So for various reasons that it would be irrelevant to go into, I want to move out of America and into either Germany or Iceland. But like many Americans I'm poor. I don't currently even have the money to move out of my parents place. I know I'm asking the impossible here but is there anyway a foreigner can easily move into either country? Are there such a thing as work-stay programs? I'd like to one day, eventually, live in one of them permanently. But I need any knowledge or information on any way(s) a poor man can jump the puddle and get into an apartment and job in Iceland or Germany. If you would tell me of what you know of this, it would really mean a lot to me. Thanks.
I'd also love to be in contact with people from either of these countries. Any German or Icelander can have my email upon if you so want it.
I'd go with Germany if only because the language makes more sense, but that's just me. No matter where you (try to) go, they're not going to just let you stay because you like it there. Ask yourself the following questions:
Do you have an education? Do you have highly specialized job skills or work experience? Are you persecuted in your home country? Could you manage to get married to a local in short order and/or do you have family there already?
Any combination of these things would help a great deal. Otherwise, I'd seriously consider not running away from your problems at home and work to change your life wherever you may be. Turns out the grass is never greener anywhere.
It's rather contemptuous, but sometimes foreign girls are more than willing to fall in love with Americans. So if you can flatter one online you'll have a place to go if you ever decide to leap across the Atlantic.
>Do you have an education? Do you have highly specialized job skills or work experience?
Nothing past high school. I can't afford to go to college or uni. I can do PC repair/networking, but that's like saying I know how to blink. I'd love to be able to go to a college or uni but it's just too expensive. I know in some European countries it's less expensive. If I could could jump the puddle then I would use the money from my minimum wage job for college. I only make about $30-45 a week at a part time minimum wage job now. And it's only a temp position that ends after the holidays.
>Are you persecuted in your home country?
Heh, no.
>Could you manage to get married to a local in short order and/or do you have family there already?
No.
>>2
I guess that's an option. But I think it's wrong to marry a woman with the ulterior motive of getting citizenship. I'd rather do something legally wrong than morally wrong, but that's just me. Thanks.
Well, young women often do this au pair thingy. You also have the army, but I don't recommend that (hello Afghanistan, and soon Iran?). If you become a Mormon, you could be sent here.
All in all, you are probably better off by trying a language exchange program, or contact an organization that organizes voluntary work for young people.
If you like it rough, you could just save for a year to buy a ticket and get a tourist visa, come here an just survive from there on. Watch out, it can get cold here in winter, so do it at your own risk.
>au pair
I googled it. Seems like something where you go overseas to babysit. Seems like a great idea to me. But I would question the sanity of the parents. Letting a stranger from another counrtrie into your home to watch your kids seems unsafe to me.
However, it would still mean I'd have to have the money to get on a plane from here to there, which just brings me back to the original problem of not having any money for a plane ticket. Damn.
>army
Becoming a part of an institution and sent to a country where I am given orders all day to preform various tasks to further the goal of my superiors is not the same thing as travelling to a country and being free to explore the culture, land, and it's people.
>If you like it rough, you could just save for a year to buy a ticket and get a tourist visa, come here an just survive from there on. Watch out, it can get cold here in winter, so do it at your own risk.
That's where I'm at now. But there's nothing to save for if I have no money coming in. Like I said, the only job I've been able to get is a min wage one that ends after the holidays.
>tourist visa
I have a passport, is this equal to a tourist visa?
>>8 Well, there's a lot of sexism in the babysitting industry. Don't hold your breath if you are a male. Never heard of an au pair guy. But seems that people are indeed crazy enough for au pair girls to exist.
Ok, this is really a long shot, but you might investigate the possibility of going to Germany by boat. Sometimes freighters accept a couple of passengers. I don't know how much it would cost, and perhaps you can negotiate, or even work in the boat. I know some painters traveled like this, paying their fare with paintings. As long as you're not in a hurry to get there, it could work.
If you are cash strapped, but come here at the right season, you can easily find a farm job. Won't pay much, but at least you get to know people, while considering your next step.
>>9
About the ship thing:
It's quite a bit more expensive than commercial air. I've looked into travel by container ship because I have a fear of flying. Seeing the cost is about all it takes to overcome that fear...
Trying to be a crew member of a ship seems like a long-shot but no sense in not looking into it.
>>9 >>10 That's realy helpful, thank you. Ive been trying to see if there was even such a thing as passenger boats anymore. Everything seems to be going by plane or not at all. And the prices of plane tickiets make it so that only the rich can cross the ocean. do lots of people speak english in germany?
>do lots of people speak english in germany?
Many do, specially among the younger generation.