[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

NO! There is no possibility of "emigration" to any GCC countries, as far as I am aware. You can only "immigrate" to GCC provided you have a valid employment/business offer that comes with a valid resident visa.

Trust this assists

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

Ram, thanks for the info, thought so. Ah well, not having any luck with the job search (software/telecom testing) so far so this might well remain a pipedream

[josh.machine]

Given that we have so many guys working down under we should probably also help with jobs considering how the market is so tight

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Anyone here who has lived in Germany and thought of settling down here for a longer time ? I'm here since almost 4 years, professionally doing very well, have excellent prospects for future in the German automotive industry, pay is good, can speak fluent German. I'm now single. In a few years I will have to take a decision though.

Anyone who has been on the same boat or similar situation, or thoughts from anyone else who has lived here with family for a longer time ?

Spike

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

I'm now single. In a few years I will have to take a decision though.

Well where do you want to settle considering what your preference and how flexible your family is with it? Does your work have you on an indefinite contract?

If you want to settle in Germany, you already have the headway in terms of knowing the language, dynamics of life in country and of course bureaucracy . This is what counts if you want to settle in a non-English speaking country. Am assuming you've worked atleast 2 years and change you should be able to get on a residence permit without expiry by the time you start to have kids. This way you are secure in terms of the immigration aspect. The job aspect you should be able to take a call on what works well for a long term stay.

Not sure if you were asking in terms of encouragement to settle , but here it goes. I do have a batchmate who has been in Germany 15 years and few more guys I knew through him who have lived 10+ years. All are settled with family, kids et al.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Well where do you want to settle considering what your preference and how flexible your family is with it? Does your work have you on an indefinite contract?

I've an indefinite contract and I'm very happy with what I do here. Just yesterday I was driving Porsche's on a high speed oval as part of my driver training

As far as work, perks and professional life goes, for the field I'm in to, Germany is the place to be, not even US comes closer.

Am assuming you've worked atleast 2 years and change you should be able to get on a residence permit without expiry by the time you start to have kids.

I studied here and then started working since almost 2 years now. I don't want my children to grow up in a western environment (from childhood onwards), as I feel they get away from indian culture, which I don't want. Yes, once they are grown up, I would be happy to see them go outside India to study, live or work. I hope you understand what I'm referring to.

Spike

[cooolsunny]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Anyone here who has lived in Germany and thought of settling down here for a longer time ? I'm here since almost 4 years, professionally doing very well, have excellent prospects for future in the German automotive industry, pay is good, can speak fluent German. I'm now single. In a few years I will have to take a decision though.

Anyone who has been on the same boat or similar situation, or thoughts from anyone else who has lived here with family for a longer time ?

Spike

Answer is simple will you want to be there god forbid if you loose your ability to work tomorrow. if yes then congrats you found your home.

[NoMind]

Germany has good unemployment benefits. Nordic countries lead on that count.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by cooolsunny

Answer is simple will you want to be there god forbid if you loose your ability to work tomorrow. if yes then congrats you found your home.

I can say this about Germany, even if this happens, the employee is in good hands as the labour laws here are very good. Not sure about the laws in other countries.

[kopakabana]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

I don't want my children to grow up in a western environment (from childhood onwards), as I feel they get away from indian culture, which I don't want.
Spike

As a father of a 5 year old who has been growing up out of India for last 4 years, i would say that culture is something that is taught primarily by the parents. There is a huge Indian population outside India and although the kids get exposed to different cultures, i think they have been able to keep that Indian bit intact.

What you should also be considering is the amount of opportunities that your kids will have in a country like Germany. I do believe that Indian kids can learn a lot from German culture as well.

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

I don't want my children to grow up in a western environment (from childhood onwards), as I feel they get away from indian culture, which I don't want. Yes, once they are grown up, I would be happy to see them go outside India to study, live or work. I hope you understand what I'm referring to.

Spike

Its OT but could not help commenting since the thought appears opportunistic. You do not want your kids to grow up in an environment which has rewarded you professionally yet you want them to come back after they are hopefully 'immune' to what could only be concluded as undesirable effects of an alien culture. Don't know what to say

[cooolsunny]

Post deleted by the Team-BHP Support : Please do NOT post messages that add little or no informational value to the thread. We need your co-operation to maintain the quality of this forum.

Please read our rules before proceeding any further. We request you to post ONLY when you have something substantial to add to a discussion.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

I studied here and then started working since almost 2 years now. I don't want my children to grow up in a western environment (from childhood onwards), as I feel they get away from indian culture, which I don't want. Yes, once they are grown up, I would be happy to see them go outside India to study, live or work. I hope you understand what I'm referring to.

This is the sentiment of any first generation immigrant in any country. However, if you like living in any country and your job prospects are good, you shouldn't say it will be bad to raise your children there. If the country is good for you, it will be good for the kids too. May be even better.

What is Indian culture? Nobody really knows anymore. For example, if you don't want your daughters to date, it is too late. Daughters of my peers are already dating, often with parental consent. Divorce rate has skyrocketed, young couples no more compromise and suffer like in the old days. India has moved on while the Indian migrants in foreign countries are still reminiscing about the good old Indian culture from their youth.

Indian culture is no reason to come back. Come back to India if you want to live in India, and close to aging parents, etc.

[krcustoms]

Saildrive, as somebody who has lived in the US for about 17 years before moving back to India 7 years ago here are my observations:

1. Moving to a new country is always a pretty exciting thing, new place, new people, new culture.
2. The age at which you move and the family condition also matters. If you are relatively young i.e. 30's or even in your early 40's it would be worth it. the experience (good or bad) would be unparalleled and the memories become a life long thing.
3. Education in the US is pretty good and if you or your kids manage to get into some good schools or universities then its a real boon. US or Canada education is priced all over.
4. General health conditions are also pretty good in the US or Canada. In the 17 years that I lived there only handful of times I got seriously ill. Not sure if that was due to clean conditions or just general personal health. I remember growing up as a kid I used to fall sick all the time.

Overall its worth it. I am much older now but one thing I learned is that we have a short life to live so might as well see as many places as possible and meet as many new people as possible because in the end it really enriches your life.

Hanging out with relatives and such, well its nice but then you also have old age to do that so why waste precious young years huddling together as a family!! also as you said yourself if you really miss them you can always take a flight and go meet them!

Cheers.
Krish

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Anyone here who has lived in Germany and thought of settling down here for a longer time ? I'm here since almost 4 years, professionally doing very well, have excellent prospects for future in the German automotive industry, pay is good, can speak fluent German. I'm now single. In a few years I will have to take a decision though.

Anyone who has been on the same boat or similar situation, or thoughts from anyone else who has lived here with family for a longer time ?

Spike

I'm currently in the same boat. I'm in the same field as yours, but in Detroit. I'm currently working for a big german auto supplier , and most of their engineering comes from Germany. I have an opportunity to move to Stuttgart and am thinking about it.

One thing which I noticed with German companies is the subtle racism. I might be wrong here, but I don't find many immigrants on the top ranks. Even in the US branches of German companies, most of the higherups are Germans.

I might be mistaken, but if the rumors of racism are true, I would suggest Detroit, rather than Stuttgart.

In the US is not not unusual for an Immigrant to become a VP or so of a multinational. I always quote the example of Raj Nair- who is a 2nd generation American, but from Kerala. He is the VP of Product engineering - Ford and responsible for Focus RS and Ford GT.

https://media.ford.com/content/fordm.../raj-nair.html

So, I don't know. Just my thoughts. Correct me if I'm wrong somewhere.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

I don't want my children to grow up in a western environment (from childhood onwards), as I feel they get away from indian culture, which I don't want. Yes, once they are grown up, I would be happy to see them go outside India to study, live or work. I hope you understand what I'm referring to.

Sorry Spike. I wanted to reply to this part of your response. Blame it on lack of time.

I'll give my inputs raising a daughter from age 3ish-6ish in Italy and my exposure seeing parents during my student life in US and some inputs from other friends who've been in Europe.

- You get work-life balance in this part of the world. 8 hours of work, no more no less. Lot of companies even allow you to compensate for extra hours worked if any. So rest of the time is yours. This aspect is hard to find in India, and to an extent not there in US as well.

Believe me, you need all this time during parenting. The more time you spend with kids, the more in touch with how they feel.

- Support system in terms goverment run nursery, pre-school and post-school to support working parents. This is completely absent in India. They are all private and the quality is not assured across the board.

- Low teacher:student ratio (is 1:24 in my daughter's school). If they go full day school, there's virtually no homework. My daughter gets about 30 min worth homework on Friday, which sometimes they finish at school itself. The infrastructure are par/superior in some cases comparing to international schools (where you pay 10K+ € a year for tuition fee alone).

- Am at home in terms of parenting my kid here, as much as we were in India. Nobody interferes if you discipline (does not mean beating) your child here. Kids don't dictate terms . They do if you let them to, you can find examples for this even in India.

- For the kind of taxes you pay. You don't spend a fortune for schooling for university education. We just pay for transportation and lunch (no free lunch you see) for our daughter.

The maximum fee (considering family income) for Engineering bachelors in Modena is 1700€ a year, it could be as low as 300€ if you fall under.

- Not to forget, if your kid is born in Germany. He/she gets money from the goverment as well. Am not sure if it is 200 €/month or year. It was implemented in Italy as well for kids born after 2015.

Parenting won't be a bed of roses even in India. The environment we grew up 80s and 90s is vastly different from present day India. Lot of things you see here also happen in India, though more discreetly. So you are not immune to parenting problems regardless of where you decide to stay. Samurai, who's probably parenting a teenager has nailed the cultural aspect. I can't top it.

On your free time, try reading through R2I diaries section in R2IClubforums. Gives lot of first hand experiences from people who have gone through R2I or R2A.

Good luck with your life decisions