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Ask HN: What country would you like to relocate to and why?

by WheelsAtLarge on 2/15/25, 6:59 AM with 125 comments

• by aaronrobinson on 2/15/25, 8:13 AM

  I wouldn’t recommend the UK to anyone. It feels like it’s been coming apart at the seams for some time. People, business and government generally treat foreign people differently, and by foreign I mean just not like them. The food isn’t as bad as others make out IMO but mainly because of the foreign influence. English people at least are culturally more reserved and not as warm as or welcoming as most other countries I’ve been to. The weather is awful most of the time and there’s an increasing disrespect for laws, rules and taxes and no perceived effort for local authorities and government to correct it. There are probably many more work opportunities here but mainly London based and the wages are ok and taxes on the lower side compared to most of Europe. Where you are in your life will obviously have a big influence on what’s important to you but if I were to leave I think Lisbon or somewhere in Italy within reach of high mountains and sea but not too far from amenities. You’ll get great weather, food and a rich culture and generally speaking warm people.

• by bradhe on 2/15/25, 7:31 AM

  I’m an American living in Germany for the past 4 years. I moved here from the west coast after I sold my last startup because I wanted a new, different kind of adventure. I don’t see myself going back to the US any time soon, but I’m actively working on relocating to the UK.

  My wife and I want to move there because we want to be somewhere more English speaking. I speak German well enough, but she’s really struggled. Truth is, it’s really difficult to integrate into a society if you don’t speak the language at a high level. And after around year 2.5 or 3 I really started thinking hard about integration.

  The political situation in Germany is a bit of a struggle, but coming from the US…this is a cake walk. I’m so happy to not have to deal with American politics on the regular.

  Economically speaking, there are obviously way more opportunities in the UK, especially for my wife who works in HR given the language requirement. In the tech ecosystem in Germany, it’s two-tiered: The really good engineers make a wage comparable to the US. Think like tier 2 or tier 3 cities like Dallas or Miami. I says it’s about 70% of the Bay Area. But the VAST majority of engineers, working for German companies, make way less. Average wage is probably €70k?

  Obviously, your euro goes massively further here as compared to the UK and US. My point in all this is that it’s really difficult to actually compare apples to apples, what your quality of life will be based on your salary and cost of living alone in different parts of the world.

• by carmanbest on 2/15/25, 7:35 AM

  I came to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) for the productivity gain. KL hits a sweet spot of safe, good amenities, affordable, and 'boring' (so as to avoid distractions). Good accommodation is affordable on a moderate budget inc. 3x/week housekeeping, reducing what I have to do outside of work/startup. Food, groceries, and transport are high-quality, cheapish and available via apps. Good co-working facilities are available. (internet speeds are horrendous but some places will have good speeds, just have to shop around a little).

  On top of a full time remote job, I'm getting 4-6+ hours of quality time on my startup per day. I haven't quite hit this level of productivity anywhere else in the world, for a variety of reasons including distractions, transport friction, and even accommodation frictions like poor sleep due to noise or temperature or other reasons.

  My days are literally: work dayjob, work on start up, exercise, sleep. Probably a 1.5-3x productivity improvement compared to my (large, Western) home city. I notice I'm improving much faster (productivity seems to have an exponential impact on mastery). It also feels pretty easy to do 12+ hour days, which, for me, underscores the value in fiercely reducing unnecessary distractions. Seemingly small distractions can add up.

• by Atiscant on 2/15/25, 7:54 AM

  The US. I am from one of the Scandinavian countries with small kids, and trying to align work to move, at least temporarily, in a couple of years when they are able to handle them self in English. My wife was an exchange student many years ago and kept connection with the host family. We’ve visited multiple times. The company I work for has a US branch. It’s the only other country I've ever wanted to live in. Visited many others. It seems to me to be the most “alive” and dynamic western country, even with faults. Scandinavia and western Europe is stagnant, regulated to death and slumbering. It might change, I hope it will, but living here, not on the horizon yet.

• by travisgriggs on 2/15/25, 7:32 AM

  I would move to Norway. Hands down. I would live northerly and/or westerly. The place is beautiful; the people are pragmatic, awesome, and kind. I love the norsk language, Nordnorsk dialekten spesielt.

  Unfortunately my parents, siblings, kids (and now grandkids) live stateside so I’m stuck staying here, because as much as I might value a place or a people, family connections are first for me. More so as I age.

  (Disclosure, I did live in various places around Norway 1990-1991).

• by jemmyw on 2/15/25, 11:40 AM

  I'm from the UK and I relocated to NZ when I was 24, then to the US, Denmark, then back to NZ. I liked all the places I moved to but New Zealand is the best.

  It's not perfect, on local wages the housing market is a struggle, and it often feels like the country as a whole doesn't have quite enough resources to support things to the level of other western countries (hospitals, transport, that kind of thing). The flip side of that is that it doesn't feel so busy, there are fewer people everywhere.

  I would agree with some other comments that the UK is miserable. You don't see it until you leave, but if you go back to visit it's remarkable. And I love so much of my British culture, which I'm sure is intermingled with that miserableness. I'm glad to be away from the place though.

• by underlines on 2/15/25, 7:34 AM

  I already did: When I was computer science apprentice in Switzerland in the late 00s, my mate introduced me to Thai culture, as he was half Thai. I planned to be different from all the passport bros and weirdos and made a plan: Finishing my 4 year apprenticeship, working in the industry and get enough money, learn the language spoken and written, the culture, as well as going on a few trips to Thailand with my mates Thai family. Early 2016 my time came: Fluent in Thai, already familiar with BKK and my ability to transform between western and Thai culture smoothly, I landed a job at a Digital Marketing Agency in Bangkok that caters only to the local market. No Expats in the office - my dream came true.

  I learned a lot, not just about other cultures, other ways of thinking, but most about myself. I met my now wife, I made great colleagues and friends for life along the way, I had my downs. It was an exciting time with a lot of growth. The agency expanded from initially 15 people to 130, and then into Vietnam and Indonesia as well. Even during Covid we kept operating - though on a slight salary cut.

  Fast forward to 2023, I became more and more bored, asked myself if that is it, and most importantly I turned 36 and started to get worried about my wife's and my future, especially retirement. You know, Switzerland has a solid retirement system, social welfare etc. And all of this I gave up, because living abroad means you don't get those... So I convinced my wife to relocate to Switzerland - something she never intended to do. She has to learn a new miniroty language - German - a new culture, a different climate. And most importantly: Her decent office job in Bangkok is something she will have great difficulty to find in Switzerland.

  We moved in 2023 and it hasn't been easy, especially for her. But we're happy to live in a safe country with great social welfare, low taxes, high income etc.

  So far we had the chance to stay in Thailand every winter and work remotely. So it's kind of the best of both worlds and my employer is great, they allow this type of lifestyle.

  What I learned about all this: Your dreams and your goals become irrelevant once you achieved them, either you constantly chase new ones, or you start being happy. And your favorite country always looks great as a tourist or short term visitor, I can really recommend to first try living there temporarily, be it on long holidays or whatever. And most importantly: Don't stay in the expat bubble, learn the language fluently if you plan to stay there. It's a sign of respect and one step towards integrating into society, you don't want to be the outsider forever.

• by skinkestek on 2/15/25, 7:22 AM

  I have small kids and I'm very happy to live in Norway.

  If I did not have a family I'd consider

  - moving over to my cousin in Canada to make twice as much as I do now

  - or to Ukraine to help rebuild and also take advantage of what I see as an almost inevitable economic boom as soon as russia collapses

• by kylegalbraith on 2/15/25, 7:47 AM

  American here. Moved to France two and a half years ago. I speak French fluently as does my partner. It was probably easier for us because of that, but it still has it’s challenges. Integrating into a completely new culture where the language isn’t your mother tongue is exhausting at times.

  Given all that. I’m quite happy not being back in the US. But I do long for an English first culture from time to time.

• by id00 on 2/15/25, 7:34 AM

  In my twenties moved from Russia to Australia, then lived in the US for a couple of years to see how it is. Came back to Australia just before US elections and I'm very happy with my decision to live here.

  It has its own problems but for me it feels to be a much nicer place to live peacefully, raise kids and enjoy life

• by gregjor on 2/15/25, 7:59 AM

  I already made the wish come true. Originally from USA (California). Lived and worked in USA for 50 years, raised kids there. I left to travel full-time about 13 years ago. I spend most of my time in Thailand. I would choose Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico, Italy, and many other places over returning to the US.

  Every place has political issues, and you won't understand or participate in those until you've lived in a place a long time and learned the language. Many places do not have extreme political polarization. Safety and low crime makes a difference to me.

  Economically the advantages and disadvantages will vary a lot based on your source of income and what kind of visa and residency you want. If you move around and don't stay in one country long enough to incur local tax liabilities you can possibly ignore taxes (except for Americans, who have to file and pay US taxes no matter where they live). Earning an income from your home country that you spend overseas can translate to a very different standard of living than getting a local job (and has tax implications as well).

  Continual travel doesn't work for everyone. The grass only looks greener a lot of the time, every place has pros and cons. You take your problems with you, traveling changes where you live but doesn't magically change you into a different person.

• by anovikov on 2/15/25, 7:18 AM

  Come over to us to Cyprus. There's no better country to live in at least as long as your passport permits you visa-free EU access, so Europeans, Canadians, etc. are fine, but Indians etc. will be fucked - getting Schengen visas here is a pain and we are an oddball of an EU country because we are the only one of them left that's still not in Schengen. In that case i recommend Portugal which is slightly worse in many things like slightly higher taxes, slightly colder climate, etc., but is in Schengen. If you have cash, a good workaround is to also get a permanent residence in Greece that will set you free of visa issues for life.

  If you are an American, nothing saves you from American taxes anyway, which are, even if you don't live in any state (because abroad) so only pay federal taxes, still higher than in any of low-tax EU states, so you are more free in your choice of location, because you will be able to count your American taxes paid against your EU tax obligation, likely nullifying it. I probably recommend Portugal in this case, closer to America in time zones, and local population that's well-used to American expats and doesn't hate them.

• by apsurd on 2/15/25, 7:32 AM

  Australia. Love how they talk!

  perhaps that's just the bumbling American in me, but i love it! public transit access to Blue Mountains… wow!

  love love love the aussies

• by pj_mukh on 2/15/25, 7:30 AM

  Tokyo, if it had a decent population pyramid (and was maybe less colorist?) Is that Singapore? Am I describing Singapore? Not sure.

  A big, dense, eclectic city that is hyper-functional is my dream. Actually having one of those in America would be amazing. sighs in New York.

• by nemesis1637 on 2/15/25, 7:27 AM

  American here. Moved to Spain three and a half years ago and will never look back.

  Edit: Though, if we did it again we might consider Lisbon. I'd never been until recently and it's pretty awesome. And there are other benefits/ease.

• by Waterluvian on 2/15/25, 7:32 AM

  I’m happy in Canada but if, hypothetically, mutated polar bears were to force me out, I’d probably try the UK or Australia or NZ as places I’m sure I could adapt to.

• by ravetcofx on 2/15/25, 6:11 PM

  West Coast Canada now, maybe eventually Netherlands for the better urban fabric and quality of living. North America is in rough place for being so devastatingly car dependent. BC is making some progress in ways, but regressions in others. I want to live in actual nice walkable communities in a country, and continent that has good functional public transit. Along with talks of Canada's annexation

• by sakisv on 2/15/25, 7:46 AM

  Switzerland.

  I'm from Greece and I've always dreamt of living there, but through the various turns of life I ended living for almost a decade in the UK first, so now I'm looking to make the move.

  (So if anyone from Switzerland is reading this and is looking for an SRE from an EU country, feel free to reach out at cv@ my username.net)

  Lately though I've been thinking about Norway as well, though I feel that transition would be much harder.

• by sparrish on 2/15/25, 10:03 PM

  Antigua Guatemala - most beautiful city I've ever visited.

  I've visited 25 countries. Been to Antigua 4 or 5 times and it's so beautiful with the volcanos and the cobblestone streets. High enough altitude to not get a bunch of bugs and low enough to have pleasant weather nearly year round.

  I'm from Colorado USA.

• by workfromspace on 2/15/25, 12:24 PM

  I have been city shopping for some time, exactly to answer this question for myself. I have seen most of Europe and some asian countries.

  So far, my top 3 are: Japan, Israel and UK. Then Ireland, The Netherlands, Switzerland.

  However, I haven't been to some of my potential candidates yet: USA, Canada, NZ, Australia, Singapore, Malta

• by seanmcdirmid on 2/15/25, 6:16 PM

  I lived in China before and I’ll probably go back there to retire (15 years later). The whole tech advances China is making recently in terms of automation probably make it a really interesting place to do tech if you can get over the internet restrictions.

• by nickslaughter02 on 2/15/25, 11:37 AM

  Switzerland.

  A wealthy country, great opportunities in tech, beautiful mountains, direct democracy (a system I'm more and more envious of as a EU citizen). Unfortunately I cannot move right now because of family reasons but hopefully in the future.

• by discodonkey on 2/15/25, 7:51 AM

  What chiefly worries me about my country is its unstable political situation, which is something most Western countries grapple with. Specifically, the precarious position of liberal democracy.

  Given all that -- probably Norway, or Ireland.

• by friendly_chap on 2/15/25, 7:25 AM

  I'm thinking about moving from Hungary (Eastern Europe). I used to live in London in my twenties but came home (what is home? I miss the UK) to settle down. But the leading right wing party is poisoning this country for Chinese money so I'm forced to move.

  I think with all its problems US is still the best country in the world, but moving there is not an option for me. Even with a H-1B visa or whatever that's called, I don't like the idea of being tied that tightly to my employer. The US is still the source of innovation (imho for cultural reasons). I feel like my spirit is closest to the American one. Love for freedom, self-sufficiency etc.

  Since the USA is not an option I'll settle for one of the European countries. Candidates are Spain, Switzerland or Austria.

  Reasons are: Spain has cheap properties and amazing nature, Switzerland has an extremely high quality of life and wealth, and Austria is close to my home country.

• by Gud on 2/15/25, 8:39 AM

  I relocated to Zürich from Sweden. I guess I did because of higher social mobility(from working class to middle class, at least in my case) and because of less political law making.

• by TrueGeek on 2/15/25, 8:05 AM

  My wife and I moved to the Netherlands last year on the DAFT visa. Nothing political or economic about it - we just want to live a healthier lifestyle in a walkable city.

• by Saphyel on 2/15/25, 11:20 AM

  I moved to Spain for healthy issues. It´s cheaper to buy healthy food and I can get enough sun/heat.

  Of course other countries could be another option but I have only been 1 month

• by sailorganymede on 2/15/25, 7:22 AM

  Anywhere but the UK. It’s miserable here.

• by senordevnyc on 2/15/25, 1:48 PM

  Sydney.

  My only issues with it are cost of real estate, and distance from the US where my people live.

• by xtiansimon on 2/15/25, 4:09 PM

  For the longest time I wanted to move to Holland to get out of my frame. It was the 1990s and I was going to design school. The art and design permeated the civic space. And lots of Dutch people speak very good English.

  There really wasn’t a legal vector for immigration and I wasn’t from a wealthy family, and I didn’t like the idea of illegal immigration, and living without a social safety net. And I’m a bit of a punk when it comes to commercial capitalism, which turned out to not be a winning disposition.

  I settled for New York City. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

• by archagon on 2/15/25, 8:31 AM

  Currently, Australia. Melbourne and Sydney are amazing cities that remind me a lot of San Francisco and Seattle, the climate is very similar to California, the politics aren't batshit crazy, and the country at least stands a chance of weathering a global war or calamity. English speaking, so easy to hit the ground running. Also, NZ is nearby.

  Already submitted my EOIs to the 189/190 black box; waiting for an answer over the last year and a half.

  I would have loved to live in NYC for a while, but MAGA seems intent on killing the country dead. I see no bright future here. Maybe things will look different in a decade or two.

• by apsurd on 2/15/25, 7:45 AM

  FWIW: That Americans wanna expat to "anywhere else" is a semi cold take.

  the world is big and i respect other countries for sure. see my other comment about my loving Aussies.

  But there's something real important and real deep about being born in USA. it's a designed shit show.

  "give us your weak and poor…" . this is by design. we want the smoke. All cluster fucks of freedom of thought is the point. it's hard to get along.

  ok so USA looking real brittle right now. i'm not naive.

  but i was raised in this. i love other countries but Ill never shake being a brown boy upper middle class software engineer without college degree in the US of A

• by Apreche on 2/15/25, 12:08 PM

  While other countries are a lot better than the USA in many ways, the problem for me is that the USA is where New York City is located. I can go somewhere with better weather. I can go somewhere with universal health care. I can go somewhere with better transportation infrastructure. But in terms of being the cultural capital of the world, the alternatives just don’t do it for me. London, Paris, Tokyo, Delhi, Beijing, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Moscow, nopes all around.

  I’d rather stand and fight for NYC than move. It may not be for everyone, but it’s the only place for me.

• by rohithkp on 2/15/25, 9:54 AM

  I asked o3-mini-high this question after outlining some criteria that I deemed necessary in a city:

  I want to live in a city that: - Is highly walkable with excellent public transportation infrastructure - Prioritizes safety for women - Has clean air and good environmental standards - Functions as a major hub for either tech or finance industries - Ideally offers: * Good work-life balance * English-speaking environment * Strong expat community * Easy travel connections

  > Based on your criteria, Amsterdam stands out as a top contender. Here’s why:

  Walkability & Transportation

  Amsterdam’s compact, historic center makes it extremely walkable, and its extensive cycling culture—as well as an efficient network of trams, buses, and trains—ensures that you can get around easily without a car.

  Safety for Women & Clean Environment

  The city is known for its progressive, inclusive atmosphere and strong safety standards, which contribute to a secure environment for women. Additionally, Amsterdam places a high priority on sustainability and environmental standards, so you’ll enjoy relatively clean air and plenty of green spaces.

  Hub for Tech & Finance

  Amsterdam is a major European hub where both the tech startup scene and finance sectors thrive. Many global companies and innovative startups are based here, creating ample professional opportunities in both industries.

  Work–Life Balance, English-Friendly, & Expat Community

  With its relaxed yet dynamic work culture, Amsterdam offers an excellent work–life balance. Even though Dutch is the native language, English is widely spoken—making it very accessible for expats. The city also boasts a robust expat community, providing a welcoming network and plenty of social opportunities. Moreover, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport offers excellent travel connections to destinations around the globe.

  Overall, Amsterdam ticks all the boxes for a walkable, safe, environmentally conscious, professionally vibrant, and expat-friendly city.

• by solatic on 2/15/25, 7:42 AM

  Half the time when Western people say they want to move to a different country for economic or political reasons, what they really wish for is to expand their country's borders, take the newly acquired land for themselves (for free or at best a pittance), pay token tribute / taxes to the country they're already in (because taxes are inevitable), and then have their government leave them alone. The problem, of course, is that there's other people who were already on the land that the borders were expanded onto.

  Nobody really prefers to move to a country whose common language they do not speak, where they don't know anybody, and where they will forevermore be treated as second-class (due to being an outsider/immigrant) for the rest of their lives.