ive got into the us on an O1 and now have a EB1 green card. i also founded a fairly big agency in Denmark hiring people from around the world so yeah I would say i have experience :)
I think it depends on a lot of factors. i.e. how much money you have, education background, prior experience and very significantly the country you're coming from.
Not to discount your experience, i am sure you've been through a lot of paperwork (i know i sure have, and i'm yet to meet someone who enjoys immigration departments!) but the US is pretty damn tough if you are not a) wealthy and/or b) highly educated and in demand.
I think you are ignoring the time to PR part.
EB1 current processing time is 8 month (and you have to have 1 mil) the requirements are very strict
You can buy a 500K property in Cyprus/Portugal etc and become resident (latvia 250K)without any requirement to run a business or hire people etc.
Cmon H1B is done once a year and there is lottery with 50% chance of wining (spouse can not work)
E visa are business visas and only for people from treaty trader countries plus they do not convert to PR
L visas you have to work for the subsidiary for 1 year there is a limit on L visa length
In Czcech Republic, Estonia etc. you need 10K to get residency through business and there are no requirements to hire people etc.
I am not ignoring anything. I have tried both hiring into the EU and from EU to the US.
Also you need to make the proper comparison with EU not just cherry pick a few countries. I can cherry pick countries to where it's very hard (try Denmark for instance).
My claim was EU vs US again 11 million illegal immigrants living here and for a large part contributing to the economy that alone would never happen in the EU.
And you don't need 1Million for a EB1. It's a merrit based greencard (just like O1 visa is)
You've got be kidding the only realistic option for US is H1B majority of EU countries have simple visa's for Software Eng. with no quotas. My former employees from Ukraine are in Germany, Austria, Norway, Ireland, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic (and outside of EU Australia, Canada) the process was 2-3 month on avg. for EU countries and they become residents pretty quickly with no quotas.
theres no quota on an O visa and you have L visas and a bunch of others on top of H1B plus the lottery plus 11 million illegal immigrants living and often working here even paying taxes. I can assure you IAm not kidding and that you should learn a little about just how open the US is compared to the EU.
How having 11 million illegal immigrants is being open :)?
In Ireland it would take 2 month to get work visa that becomes PR after 2 years. L1 is only for transfers anyone that can qualify for US O visa are welcome anywhere in the world.
How many illegal immigrants are working in the EU. You don't just get a work visa. Believe me I have dealt with it as the owner of a company in Denmark hiring people from outside the EU.
In EU fewer because they actually let people settle. There was about 1 mil iligal workers from Ukraine alone but now poland is handing out visas even to unskilled workers so people mostly enter EU legally