Moving to a different country.

Everyone seems really hung up on visas, but if you're just looking for new experiences, why worry about settling in somewhere. Stay somewhere as long as whatever the easy visa option is, and then move along. Most countries have 3 month tourist visas (which you get automatically just by showing up in many cases), and some offer 1-year working holiday visas if you're under a certain age. Some will also let you border hop to renew your 3 month visas indefinitely. Don't get hung up on the difficulties, it's very doable if you want to make the leap. For health insurance, you can get travelers insurance which will probably be even cheaper than your normal US insurance unless it's provided by your employer. Having location independent income and seeing the world is a thing. Google perpetual traveler.

I think people are hung up on visas because the original post mentioned "or forever," not to mention that the word "move" implies at least some sense of permanence or longevity in your destination. Yeah, if you just want to hop around Europe or Asia or whatever for a couple years you could do that, but I wouldn't call that "moving" to another country.

Ah good point, though even if "forever" is a goal, it would probably still be a good idea to try a place (or a few places) for a few months first. From my experience (lived outside the US for most of the last decade), you don't really know how the pros and cons of a place will affect you until you've been there long enough for the honeymoon period to wear off.

Eomer_sl said:

Germany was very english friendly as well, or at least Munich was.

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Yeah Munich is big enough for that. Move away from the big cities and the older population won't understand a word of what you say.
And if you go far enough, YOU won't understand what THEY say, no matter how good your German, because we have rednecks too, yo.

That aside, Germany is a OK place to live. No animals that kill you in your sleep, good social security system, so-so weather with quick access to the mediterranean, somewhat healthy industry...

One thing that really impressed me since moving to Switzerland is the number of multilingual people here. It seems like almost everyone speaks at least two languages over here, while back in Calgary where I grew up, I was the only one out of my friends who could speak a second language. Now I speak three languages but that's just par for the course here, whereas in my experience that is pretty exceptional back in North America.

McCheese_sl said:

It's insanely hard to (legally) move into a country where you have no anchor in the form of a job or family.

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except of course, you know, the U.S.

Ronaan_sl said:

Yeah Munich is big enough for that. Move away from the big cities and the older population won't understand a word of what you say.
And if you go far enough, YOU won't understand what THEY say, no matter how good your German, because we have rednecks too, yo.

That aside, Germany is a OK place to live. No animals that kill you in your sleep, good social security system, so-so weather with quick access to the mediterranean, somewhat healthy industry...

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Do they still find unexploded WWII bombs in Germany?

Pyratec_sl said:

One thing that really impressed me since moving to Switzerland is the number of multilingual people here. It seems like almost everyone speaks at least two languages over here, while back in Calgary where I grew up, I was the only one out of my friends who could speak a second language. Now I speak three languages but that's just par for the course here, whereas in my experience that is pretty exceptional back in North America.

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Not sure if serious but its public law in Switzerland that every student is fluent in 2 of the 4 (?) official spoken languages they got, when they finish school.

Araxen_sl said:

Do they still find unexploded WWII bombs in Germany?

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Yeah about one every week.

Araxen_sl said:

Do they still find unexploded WWII bombs in Germany?

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Yeah, enough to not even warrant major news stories unless a) defusing blocks a major trafficway (autobahn, railway, half a city) or b) it blows up.

My dad was in construction (excavator operator or whatever you call it) and found a few himself.

Dyvim_sl said:

Not sure if serious but its public law in Switzerland that every student is fluent in 2 of the 4 (?) official spoken languages they got, when they finish school.

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Yeah and every Canadian child takes french classes for the first nine years of school at a minimum, doesn't mean anyone can speak three words of french 5 years after high school.

Edit: Additionally, almost everyone here speaks english, which is not one of the four official languages of the country (French, German, Italian, Romansh) which kinda shoots a further hole in your theory.

Sorry for the necro.

I've got an offer to move to Wisconsin from Vancouver and the employer is handling the tn visa for me.

I'm less asking how you get the visa since it is being handled for me, but more asking if any of you guys have experience with this and what steps I should be taking.

As the first thing I'm doing, I am looking at declaring non residence in Canada to make taxes easier. I haven't looked much beyond this so far. Any input?

First thing I would do is not move from a great place like Vancouver to a place like Wisconsin.

My wife and I constantly discuss moving to Austria or France when we retire in 10-15 years. We've gone so far as to looking into possible home exchange programs with our place in Florida. We haven't been back there since our honeymoon and we're just wanting something different from the U.S.

Get a shengen visa (eu visa) and spend 3 months living in each location at a time. You do have to leave the european union after the time period is up and then wait 6 months before reentering on a shengen. From what I have read expats always recommend rooming up with some locals to get a good feel for the culture and see if you fit in.