I wanted to edit my post but my GS2 sucks at letting me move my cursor to the end.

Anyway, I wonder if maybe a foreign exchange thing might help while I'm in college. I am not sure if it'd work out with my scholarship, but I'll have to look into it. Good idea on the possibility of working for a major international company and then transferring, Palidine.

Speaking for the UK - I don't think UK is an improvement politically, each country has pros and cons (though obviously it depends on exactly what you dislike about the US Government). But if you want to move anyway for whatever reason: I think the education system is reasonably good (higher education unfortunately getting expensive, though nowhere near what it is in the US), and reasonably good salary and opportunities for computer science. I wouldn't say it's overpopulated, but houses tend to be smaller and more expensive than in the US AFAICT. Things I like about the UK include the public healthcare, and the longer holidays that employees tend to get (25 + public holidays is common) compared to the US.

There's also the question of how you're going to get here, since both the main parties seem anti-immigration - immigration from outside the EU has got far harder in the last 10 years, and the borders are almost shut except for a few categories. I will be marrying my US partner, but we still have a large amount of expense, hoops and hassle to jump through just to live together! 10 years ago you could come here with a degree; now I believe your only hope is if you're employed for a skilled job where the company are unable to find anyone from within the EU to do it.

The EU definitely sounds like what you're looking for, except you'd probably want to learn a 2nd language for social reasons (many companies use English internally, instead of their native tongue), and population density might be higher than you're used to.

As a EU(Swedish) citizen i don't think EU is what he is looking for

• Sensible leaders and politics (Hell no, They're retarded monkeys at best and evil geniouses at worst and our national politicians just blame all impopular decisions on the EU (Where we pretty much got noone to hold responsible(In reality it is the same parties though, dodging blame is a politicians game i guess)), allthough if you care enough about politics to actually make an informed vote i'd welcome you here, we need more sensible people voting)
• Good education system (Ok, maybe, it depends)
• Good social opportunities for my future children (China and Japan sound cool and all, but there's too much pressure on school work there IMO; somewhere where a kid can be a kid, but still gain a good education) (Yeah, ok this can be good or even awesome, but you could get that in the US aswell)
• Good standard of living for someone in the CS industry (Check)
• Good work opportunities for someone in the CS industry (I haven't decided a particular area in CS yet) (Ok, we got this covered)
• Not over populated (I come from mountainous Utah, so I like a decent amount of space between two houses) (~10 mil citizens, shouldn't be a problem)
• Safe (both protected by the government and from the government) (Well, by the government, maybe, they havn't had many chances to prove that in the last couple of hundred years, from the government i think is impossible to be safe these days but the police state isn't that far along yet)
• Speaks English, since that's all I know and the only languages I enjoy learning are programming languages. (Almost everyone speaks english or will in 20 years time)
• Anything else you might think is important [/quote]
  
  
  

If you have to ask us... then I don't think you ought to move. I'm not saying it's an outright bad idea, but immigrating is a big deal - I was born in Slovakia and moved to South Africa when I was very young. At that age, it didn't really matter, but my parents did struggle a bit to adjust because of cultural and language barriers. They do OK though and things worked out well, but I know many other immigrants here (older generation) and some of them are very lonely people. Some people are just better at adjusting than others though, and if you're one of those people then you'll be OK.

A lot of people immigrate from South Africa too. I too am considering this. However, (and trust me, South Africa has a ton of problems), a fair amount of people do come back - from places such as Canada, England, the US and Australia. Most people want to run away from something rather than going there for something, and dammit man, every country has problems - you will never be 100% happy. A country that satisfies all your criteria doesn't exist, but even if it did, it still might not be a good place for you.

Travel a bit and try to experience other countries, see what you like... there is no utopia. Even if you found a perfect country but the people were just too difficult to get on with or too contrasting in culture (esp. a problem with EU), then you won't be happy. You need to find an environment that suits you personally, so nobody can answer that for you. "The grass is always greener on the other side" ... there is profound truth to this idiom.

PS. politics are and always will be shit. South African politics are laughable, it's actually depressing. Nevermind what's going on in Slovakia... oh and I've watched some of your US electoral candidate videos on youtube, that stuff is also shockingly bad. I have given up all hope.

and trust me, South Africa has a ton of problems

I know, I lived there for 2 years Just got back in August.

Most people want to run away from something rather than going there for something, and dammit man, every country has problems - you will never be 100% happy. A country that satisfies all your criteria doesn't exist, but even if it did, it still might not be a good place for you.

I know I'm not going to find a utopia (if there was one, I think I'd know by now). And I'm ok with that.

Travel a bit and try to experience other countries, see what you like...

I agree, and that's more or less where I'm going with this. But I'm trying to have the focus of "where would be nice to live"' rather than "where would be nice to visit," just in case I perhaps do find somewhere that I would prefer.

PS. politics are and always will be shit.

I know, unfortunately. I'm just realizing more my own country's imperfections and am willing to look elsewhere since I have not done so yet. I'm not necessarily expecting anything a billion times better than here (I'll be honest, life here is pretty dang good), but while I'm young, I might as well take the opportunity to explore the world (should I get the opportunity).

South African politics are laughable, it's actually depressing.

Agreed, unfortunately. Thankfully Malema was finally found guilty of hate speech. But that's just one small, small piece of South Africa's puzzle. I love the place, but I'll never live there again, I don't think.

I just want to point out EU's economical outlook is a question mark to be honest. If looking to improve quality of life, the (easy) choice is really between Germany, France or UK (and that's already a bit of a stretch).
I've been told Austria and Belgium are rather ok but I have only heard rumors. Austria has indeed excellent welfare. Switzerland appears to be well set.
Northern countries such as Sweden, Finland (and perhaps Norway) might eventually be what OP searches for: besides a good economical outlook welfare, fiscal pressure and social issues are relatively well managed.



Everything else will require OP considerable efforts in the medium to long term to maintain quality of life. Mediterrean regions have outrageous public debts which already erupted in big trouble (Portugal, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Spain), Italy alone is being a considerable headache for EU's economical stability.
Eastern countries start from very low quality of life and industry (Romania, Belarus as example and other ex-URSS contries), in some cases there's basically no "contry" in the common sense of the term. Those countries are often not part of political EU: get ready for some hassles. No chance you can just get there "to try".

Contrary to expectations, ex-Yugoslavia countries might have a better long-term outlook. They have relatively low labor costs and decent amount of resources. Again, their industry, especially regarding CS is a bit... late to say the best. No chance they talk much English. Sometimes you might still have to look out for mines.

Personally, if OP looks to improve quality of life, I'd stay out of EU (at least political Eurozone EU). With little industry, resources and political leadership, EU's outlook is grim. I've been told Australia, India and Brazil are currently pretty promising.

Have a look at switzerland, it covers all your points pretty well except language. Youd deff. would have to look into learning german.. its still a very multicultural country. Plus, switzerland is not part of the EU, so no real hassle with the barking dog neighbours. Check: http://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/en/home.html

And for anyone who thought I was being over-dramatic, like clock-work, it's happening. The EU is finished.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45609228

British Prime Minister David Cameron announces that Britain will never join the Euro, and will not sign a new European Union treaty. This is the beginning of the end.

"Britain will never join the Euro, and will not sign a new European Union treaty. This is the beginning of the end."

I can't see that myself. Europe will do what it normally does after asking Britain for its opinion, which is deciding they don't like it much and then going and doing whatever the Germans and French wanted anyway.

And for anyone who thought I was being over-dramatic, like clock-work, it's happening. The EU is finished.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45609228

British Prime Minister David Cameron announces that Britain will never join the Euro, and will not sign a new European Union treaty. This is the beginning of the end.

Don't make this political.