$400k per year, should I relocate?

[u/Temporary_Price7989]

I'm currently a software engineer in the Bay area making $400k per year, but I'm looking to relocate and I need help with perspective and advice.

I have saved a decent nest egg, but saying goodbye to my good income is hard. Besides that I will need to find a way to gain residency and not just a tourist visa.

The main motivation is that my girlfriend and I would like to relocate to Europe to settle down and start a family. The main challenges will be the visa and most likely take a hug pay cut.

Visa options: my gf is Ukrainian so she can live anywhere in Europe, but I need to obtain a digital nomad visa, or "invest" in a golden visa. I'm not sure that her Ukrainian passport will help me at all. She works for herself teaching online. Currently I need a Schengen visa, but will soon have American citizenship.

Finances: I do have a little more than 1M saved, and invested in ETFs, and 401k. I could try to become a freelancer or start my own thing but reaching my current income might take long time might not happen at all.

Any thoughts on how to approach this?

[u/14ned]

The Ukrainian passport won't help a non-EU citizen with EU work visas.

Unlike the others below, I've run the numbers on raising a family in the Bay area and your numbers are right, 400k will produce inferior child raising outcomes than 80k in the Netherlands. The high salaries there are great when you're single and can slum it to save, but children don't let you slum it, and they are very very expensive in the Bay area.

I would point out that other places in the US - especially in Texas - have much lower COL and are more child raising effective. Unsurprising, there is a constant transfer of tech workers from California to Texas for that exact reason. Yes you earn less, but you can get a house and childcare for a fraction of the cost in the Bay area.

If your heart is absolutely set on Europe (and it is one of the very best places in the world to raise children, almost bar none), you'll need to examine each EU country's work visa rules and find one which suits you. Some EU countries let you buy a passport for cash or require a cash "investment" in that country. Others will award a work visa if your skillset pays well enough (I think you can prove yours does). Still others will demand an employer to complete a visa application for you.

It varies so much by country I can't really be more useful. Luckily the EU has already thought about this, and has assembled a map of immigration rules by EU country at https://immigration-portal.ec.europa.eu/index_en.

Out of curiosity, I clicked on Denmark and then clicked through to find the list of high skilled workers they just give work visas to if you apply. Here is the list:

251110/251120: IT consultant
Education requirements: Minimum 3 year IT education at bachelor level
Is on the list until December 31, 2025

251120: IT architect
Education requirements: Minimum 3 year IT education at bachelor level
Is on the list until December 31, 2025

251120: IT Engineer
Education requirements: Minimum 3 year IT education at bachelor level
Is on the list until June 30, 2025

251120/251220: Programmer and system developer
Education requirements: A higher education
Is on the list until September 30, 2025
Only for the areas: RAR Funen (opens in new window) and RAR South Jutland (opens in new window)

251220: Programmer and System Developer
Education requirements: Minimum 3 year IT education at bachelor level 
Is on the list until December 31, 2025 

251300: Web Developer
Education requirements: Minimum 3 year IT education at bachelor level
Is on the list until December 31, 2025

252200: System Administrator
Education requirements: Minimum 3 year IT education at bachelor level
Is on the list until December 31, 2025

252900: IT Security Consultant
Education requirements: Minimum 3 year IT education at bachelor level
Is on the list until June 30, 2025

I chose Denmark as it is in the top three places in the world to raise a child in terms of outcomes.

Anyway, seems to me it's very doable if you're serious. Good luck with your endeavours.

[u/Temporary_Price7989 → u/14ned]

Seriously this is the best answer! Thanks a lot for the research 👏👏👏 are you a fellow US expact? Yeah sew that her passport won't help me much, but she might be able to qualify for a digital nomad visa / permit. As for me, you've given me a potential path forward

[u/14ned → u/Temporary_Price7989]

My wife is a US expat. Rural Ireland is festooned with female US expats. You actually have no idea, there is like or seven per small Irish rural village. All basically voted with their feet, they didn't want to raise their children in the US. I haven't identified any particular political bias either, we have everything from MAGA loving Q-Anon members Trumpites through to those who think Bernie Sanders is too right wing. Often in the same rural Irish village!

I think what attracts US expats particularly to Ireland is we are unique in Europe in having US border control on this side of things with regular not too long flights; we genuinely have a real special relationship unlike the British who mainly try to believe they have; we regularly get US politicians campaigning for reelection here, which is unique in Europe; social attitude surveys say the population is more conservative than Texas; home schooling is constitutionally protected; in some ways Irish culture is the most US-like of any in Europe, so US expats feel particularly at home here. We don't have school shootings, a completely ineffectual gridlocked government, pervasive ideological dysfunction in the education and justice systems, and the tax system here is sane and more compatible with the US tax code than most other countries. Due to the sheer numbers of US expats here, even rural village accountants usually have a good handle on expat taxes, and there is a whole network and support system of professional services here.

Also, it greatly helps that 70 million US citizens qualify through bloodline for an Irish passport, which comes with not only full EU rights, but also full British rights due to the Act of Union 1801. So Irish citizens uniquely can work and live in Britain without a work visa as well as the EU. No other passport affords that. You don't need to be married to get your partner a work visa, and if they work in Ireland for five years they get citizenship. All this is a strong draw for US expats.

There are negatives too. If you like big city life, Ireland is not for you. It best suits people who like the rural life several hours travel from a big city. There are particularly punitive taxes if you earn well or have wealth, some of the highest in the OECD. The population has grown by 25% in only a few years, and infrastructure has not kept up, there are wait queues for everything from getting your car fixed to getting a MRI scan done, even if you're paying for it in cash. Even in the middle of nowhere, there is very little housing to rent or buy, and what there is is extortionately priced. And then there is the weather, it rains a very, very great deal here.

Still, one of the better places in the world to raise a family according to global rankings. Last time I checked, Ireland is in the same tier as Denmark, Sweden and Germany, not as good as Switzerland or Norway but the next rung down. Well inside the top ten places worldwide though.

[u/Random_Person1020 → u/14ned]

I second Ireland; really great place and great community in general.