142 ms·
Skip Germany and go to Sweden or England, where people are more than happy to speak English, and there is already many Syrians in Sweden, especially in Sodertal
by antocv 13y ago
Skip Germany and go to Sweden or England, where people are more than happy to speak English, and there is already many Syrians in Sweden, especially in Sodertalje. Sweden will accept you based on your skills far more easily than Germany, all you need is to find a job, and right now the market is open for a guy of your skills - programmers are in high demand. Look around on various Sweden/Stockholm job posting sites, from there you get the visa and safety. The startup scene is also nice.
As someone else mentioned in Germany as asylum seeker you arent allowed to work. You can come to Sweden and seek asylum and you'd be allowed to work, and when you do sign a contract then you can get a permit to stay and cancel the asylum request. PM me and Ill give you names of good companies that are on the lookout to hire.
As others said, to be able to apply for asylum in EU country X, you have to first set foot in that country X and not in another one, so, go to Turkey or Israel and then fly to Sweden from there.
Sweden is also more flexible, its a country where they look out for the best interest of you as a human (mostly), so if you come to Sweden and continue working for Australian company - it is enough to get a work permit, all you have to do is prove that you earn more than minimum amount, I believe around 1500usd and pay taxes, to be accepted.
As a war refugee my self, I urge you strongly to leave Syria now, for the love of god no matter the price, buy those tickets and get the hell out of there and far away as possible, Sweden, Canada, Australia. (Not Germany, France, Italy, USA, Turkey they all suck.)
Your life is all you got, dont waste it on that war. Take with your closest family if you can.
- leokun 13y agoIs going to Turkey from Syria safe? Maybe it makes sense to go to Iran first.
- antocv 13y agoHe should know that better than us, we are further away from the war. Possibly even going to Iraq first would be an option. However, now I am reminded that Syria has banned all males 18-42 from leaving the country. So, it isnt easy, you basically have to escape through smuggle-lines/unguarded border. EDIT: If I may speculate, the safest option would be to get to the coast and take a ship to anywhere that isnt Syria. Another EDIT: Try to go to the kurdish areas, they will probably let you go to Turkey or Iraq.
- Ygg2 13y agoCouldn't you dress yourself as a highly religious woman (using a burka)? You wear an attire covering your entire body, right? Not sure what rights religious people enjoy, but maybe you could pass as a woman.
- antocv 13y agoSomeone would stop you somewhere and ask WTF are you woman doing without your man, wait a minute, are you really a woman? Bang. Better be safe than sorry. Also I dont believe it is very common with burkas in Syria.
- level09 13y agoit is safe and easy, no visa required. but Israel is impossible as the countries are at war.
- adambenayoun 13y agoIndeed Israel would be impossible. Turkey seems to be the best option (but would require smuggling probably).
- DrinkWater 13y agoMy cousin also fled Syria and came to Germany. It wasn't that hard, but the work situation is indeed very difficult for people with asylum status. If you leave for Sweden make sure you will seek these places that have a lot of Syrians, like the mentioned Södertälje. It will be much easier there to get help in all occurring matters. God knows, it is hard enough to flee your home country, so you should pick the easiest and most frictionless option possible.
- straight_talk_2 13y agoIt's very cold in Sweden. May not sound important, but people with genes from warmer countries get all kind of medical problems from the cold weather - joints are especially vulnerable. Also Sweden is the poor neighbor of Norway and Denmark ;-)
- antocv 13y agoYes, the weather and the cold people are basically the only downside. That and having Carl Bildt in any position of government.
- Kiro 13y agoWhat's wrong with Carl Bildt?
- antocv 13y agoGazprom, Sudan oil interests, Bilderberg group member and generally being a jerk.
- Kiro 13y agoI like him.
- straight_talk_2 13y agoGood politicians are experts at manipulating people to like them.
- mkingston 13y agoIn the face of what antocv said, how can you possibly not qualify this comment?
- iigloo 13y agoTsk, Norway may be the wealthiest due to their oil, but Sweden is wealthier than Denmark.
- the-kenny 13y agoI approve this too. Don't go to Germany. As a German citizen I really hate to say this, but recently there has been a hitch in the media where there were protests by neonazi groups in front of asylum homes. Sadly, there are still people who see asylum seekers as potential job-stealers, showing them nothing but hate and would like to throw them all out, regardless of their skills. This is absolutely not the general opinion in Germany, but at least some people think so.
- Blahah 13y agoThe same is true of England. We have the EDL who are a bunch of racist morons. But they are a tiny, despised minority, and certainly shouldn't deter anyone from seeking asylum here.
- JonnieCache 13y agoThe English Defence League's stature within society can be easily understood by the fact that their homepage is outranked on google by the English Disco Lovers, a group set up specifically to steal their acronym.
- jusben1369 13y agoAlthough in all fairness that could say a great deal about the passion the English have for disco that was previously untapped until this group was formed (is it wrong to joke about such a serious topic?)
- JonnieCache 13y agoMaking jokes at the expensive of fascists is a proud tradition. Long may it continue. It guards against their language and mythos being taken seriously. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Has_Only_Got_One_Ball https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Has_Only_Got_One_Ball
- theorique 13y agoI thought that was the BNP. Isn't the EDL focused on Islam or something like that?
- Udo 13y ago> Not Germany, France, Italy, USA, Turkey they all suck As a German, I really have to agree. Don't get trapped here. It's not a very friendly country, especially compared to the scandinavian ones. Xenophobia is also an issue. If I was seeking asylum in order to start a new life somewhere, I'd much rather try for London or Stockholm. Asylum in Germany is more like being in protective custody. Do not do this.
- jhh 13y agounfortunately this is still true. I think however there has been rather big improvement in the last decade.
- zurn 13y agoBerlin is way friendlier than Stockholm IME. London and Stockholm are also some of the most expensivie cities in Europe whereas Berlin is cheap.
- pary 13y agoReally Munich/Berlin sucks? Why? IMHO for IT is good. In Munich there are developers from all around the world. I'm not German and I feel good here.
- Vivtek 13y agoYeah, but asylum recipients (asylees?) don't get to choose where they are settled. You could end up in Oberunterschwabenhafen and not be allowed to leave the village. Germany is a bad choice for asylum - I mean, it's great that Germany has a robust system for asylum, because there are people who genuinely need it and benefit from it, but if you're looking for a place to work, this is probably the wrong mechanism.
- DeGi 13y agoCan you survive in Sweden/Stockholm without speaking Swedish, just with English? Also, can you post any Sweden/Stockholm job posting sites where startups seek new hires?
- antocv 13y agoI got no specific startup hire sites, but the casual google search should yield the most common job sites, a resourceful person might even join a few linkedin groups and bait. You can get by with just English, although that is not too common, be prepared to study Swedish, the more you learn Swedish and learn the mentality the easier it will be for you.
- Too 13y agoGetting around on the streets is no problem, everybody in sweden speaks quite good english, even paperwork from bank/government can some times be found in english. Finding a job is possible but you only have 5% of the job market that natives do (95% of all statistics are made up on the spot), and that's assuming you are looking for a position that requires higher education. Finding a basic job such as being a waitress without native language is hard.
- DrinkWater 13y agoAnother thing: i dont know if this is true or not, but i heard you should avoid passing through Greece. Best option is to make your way to Turkey, and from there straight to Western Europe. And if possible, do not attempt to go alone, but travel with a group of people. You'll encounter a lot of people who will try to take advantage of you. Another option, if you belong to a minority: Stick with your people, seek their centers and get their advise. (This may sound kind of racist. But Syria has a lot of minorities, each with a different approach to this situation. Don't be fooled, it is War, so everybody will rather help their people first. I don't make the rules...)
- olegp 13y agoFinland is also an option and the market for good developers is hot right now. Drop me a line via Twitter - my username is in my profile - and I can do some intros if you decide to come here. Edit: more info: http://www.migri.fi/asylum_in_finland http://www.migri.fi/asylum_in_finland
- chinmoy 13y agoI've been trying to come to Finland to study. I became very interested about Finland after I saw some of the the things happening in Aalto University(Startup Saunna, Venture Garage and such). But my Residence Permit application was rejected last year and it was very frustrating. The rejection letter got lost in the mail and for the last six months my communication with the Finnish Immigration has been futile and I still don't know the reason of rejection.
- olegp 13y agoWhere are you now? It might be easier if you were to visit Finland first on a tourist visa and apply from here. There's also been talk of having the Startup Life program (http://startuplife.fi/ http://startuplife.fi/) take interns from abroad and get them to work for Finnish startups. That may be a good stepping stone for you. I'll ask around about it and get back to you via Twitter.
- chinmoy 13y agoI'm in Bangladesh. I would've come to Finland on a tourist visa and apply from there, but looks like that is not allowed for my country. Do you think applying from any other EU countries can make things easier? I would love to intern at a Finnish startup. I'll keep my eyes on twitter :)
- tehwalrus 13y agoI'd say don't come to England either - Asylum claimants aren't allowed to work while their claim is processed. The claims take of the order of years to process, because there's a big backlog (some claims 5 or 10 years old, if I remember.) (I won't go into the politics of the UKBA, but suffice to say that the people who are "customer facing" are the ones who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near vulnerable people - and removing them is politically impossible.) Sweden sounds like a much better bet.
- kephra 13y agoI must agree to skip Germany. The main problems for asylum seekers are no "Arbeitserlaubniss", so you are not allowed to work legally (you might sell drugs, thats what the thugs want). And even worse you have a "Residenzpficht", so you are not allowed to leave your village or suburb. Thats why police is always searching for foreigners first, because they might violate "Residenzpflicht" by being in the wrong county for a family party, and might have drugs. Let me throw Estonia into the bucket, and drop the asylum. Its easy to found a company there. You don't pay corporate tax, only a flat income tax, and you have access to EU market.
- egeozcan 13y agoAs a Turkish who has been working in Germany (Stuttgart) for the last four years, I'd recommend here, Stuttgart, as a pleasant destination. When you find a job which pays a reasonable amount, they can hire you and you get a visa. Don't ever go to Turkey. Don't even enter Turkish soil. You'll be trapped. They started treating Syrians as if they were second class and didn't even keep guiding them, let alone provide shelter and food (or, a job). I'm really ashamed of how Turkey behaved in this crisis. Maybe you'll have better luck in Israel but I have no idea.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- tussi 13y agoI leave in germany in Munich. People will not say it. But they are not just conservative but quite racist.Most compagny here ask foreigners to give their ass (gay 4 job)in order to keep à job or get one....specially in the it. Didnt comply So i got fired..thats reality
- egeozcan 13y agoWow, maybe I just got too lucky. My boss and coworkers would be the last people I'd call racist. Well, sometimes they make jokes about my accent and "weird keyboard layout" but those are all friendly jokes. I'm really sorry for you. By the way, did this happen a lot? Asking out of curiosity; what kind of rules did they want you to comply?
- fab1an 13y agoSeeking asylum in Germany is terrible, agreed, but it is so much easier to get a work permit visa here when you do have a job offer - good luck trying to get the work permit in the UK. In OP's case the best scenario would be to get a job offer from a Berlin based company and have the company apply for te work permit - it's a streamlined process that takes around 4 weeks.