[sandworm101]

Really? I've helped a couple european companies setup US operations and they all complain about the over-regulated and bureaucratic approach in the US. They find tax and immigration paperwork, and I mean literal PAPERwork, very unsettling.

[danieltillett]

As an Australian I have to agree. The USA bureaucracy is like the old joke about having the requirements of the Germans with the efficiency of the Italians served with the helpfulness of the English.

[sjm]

I guess it depends. Setting up a business in Germany might be easier (haven't done it so I don't know, but there's a good startup culture in Berlin so I guess it's possible), but as someone who has lived in Berlin I know there's a lot of pain and procedure to get set up as a resident, get a bank account, and so on.

As an example, to find somewhere to rent on your own, you need a German bank account to pay your rent with. To get a German bank account, you need to register as a resident with a specific address. Supposedly you need to do that within 14 days of entering the city, but when I last looked the wait to book an appointment online to register was a couple months.

[rbehrends]

It depends. There's a ton less bureaucracy involved with a blue card in Germany compared to an H1B visa in the US; on the other hand, the requirements for (say) a fishing license in Germany are borderline ridiculous [1].

[1] http://fishinggermany.jimdo.com/taking-my-german-fishing-lic...

[sandworm101]

That actually doesn't see that bad. It's effort, but at least it is predictable and clearly laid out ... very German imho. In the US things are generally more opaque, requiring experts (lawyers, even lobbyists) to explain how various agencies actually operate. Without that advice, most of the paperwork is either incorrect, unnecessary, or won't ever allow your issue to progress.

Try looking up the procedures for an EB-5 visa application. They don't mention that, since the prez made certain statements re deportations, the immigration people are going nuts. Each and every step is being examined as if your client was trying to export uranium.

[kuschku]

Germany also loves paperwork.

Want to setup a farm, as farmer? You’ll have to register with the Katasteramt, Tierseuchenfonds, the Sozialversicherung für Landwirtschaft, Forsten und Gartenbau, and most of them require you to tell them the same stuff 3 or 4 times.

Germany could improve a lot in bureaucratic things.

My mum – working in the emphasized agency – often has to actually call the other agencies frequently to check their data (as it’s often inconsistent)

The famous database class lesson of "duplication always leads to inconsistency" doesn’t seem to have been heard by the people who administrate this stuff.

[socialist_coder]

In my experience, immigration stuff is easier in Germany but everything else is easier in the US.