Preferably into the EU. I speak some Spanish and I’m set to graduate with an Associates this semester. Hoping to get CompTIA certs sometime soonish and would like to continue schooling to get a bachelor’s in Compsci. Most notable work experience is 2 years in an office setting making collection calls and processing payments. What resources are available to me? Who or what agency/department can I contact to get more information? What’s the pipeline look like?
I know I could look most of this up, but there’s a lot of information out there and some(a lot) of it I find somewhat confusing. Plus, I don’t really even know where to start.
Associates degrees are non-existent and not recognized in the EU, and most if not all countries require you to be a graduate to be eligible for hire, which would make a student visa the easiest route.
Luckily many countries offer tuition completely for free; though bachelor degrees are often taught in the native language. If you’re Spanish is solid, you could of course go to Spain, else with English you’d be somewhat restricted to Ireland and Malta (English is the second official language, but the primary for tuition).
Other than that, some universities have English taught bachelor degrees, so you’d have to research them individually. Finland is very English- and Tech-friendly, for starters.
I don’t think they offer free tuition to non-EU citizens
In Germany “not free” means something like 400$ per semester at the public universities, doesn’t matter the nationality.
Nordic countries do
Germany does
While most German universities are tuition-free, foreign students will still have to prove they have the means to support themselves, which means a 5-figure sum for each year.
There are countries that do, but you’ll still need to demonstrate that you have the financial means to support yourself without working or needing recourse to public services for the duration of your study, so there’s still a fairly significant financial barrier to entry for most individuals. If you have the money to put down for 3 years of rent, food, utilities, etc, while you complete a degree in Europe, I imagine you’re generally doing pretty okay for yourself in the US.
But to be fair, the tuition is quite cheap depending on what and where you study. For myself the tuition is about 50€ per month(I just assume that the tuition is the same for non EU citizens).
50 euro tuitions are heavily subsidised, usually the price is a lot higher without subsidies.
Semi serious. Who said it is gay to marry your homies?
Not OP, where do I apply
Seconded
Mexico actually is a great country to live. Cheap living expenses, and the food is just ridonculously good. There are always good jobs available for educated people with good English
Out of curiosity, what is the climate/temperature like there, in the big cities? I imagine it being very warm
Depends in where you are. Mexico is (afaik, I might be wrong) the only country that has every possible climat in the world within its borders.
You can have sweaty hot, but tolerable, in Vallarta, you can have dry hot but very doable.innthe Guanajuato region, you can have a milder climate in Mexico City
Biggest swamp cooler in the world just off the west coast. The closer you get to the Pacific, the more moderate the temperature is. It’s rather cool in Tijuana, currently. (50° F/ 10.5° C)
Look up “working holiday visas” if you’re under 30. It’s a process to encourage people to get world experience while they’re young. I’m sure if you found somewhere you liked you could then try and get something more permanent.
You could do your bachelor’s in the EU. In that case, I believe the easiest way is by searching for universities that offer studies in english. The university I work at offers a master’s in computer science in English but the bachelor’s is in German. Most international universities also have offices that can help you with organizing your stay and visa.
Make sure to research expected pay in your desired target countries. I was shocked when I saw the difference between compsci job salaries in the US and Italy. Can adjust for cost of living differences but it was still a significant decrease. Would be good to be aware ahead of time and not surprised if you’re not happy with the salaries presented.
What’s the healthcare cost difference? Student loans?
People focus on citizenship but you could just relocate in a EU country, stay as much as you can, then switch country: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy are more than ok, Croatia is growing.
The most important thing to focus on, to me, is what kind of work you can doif you go to estonia you don’t learn Russian
One potential avenue is getting a job teaching English in another country. I’ve known a few people who did that for a year or two after college and enjoyed the experience. I think the pay is not great, and you’re stuck in a classroom teaching a lot of the time, but it’s a relatively straightforward path out of the country and into a life somewhere else, and with a company involved to expedite the process because they want to make money from you working ASAP.
Getting your BS in CS can potentially help you as well, depending on the country you want to move to. Not an expert but when I was looking into this awhile back I found various countries will give preferential treatment based off things like education and skills. Being a college educated SWE or whatever can make you more appealing to immigration authorities.
Just show up in Belgium. Ask for asylum. If you’re denied, just stay. Belgium does not deport asylum seekers that got denied, you get access to unemployment benefits, free (for you) education, etc.
lol does that actually work?
If Americans could stay in the US that would be great.
Seems xenophobic
that’s because it is.
Those that want to leave are probably not the ones you want to avoid.
IMO, anyone who is awake and aware of the situation in any capacity, and can think rationally has, or is, considering leaving, or has left already.
It’s the people who agree and are happy with what is happening that you should probably avoid, and they don’t want to leave.
Those that want to leave are probably not the ones you want to avoid.
They’re probably the ones I want voting there though, would be nice if people would move around more within the US specifically to counteract the gerrymandering and electoral college 😅
There’s a small third category. Those of us that see the problems and are willing to fight and die to try and save our country.
Fair enough.
fantastic take from someone immortalizing a serial rapist and sex trafficker.
Americans who want to leave are clearly able to identify the problems in the US, and are therefore probably not the ones causing the problems over there.
And in general we should welcome people who want to change their life conditions. Freedom of movement is important.
No need to take the chance. They got a pass the first time. You don’t get another. You vote in a rapist please stay where you are and deal with it.
As everyone else said, the most viable paths into a developed country are work and studying, so you’ll need to find one of those. You’ll later need to go through (as I have heard) grueling visa procedures, but before any of that you have to get a job or get into university in the country you wanna go to.
By the way this is complete conjecture on my side and I’m only putting it out there so someone who knows more about these things can confirm or deny it, but maybe it’d help if you knew the language of the country you’re trying to get into?
Get a working visa in AU’s or Canada, stretch it out and in the 5th year when the concentration camps and gas chambers are in full swing, there should be a refugee visa available.
Getting a student visa is easy and an excellent way to both get valid credentials and a feel for the local culture.
As to where you should go depends on what you’re interested in, you’ll almost certainly be able to make a home wherever, so pick something that seems interesting and go (you can always use your mandated vacation days to explore the rest of EU).
For language, in almost all the major cities people will be able to speak English, although typically you’ll want to learn the local language sooner rather than later for social reasons.
If you know Spanish go Barcelona, beautiful city, vibrant in both culture and industry, and with values not too shockingly different to the US. For more info, either visit the Spanish consulate nearest you or look up their online presence.
If you want to keep to English, consider Ireland, they’ve also had a booming IT industry for all the giants needing a foot in the EU.
Mostly you can’t go wrong anywhere in the EU. Biggest culture shock would probably be the Nordics or Slavic countries, but not necessarily in a bad way.
All of them have tons of info about student visas at each university, the degrees are standardised throughout the EU and most universities are good, and typically outstanding in a couple areas.
For more info you just contact their international coordinator, or their closest consulate.Most countries also have dedicated Web pages that outline the process, steps, and how you move toward permanent residence and citizenship if you’d want that.
Moving is typically the hard part, but if you start as a student, you’ll have a lot prepared for you (student accommodations, stipends, social activities, part-time job offers, recruitment fairs, incubators, etc.)
I second the student visa route. It doesn’t get you residency right away and is an expensive strategy, but it gets you out pretty quick. You also become more desirable since you have a higher education from a locally known institution. Currently doing this in New Zealand.
There are a few weird historical rules which may be useful. For example, if any of your ancestors were Spanish Jews who were expelled in 1492, you may be entitled to Spanish citizenship. The same might go for Portugal.
Wow is that true? :D thats a crazy long time ago…
Some countries consider limitless ancestral pathways, but you must have factual evidence (birth records, marriage certificate etc.) that are unquestionable. Several countries also consider the paternal side only, meaning you must be able to trace your lineage through your father’s male family line only.
I haven’t heard of anyone being able to trace their line back to the discovery of America, but who knows. Certainly heard of some Brazilian successfully claiming German citizenship dating back to refugees from WW1, which is already 110 years ago and 3-4 generations later.
