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Many more folks will be moving to India due the H1B visa regime, and we already are seeing lots of Indians moving in to Berlin Fri the USA. However it becomes

Many more folks will be moving to India due the H1B visa regime, and we already are seeing lots of Indians moving in to Berlin Fri the USA. However it becomes harder to move back once you’ve school going kids and want them to have access to world class universities like TUM, MIT, OxBridge etc. Balaji Srinivasan is definitely a big India proponent and his latest session with Shane Parrish was really illuminating.

sveme 5y ago
It‘s interesting that the German work permit scheme seems to be much more liberal nowadays than the US one. I‘m just hiring a guy from Delhi and the process is pretty straightforward.
- FlyingSnake 5y ago
  I regularly hire people from India at my current role, and the process is so much straightforward. There is a huge talent pool in India that is disillusioned with the US visa regime and Germany is benefiting greatly from this.
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    Isn't lax immigration basically wage suppression on the local German workforce and a handout to the asset/business owning class? If you can basically hire anyone in the world instead of locals, then what leverage does the local workforce have to demand higher wages? Feels like a power imbalance that greatly benefits the employers, banks, real estate owners, retail businesses and the boreoarctic government apparatus, who all benefit from the increase population and consumers, but screws over the local workers who need to compete with a bigger talent pool for work and a bigger pool of tenants for rent and overburdened public services like childcare.
    - saidinesh5 5y ago
      It can be easier and cheaper to hire locally, compared to sponsoring a work visa to a foreigner. For highly skilled specialists, the minimum wage for a German work Visa is 56,800 EUR (EU Blue Card) and 44,304 EUR for shortage jobs. (1). So at an individual level, wage suppression might not always happen. (Back when I was offered jobs there, my colleagues there were earning less). That being said, at scale, the increased talent pool might indeed suppress the wages - especially in short term, but you never know about long term. Immigrants might start / help their own company provide jobs to more of the local talent. Not to mention other issues like falling birth rates vs. the economy, increased tax base, companies unable to afford local workforce temporarily (think early stage startups) etc.. Personally, I see skilled immigration as a net positive to the receiving country - only because I see the downsides of brain drain on the country those highly educated people are immigrating from. 1. https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/germany/visa/employment-visa/ https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/germany/visa/employment-vis...
      - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
        >It can be easier and cheaper to hire locally, compared to sponsoring a work visa to a foreigner. Depends how you define cheaper. The visa sponsorship is a one time sunk cost, but if the candidate you sponsor aggress to work for several thousands or even tens of thousands less per year than the local candidates, then the saving for the company are obvious. It's an opens secret that companie in Germany/EU usually sponsor the candidates who accept less than the market rate, otherwise they would just pay market rate or a bit higher and hire a local without the visa hassle. D'uh! Even my former German boss was open about this with me that the recruiting department is constantly trying to bring candidates from places with low wages and low QoL like Brasil (their example, not mine) in order to not have to pay higher than market wages to poach local talent. >the minimum wage for a German work Visa is 56,800 EUR (EU Blue Card) and 44,304 EUR for shortage jobs. 44K/year seems pretty low for a so called "shortage job", and even more so if you consider the rampant inflation in the past couple of years. AFAIK 44K is pretty much around or sometimes even far less than a new grad makes in a skilled field at a good company. So, IMHO such low wages for supposedly "shortage jobs" are there for wage suppression and nothing else. If we had something like 70-80k/year as the bar for a shortage wage then we'd be talking sense. The secondary effect of immigration is increasing the burden on inelastic services and assets that everyone needs such as doctors and rentals for everyone, as the real estate supply is highly restricted due to NIMBYism and several political and financial reasons around the rigged real-estate market I don't want to get in right now as that always makes my blood boil.
- satyamkapoor 5y ago
  An EU blue card, 21 months approx for a PR. Good salaries, subsidised quality education for kids, fairly cheaper health care and access to international professional and social network. Adding more it’s a 6-7 hour direct flight to India. If I’m working in a metro in India it could take a day for me to be back to family in my hometown, it takes a bit more from Germany. To add 40 paid vacation days and are kind of pushed to take those off for mental health.
  - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
    Where exactly can you get 40 paid vacation days? I'm also in Europe and the standard is 25 where I live.
    - satyamkapoor 5y ago
      In Belgium the standard was 20 but government forced to make the work week 36 hours & most company’s had 40. So they started giving 1 day per month extra off. It’s 32 now as the unofficial standard. In DE a contact gets 35. Plus you’re eligible to take day off when you’re moving, have a family event(your or close family’s death or wedding). Not counting the sick leaves here which obv do not get deducted from these

sveme 5y ago

It‘s interesting that the German work permit scheme seems to be much more liberal nowadays than the US one. I‘m just hiring a guy from Delhi and the process is pretty straightforward.

FlyingSnake 5y ago
I regularly hire people from India at my current role, and the process is so much straightforward. There is a huge talent pool in India that is disillusioned with the US visa regime and Germany is benefiting greatly from this.
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  Isn't lax immigration basically wage suppression on the local German workforce and a handout to the asset/business owning class? If you can basically hire anyone in the world instead of locals, then what leverage does the local workforce have to demand higher wages? Feels like a power imbalance that greatly benefits the employers, banks, real estate owners, retail businesses and the boreoarctic government apparatus, who all benefit from the increase population and consumers, but screws over the local workers who need to compete with a bigger talent pool for work and a bigger pool of tenants for rent and overburdened public services like childcare.
  - saidinesh5 5y ago
    It can be easier and cheaper to hire locally, compared to sponsoring a work visa to a foreigner. For highly skilled specialists, the minimum wage for a German work Visa is 56,800 EUR (EU Blue Card) and 44,304 EUR for shortage jobs. (1). So at an individual level, wage suppression might not always happen. (Back when I was offered jobs there, my colleagues there were earning less). That being said, at scale, the increased talent pool might indeed suppress the wages - especially in short term, but you never know about long term. Immigrants might start / help their own company provide jobs to more of the local talent. Not to mention other issues like falling birth rates vs. the economy, increased tax base, companies unable to afford local workforce temporarily (think early stage startups) etc.. Personally, I see skilled immigration as a net positive to the receiving country - only because I see the downsides of brain drain on the country those highly educated people are immigrating from. 1. https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/germany/visa/employment-visa/ https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/germany/visa/employment-vis...
    - ChuckNorris89 5y ago
      >It can be easier and cheaper to hire locally, compared to sponsoring a work visa to a foreigner. Depends how you define cheaper. The visa sponsorship is a one time sunk cost, but if the candidate you sponsor aggress to work for several thousands or even tens of thousands less per year than the local candidates, then the saving for the company are obvious. It's an opens secret that companie in Germany/EU usually sponsor the candidates who accept less than the market rate, otherwise they would just pay market rate or a bit higher and hire a local without the visa hassle. D'uh! Even my former German boss was open about this with me that the recruiting department is constantly trying to bring candidates from places with low wages and low QoL like Brasil (their example, not mine) in order to not have to pay higher than market wages to poach local talent. >the minimum wage for a German work Visa is 56,800 EUR (EU Blue Card) and 44,304 EUR for shortage jobs. 44K/year seems pretty low for a so called "shortage job", and even more so if you consider the rampant inflation in the past couple of years. AFAIK 44K is pretty much around or sometimes even far less than a new grad makes in a skilled field at a good company. So, IMHO such low wages for supposedly "shortage jobs" are there for wage suppression and nothing else. If we had something like 70-80k/year as the bar for a shortage wage then we'd be talking sense. The secondary effect of immigration is increasing the burden on inelastic services and assets that everyone needs such as doctors and rentals for everyone, as the real estate supply is highly restricted due to NIMBYism and several political and financial reasons around the rigged real-estate market I don't want to get in right now as that always makes my blood boil.
satyamkapoor 5y ago
An EU blue card, 21 months approx for a PR. Good salaries, subsidised quality education for kids, fairly cheaper health care and access to international professional and social network. Adding more it’s a 6-7 hour direct flight to India. If I’m working in a metro in India it could take a day for me to be back to family in my hometown, it takes a bit more from Germany. To add 40 paid vacation days and are kind of pushed to take those off for mental health.
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  Where exactly can you get 40 paid vacation days? I'm also in Europe and the standard is 25 where I live.
  - satyamkapoor 5y ago
    In Belgium the standard was 20 but government forced to make the work week 36 hours & most company’s had 40. So they started giving 1 day per month extra off. It’s 32 now as the unofficial standard. In DE a contact gets 35. Plus you’re eligible to take day off when you’re moving, have a family event(your or close family’s death or wedding). Not counting the sick leaves here which obv do not get deducted from these