Our familiy (2 parents and us 4 kids) moved from Russia to France. None of us spoke French. Worth it every second

Well I moved to Berlin at the end of last month. I lived in a “developing country” with a declining economy and a far right dictator that is technically chosen but everyone knows he steals votes and everything. Soo especially as a queer person studying aboard as an international student and not coming back was always the end goal.

Moved from the US to the Netherlands in 2023 and regret nothing. The opportunity came in the form of the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty. It makes it ridiculously easy for Americans to move to the Netherlands, if you are self employed. It worked for me to move, and when my business went sideways due to my main client screwing me over, I got a normal Dutch job as a highly-skilled migrant.

Downsides:

• Pay is decidedly lower compared to American salaries (but pretty good compared to Dutch standards)
• Spicy food is rare
• Korean food is also pretty rare
• Good Mexican food is borderline nonexistent. My coworkers saw nothing wrong with “cheese flavored yogurt” being applied to nacho chips instead of actual cheese. I once tried a local restaurant’s nachos and got a plate of chips covered in a really sweet ketchup.
• While everybody speaks English pretty well, you WILL want to learn basic Dutch to better understand important legal or medical meetings. But you should be learning the native language anyway, no matter where you go.

Benefits:

• Everything I need is within walking or a short bicycle distance
• Nobody is going to shoot me here
• I can get medical treatment without going bankrupt
• Health insurance doesn’t cost as much as rent
• My asthma inhaler doesn’t cost 1/4th of my rent
• High fructose corn syrup is rarely found here (it gives me migraines)
• The cities are more attractive (more appealing architecture)
• The roads are damned near immaculate. I don’t drive here because I don’t need to, but on the rare occasion I’m in a car it’s impossible to not notice how good the roads are. I have crossed the country from Schiphol to Nijmegen and didn’t see a single pothole anywhere, in roughly two hours on the road. Seriously, they could spend 10 or 20% less on the roads and still have what would be the best roads anywhere in N.America by comparison.
• The work-life balance is insanely better (I get 35 paid days off a year, starting from the moment I started working). I can tell my boss I’m sick and that’s that. If I move to a new home I get a free day off.
• Trains are much more enjoyable for traveling between cities than driving; I’ve been reading so much lately
• Dutch is a pretty accessible language if you’re a native English speaker that already understands some basics of German
• Nearly everybody speaks English better than the people I grew up with in the mid-west
• A huge amount of Europe is only a single day’s travel away
• Store workers here aren’t obviously beaten and ground into a raw bundle of nerves and depression like in the US. Of course it’s not a workers paradise by any means, but people generally seem more genuinely happy.
• So many restaurants have patios or tent covered tables to enjoy a drink or meal while staying outside to enjoy the weather when it is good
• Food from Suriname is really good, as are frikandelbroodje and kaassouffle
• Nijmegen’s Vierdaagse can be a blast, the whole old/inner city becomes a giant festival

There’s probably more benefits, but those are the highlights for me. All around though, the biggest advantage is that I can easily see a much better future for myself and my wife in the Netherlands than I can in the US.

A company was willing to sponsor my visa and pay for relocation costs. Was it worth it? In some other world it might have been, but the way it went for me - absolutely not.

If your entry point into a society is work, make really really sure you will like it. “Culture fit”, despite all the criticisms of the concept, is more important than ever. And make sure the initial social circle you fall into is conductive to your mental wellbeing.

In some ways it’s like being born. Your starting point matters. Anything you achieved previously doesn’t matter since your entire support system will be gone.

Hey, I did that!

Engineer in my 30s. We packed up and left the US after I got a job in the EU (pre 2nd trump). It’s been awesome!

Super hard some days, lots of learning, cultural norming, work, job problems, language learning, social circle building, but it’s very fulfilling and I think it’s a better lifestyle fit for us.

Highly recommend it if you can swing it. And if you do, jump all in.

I was offered a job that payed much better than my old one. So I’d say it’s well worth it.

Downside is that it takes years to build up a new social circle when you’re in late 30s (might vary with personality).

Moved from EU to US during Trump1/just before COVID. Loved the pay check, the weather and the nature, hated the work culture, the food culture, the lack of culture, the lack of a social net and of social cohesion, the ingrained racism.

Moved from US to Germany, liked it but didn’t love it. Loved to social net and the beer gardens, the parks and public transport, struggled making connections and learning the language.

Moved from Germany to France, loved it. Great food, great weather, good work life balance, great social net, amazing food and good culture, people are friendly and welcoming (not in Paris or overly touristy places). Only downside is being away from family and having to build my social circle again.

Moved from Germany to the Bay Area in 2017. Was an interesting experience, I now understand why they hate health insurance so much. Overall it wasn’t half as good as they make it out to be. We were lucky since we could afford it but I don’t want to live in that place.

Moved to Vancouver right before Covid hit and we’re not going to go back to Germany except to visit friends and family. It’s weird to see how conservative and backwards the whole country is and will forever be. With AFD on the rise and the overall negative attitude of Germans we don’t miss it one bit. Canada is much nicer and we’re dual citizens now 👍

Moved from San diego, CA, USA, to tijuana, BC, Mexico. Literally just drive across the border and find somewhere to rent.

I still drive to San Diego to work every day.

I was able to move to the country my wife grew up in - she, as a citizen, sponsored my visa. We moved from an area with relatively high real estate cost (sold for over $1mil - we had a mortgage, but also significant equity) to an area where it’s much, much, cheaper (bought for about $100k currency corrected) so we could retire early - we’re both ~60.

My family moved from Mainland China to the US in around 2010. I was a kid so I did not have a choice, but I do remember being excited about it. When I got here, things were rough, language barrier, and ptsd lingering from my abusive older brother made it hard to socialize, I didn’t have much friends. So I didn’t like it too much at first, but I did like how there were just so much more trees even in the city (I mean not really city-city, more like suburban ourskirts of a City, Brooklyn I mean), air feels cleaner in the US, my mother thought the same too. I’ve grown too used to western media, I can never live in Mainland China ever again, the only options for me are now mostly other western countries lile Canada and Australia. As for the US, I liked it until November 2024, now it feels like a foreign army has invaded the country, doesn’t feel very like “America” anymore. But I still prefer the US to Mainland China, even as of today.

My parents, even though they are PRC-Sympathizers (to clarify, they’re NOT communists, just “homesick” I guess), never seriously talked about wanting to go back, dual citizenship doesn’t exist in China, and my mother already got US citizenship so I don’t know if PRC even restores revoked citizenships.

Was it worth it? I mean… idk, but I definitely had access to more entertainment content than I ever could in Mainland China, so in that aspect, yes, absolutely. I don’t think I could’ve ever tolerated China, I mean, being practically the only person who has a sibling would be very weird (I’m the second child in my family born during one child policy), Hukou situation is messed up, Toxic Masculinity is 2x worse, massive corruption problems, food safety problems, child abductions/trafficking that authorities don’t care about, the infamous 豆腐渣工程 (tofu-dreg)… it mean its absolutely just cooked.

(But then… November 2024 happened… So yea, the US is becoming like China all over again. Jesus christ, my life is torture, pretty sure this is a simulation and this is some High-Tech torture chamber by the Galactic Empire.)

TLDR: I wished it was Norway instead, but I’ll accept US over mainland China.

I came to Korea from Canada in 2004 to teach English for a “year or two”. I’m still here. I have zero regrets, though I do wonder sometimes what my life would be life if I’d stayed in Canada.

I’m receiving tech patent royalties and moved with wife to France. I have lived in Malaysia and Singapore and a little time in Spain before this.

Our life didn’t change much, but we have a new baby and the constant back and forth of us politics makes it no longer a good investment for me in the US. We don’t want to worry about shootings and extremists and corporations allowed to steal from us and worrying about taking a baby to the emergency department because of costs. Food is miles better, healthcare is great and affordable even not yet being covered by the national scheme. I’m clearing out my real estate and investments in the US and going to start again in France. Making friends, especially french friends, is slow, but to be fair we haven’t had time to invest in and participate in our hobbies. I’m sure when we do we will find our people (french lessons will help too). I am happy to pay the extra tax and social charges to preserve the system here as it is.

Pros: far better and cheaper food, weather where we are in the south is great, cars expensive but affordable, much less driving but I still own a car, great schools and accessible healthcare. Cheaper rent, and cheaper house prices. I also personally agree with the very real concept of egality in France- everyone is treated the same.

Cons: things take longer here, some rules and rights aren’t quite as good as elsewhere in Europe because France is a bit conservative in some ways. Situations not within the normal permanent work contract in France and background in France can sometimes complicate things. Pay would be less if I had a local job, but I don’t think my life would be negatively impacted much.

Moved from Austria to the Netherlands at the age of 19. I moved in with my (then) boyfriend so that made the transition easier.

It was weirdly more of a culture shock than I had anticipated. Mainly because lots of things (besides the architecture) are so similar that the differences kind of sneak up on you. Having German and English as a base made Dutch easy enough. Got an advanced language certificate and ended up getting the nationality, found a study I liked and plenty of job opportunities. It has been over 15 years now and I regret nothing.

The only thing that didn’t work out was that relationship.

I moved for work. I jokingly asked my boss one day if I could relocate and did not expect an easy yes. 2 years after asking, I was in another country. Was it worth it? Yes. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and not many people get the chance, so I took it. I didn’t even care what city I was going to end up in (we have multiple offices in across the country).

I did end up in a different city than what was initially planned, but for someone in my situation (wanting to get out of a 3rd world country), beggars can’t be choosers. I’ve since settled in with my wife. Assimilating wasn’t an issue because my home country is very exposed to western culture and we’re fluent in the language.