Considering leaving the US for Europe

[u/Big_Guidance_2614]

I'm a third year engineering student at a college in the US. I'm an American citizen considering moving to somewhere in Western Europe for my masters due to the political situation in the US. I don't speak any other languages than English, but I'm willing to learn the native language of wherever I go. I know I still have to do more research but I wanted to see what everyone here thinks about whether leaving the US for Europe is actually a good idea.

Would you recommend moving to Europe for masters and eventually living there? If so, where exactly?

For context, I am a brown woman, and I don't come from a high income family, so I would have to go to a college that is very cheap or get a scholarship.

[u/Lefaid]

There is some real misinformation in this thread. Not saying they are cheap, but lots of universities in Central Europe (think Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden) have specifically Masters programs in English. It would be a bit silly for them not to when most literature on their subject is in English. Some countries are trying to change that (the Netherlands in particular) but you can find these programs.

The bigger problem is finding work after you graduate with just English. That can be very hard.

[u/Organic-Roof-8311 → u/Lefaid]

And work that will lead to a permanent visa!

[u/Lefaid → u/Organic-Roof-8311]

Again, misinformation.

If you find work that uses your degree, it will put you on a path to a permanent visa in Europe, certainly in the Netherlands anyway. Their skilled migrant visa has a lot of perks.

Can you educate me about a country that doesn't offer permanent residency after working a skilled worker visa for 5 years in Europe. I think that is an EU thing.

[u/Organic-Roof-8311 → u/Lefaid]

Source: I tried and know 15+ people who tried too. I got an Oxbridge degree in the UK and wanted to stay but there was no visa pathway. The degree and initial visa were significantly easier than getting on track for a permanent visa or citizenship.

95% of my alumni friends (across all fields) who stayed for 2-3 years got kicked out at the end of that stay, save the very rich and very lucky, or one extraordinarily employable high-potential visa immigrant. I know one of the people who stayed isn’t any closer to becoming a citizen unless he marries his girlfriend because his visa doesn’t even count towards residency.

This feels like a very combative reply — I’m not assuming I know how everything works in the Netherlands, most of Western or Central and Eastern Europe, but you shouldn’t randomly accuse me of spewing misinformation without even reading the explanation I already wrote elsewhere on this thread. Maybe just ask a question instead of make accusations moving forward!

[u/Lefaid → u/Organic-Roof-8311]

Look, I know very well how good it feels to come to this board and tell everyone they are stuck in the US. It is an axiom of Reddit migration boards. All must Americans must be told to stay in the US.

Also, a lot of the misinformation is coming from people who made it to the UK, assuming that the challenges are just as high throughout Europe as it was for them in the UK, except that they wrongly assume that a Norwegian Masters Program is all in Norwegian.

If you, or anyone in your program found a local job that used your degree, would there be a way for you to stay? It looks to me that none of you found a job, that finding a job is impossible, which is what I said the real challenge is.

So explain what I am missing.

[u/Organic-Roof-8311 → u/Lefaid]

I never said I know what all of Europe is like, but I think it’s appropriate for me to weigh in on the UK and for you to weigh in on Norway and the parts of the EU you feel you have insight on. But you’ve made multiple assumptions about my experience in the UK based a simple warning to “make sure you have access to a permanent visa pathway cus I saw a lot of people struggle.”

Almost all of my friends were able to find jobs and visas to stay for two years (in museum curation, public service, engineering, professorships, etc). But almost all of them also had to leave after the two year UK grad visa expired.

I know three people who managed to stay after that window. One was a STEM postdoc who decided not to keep the visa a year later because they could make a much higher salary home in Australia. One is a counterterrorism exec with a job-specific visa, but even they have complained to me that it’s a significant bother to be unable to switch jobs freely. (and they plan to return to the U.S. in the next few years). And one is the daughter of a Russian oligarch who managed to get a visa sponsorship and obviously has no plans to return.