> No pain no gain. If the US and SV opportunities aren't a type of gain that's compelling to you then of course you dont need to worry about it
There are many reasons why this might be out if your control, beyond visa requirements. Maybe you have dependents your can’t bring with you (sick or elderly family for example), or maybe your SO has a job that’s hard to move. Or you have a family and can’t afford the crazy SV rent for a place large enough.
I was replying to the bulk of the comments in the post above, which were along the lines of not wanting to go because of age/liking hometown etc, and specifically mentioned at the end that there are valid barriers to consider, including one in the original post about the complexity of immigration. There are true barriers in the way, my disagreement was with the ones listed above.
I disagree with your disagreement about the barriers, namely:
It is false that the US is the ideal place to live in (or to temporarily migrate to if you're in tech). It is false that, all other things being equal, one should prefer to live in the US. The US is not the default place people should aspire to live in, not even people in tech. Even within the US, SV is not the best place to live in. Living in some place means much more than just working in trendy tech companies.
For a lot of us -- I'd say the vast majority, outside the HN bubble -- the US is not a particularly interesting place to live in, even if there were no immigration barriers. Which there are, anyway.
The U.S. is absolutely not the ideal place to live in. However, it is the ideal place to aspire to if you want to make a lot of money without being born to an already wealthy family. (Wealth of course being relative, because you need some wealth to immigrate nowadays)
Money, and opportunity for their children to earn money, is the reason so many people have immigrated to the U.S in the past century.
Money isn't everything, but you can sure buy a lot of freedom with it. Of course, nothing in life is risk-free, and making money is no exception, and the U.S. is unforgiving when it comes to those who come here and fail.
I do agree with that. If its out of your control, its out of your control. I see that as the difference between "want" (I dont want to leave) and "can't" (I cant leave). Living in a community of immigrant families and a city of immigrants here by NYC has colored that perspective for me since I'm surrounded by people that went through hell for a better life, including my own family. I personally am of course incredibly privileged that I get to just be born here and have the opportunities that come with being an American. But my own family has been uprooted 3 times within my own lifetime so far moving around the country to pursue better opportunities before winding up here, and that pales in comparison to what others have gone through. If you can't you can't, but if you don't want to, well, selection bias, but I'm surrounded by the people that did anyway.
There are many reasons why this might be out if your control, beyond visa requirements. Maybe you have dependents your can’t bring with you (sick or elderly family for example), or maybe your SO has a job that’s hard to move. Or you have a family and can’t afford the crazy SV rent for a place large enough.