[triceratops]

> It's not easy for American citizens to get permanent work/live visas in most other countries either.

Getting permanent residence in any foreign country is going to be a more difficult process than getting a tourist visa. I think you're underestimating how much harder the American system is, and how things really are easier for US citizens in other countries.

To take a random example, Americans can apply for work permits while physically within Germany[1]. After some years of residency (I think it's 3) one can apply for a EU Blue Card if one has a college degree and an employment contract of EUR 53k/year[2] (easily attainable by a software engineer in Germany).

So your average HN US citizen software engineer can:

1. Interview with a German company on video chat

2. Visit visa-free for an onsite interview

3. Sign offer, apply for work and residence permits after relocating. Permits are for the duration of the employment contract

4. Get a Blue Card after 3 years

Which honestly sounds like a breeze compared to what a foreign-born software engineer would need to do to work in the US:

1. https://www.internations.org/go/moving-to-germany/visas-work...

2. https://www.howtogermany.com/pages/eu-blue-card.html

[manas666]

except why would you ever migrate to Germany where wages are like 50% of the US salary for IT engineers and like 20% of silicon valley wages for senior folks.

supply/demand in action, and difficulty of the immigration process is just an indicator of that

[triceratops]

What about fields other than software?

Besides there are lots of reasons to emigrate to Germany besides the money - minimum 5 weeks' vacation every year, employee-friendly labor laws, cheaper healthcare and childcare, college, more interesting city centers all sound pretty good to me.

Also, "you can make a ton of money here so there's no need to improve our processes" isn't a great argument for the US to make.