hehe... It is relatively easy to move to the US if you've been at your company for 1+ years, have a good education background and if your company has a "blanket L1 visa petition". My "Im-not-a-lawyer" summary of L1 blanket visa is that it allows a company to move special knowledge workers to the US with a simplified and fairly certain path to get a visa (vs. H1B which is a lottery, O1 has hard requirements, etc.). The downside of an L1 is that it's tied to your employment at your sponsoring company, so you can't move to the US and then switch employer (... unless you first switch to H1B/greencard, etc...).
mclightning 5y ago
Hej! I am preparing to move abroad from Malmö, due to lack of social life, and language barrier I experienced here (similarly as you describe with English not being local language) I am trying to decide between London or California. London seems so much easier to move to. I am on the verge of giving up trying with California. I don't have any job opportunities at hand at either right now. I am an IT Consultant, and as you know, most contract brokers for Nordics are actually UK based and offered to find me contract immediately. UK offers some visa pathways for IT Consultants, whereas with US; I literally don't know any direct/clear pathway for it. Compensation-wise; as IT Consultant in EU, I already make as much as in US and can do same in UK. So that's not a factor for me.
- Winterflow3r 5y ago
  Hej! I was a contractor in the UK before I moved to Stockholm (also severe lack of social life which is why I need to get out asap) and I'm curious, was your comp the same in the EU as an IT consultant as US employment with stock? Because the highest daily rates I was able to find in the UK were usually somewhere around 650-900 GBP per day which would still put you below US comp with RSU.
  - mclightning 5y ago
    I can't speak from experience for US, but from what I read/heard online; SW. Engs. salaries there range from 90K to 250K. I just turned down an offer of a contract annually adding up to 220K$ roughly (total into my company before MOMS/VAT), because people are extremely antisocial here, and I ran out emotional patience/capacity. I just really can't anymore and need out asap. After 8 years here, I barely have a social circle to throw a birthday party. I moved here as a Tech Evangelist, very sociable person and my social skills has and is diminishing away. 650-900gbp per day sounds similar to southern Sweden. Hourly rates here go between 750 to 1300 sek.
  - mclightning 5y ago
    just to check if we are doing the math same way; 650gbp x (365 per year - 30 vacation days) = 217750 gbp Isn't that already very high? in comparison to some US salary?

Winterflow3r 5y ago

Thank you very much for the very detailed and informative post! If you don't mind sharing - was it easy to convince your employer to get a transfer to the US? - Moving to a country where English is the native language is a _lot_ easier than moving to a country where you don't know the language as well. This holds even if a large part of the population speaks English very well; if you don't speak native language of a country, it's hard to feel like a part of society. -> I had to learn this the very hard way here in Sweden. Even though I come from another Nordic country, I guess I have an annoying or very noticeable accent which makes socializing extremely hard.

throwaway_13490 5y ago
Only speaking for my case; I told my manager I no longer liked living in Sweden and wanted to move to a different country. At the time, we only had engineering offices in Sweden and the US. That meant either 1) asking to be an exception in remote work, which HR didn't really like, 2) leaving my company or 3) my company helping me move to the US. I never saw it as a negotiation/threat of leaving, I just honestly told him that I never really connected with Sweden and that I wanted to move. I think he understood that, as we had quite a few expats and a lot of them leave after a few years to go back to their home country. Fortunately on his part, he was very supportive and helped me connect to several teams in the US to see if we'd be a good match professionally. I'd say it was easier than asking for a raise, hehe... It is relatively easy to move to the US if you've been at your company for 1+ years, have a good education background and if your company has a "blanket L1 visa petition". My "Im-not-a-lawyer" summary of L1 blanket visa is that it allows a company to move special knowledge workers to the US with a simplified and fairly certain path to get a visa (vs. H1B which is a lottery, O1 has hard requirements, etc.). The downside of an L1 is that it's tied to your employment at your sponsoring company, so you can't move to the US and then switch employer (... unless you first switch to H1B/greencard, etc...).

mclightning 5y ago

Hej! I am preparing to move abroad from Malmö, due to lack of social life, and language barrier I experienced here (similarly as you describe with English not being local language) I am trying to decide between London or California. London seems so much easier to move to. I am on the verge of giving up trying with California. I don't have any job opportunities at hand at either right now. I am an IT Consultant, and as you know, most contract brokers for Nordics are actually UK based and offered to find me contract immediately. UK offers some visa pathways for IT Consultants, whereas with US; I literally don't know any direct/clear pathway for it. Compensation-wise; as IT Consultant in EU, I already make as much as in US and can do same in UK. So that's not a factor for me.

Winterflow3r 5y ago
Hej! I was a contractor in the UK before I moved to Stockholm (also severe lack of social life which is why I need to get out asap) and I'm curious, was your comp the same in the EU as an IT consultant as US employment with stock? Because the highest daily rates I was able to find in the UK were usually somewhere around 650-900 GBP per day which would still put you below US comp with RSU.
- mclightning 5y ago
  I can't speak from experience for US, but from what I read/heard online; SW. Engs. salaries there range from 90K to 250K. I just turned down an offer of a contract annually adding up to 220K$ roughly (total into my company before MOMS/VAT), because people are extremely antisocial here, and I ran out emotional patience/capacity. I just really can't anymore and need out asap. After 8 years here, I barely have a social circle to throw a birthday party. I moved here as a Tech Evangelist, very sociable person and my social skills has and is diminishing away. 650-900gbp per day sounds similar to southern Sweden. Hourly rates here go between 750 to 1300 sek.
- mclightning 5y ago
  just to check if we are doing the math same way; 650gbp x (365 per year - 30 vacation days) = 217750 gbp Isn't that already very high? in comparison to some US salary?