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by close04 2639 days ago
> I am a minority but never found myself misplaced in the USA

> in Europe I've been victim of physical abuse just because I am not white and the immigration path is also completely broken

I'm not contesting you actually had these experiences but yours must be an exceptional story. It contradicts the reality of a lot of people.

But you make one big confusion that makes me question your experience with the systems. The US is a country with relatively uniform legislation. Europe is a continent where not only are the cultures vastly different between countries, the laws (like immigration) can be very different, a lot more so than between US states. And not all European countries are in the European Union. So the blanket statement "the immigration path is also completely broken", especially when comparing to the US, gives away some (uninformed) bias.

A person coming from Syria can get permanent resident status and/or citizenship after just a few years under perfectly acceptable conditions (like learning the language and having a job). So I don't really see a broken or particularly difficult path especially compared to the US.

1 comments

Definitely, it is my subjective experience but what I can say is that lot of high skilled immigrants here in Denmark don't feel welcome [0]. Whereas, in the USA, we were really proud to be there and contribute to the society and eventually become permanent resident / citizen.

Legislation in the USA varies a lot, unless we talk about immigration. Which in my case here in EU, as spouse of EU citizen, is also being scrutinized by politicians here in Denmark [0].

[0]: https://www.thelocal.dk/20190327/opinion-stop-being-so-hosti...

edit: forgot to mention. My worst employer in the USA was ironically a Danish company (MeyersUSA hospitality group). They blatantly violated labor laws and sanitation requirements (sadly they managed to erase some of the negative reviews from Glassdoor).

> what I can say is that lot of high skilled immigrants here in Denmark don't feel welcome [0]. Whereas, in the USA

Unfortunately, immigration in the US is not a meritocracy. It chooses for diversity rather than skill. Having been through the immigration system (as an Indian citizen), I will say it is broken. I have seen Uber drivers from Africa getting a green card easier than I can even though I spent 5-6 years there, studied at a local university, had a good job.

Then I would rather say the issue is with Denmark (laws, politicians, people, whoever you see as the main culprit) rather than a European issue. Denmark is one of the smaller countries (size and population) in the EU so generalizing based on that example seems like an overreaction.

Also I can't find any reference anywhere supporting the idea that physical abuse from the locals is a common practice in Denmark. There's no pattern to police shootings and incarcerations based on color either.

For example Vienna, Prague or Madrid are generally considered as some of the most expat friendly cities in the world. Germany, Spain, Sweden are also generally considered as some of the best expat countries in the world.

Imagine saying the US is not an innovative country because Mississippi is not innovative. :)

You are right that it might be a particular problem from Denmark but I also see it is common to share the positiveness of EU across all States (like saying assuming quality health care is universal across EU) but single out negativities when convenient.

The use case pointed with Mississippi is one of those absurd edge cases. It would be more suitable to say you don't generalize the USA as a country full of pick trucks or people carrying concealed guns, even if that might be more common in some states and illegal/uncommon in others.

I just picked one of the members of a union, chose a weak point, and generalized it to the whole union. Is it not similar to the Europe/Denmark situation?