I left USA after being an H1B for 5 years with delay after delay in my GC application. HARD decision. Hated leaving...
Went to my home country, created a software company with successful products. Now a few dozen jobs are here instead of there and some million $$$ are flowing into my country.
Still, I would move to the US and open an office if I'd have a legal, fast way to get a residency there. Not likely though.
I love the country. It's beautiful. I like its philosophy. American values resonate close to my values. In the years I lived there I grew to think of it as my home much more than the country I was born in. I could see calling myself American.
When I went there I was received well. I was helped. I made friends. Now I think I can help in return. I would like to contribute, especially in a downturn. I would buy a house, I would create jobs.
Now, I travel a lot (including in US) so I live all over the world. And financially I'd have little to gain in States (no extra income, higher living costs, higher taxation, higher business costs). So it'd be mostly an idealistic gesture, a way for me to participate in building something larger than myself and what I've already built. Something I truly believe in.
But I am not getting myself again in the Kafka's nightmare that US immigration is. Waiting years for some bureaucrat to decide if your life will go on or will be completely changed "just because". No thanks. I'd only consider another country if I'd have a clear, legal and quick path to residency. Otherwise... I'll only be a tourist.
I know exactly what you mean. After 7 years in the H1B green card queue I finally got mine, but it was an agonizing wait. Like you I love the US, I feel more at home here than I do in the UK, but after close to a decade of delays the pressure of never knowing if I could settle was taking a toll. I wouldn't mind clear rules, but the sheer arbitrary illogical complexity and undefined duration of the process made it a nightmare.
A month after my GC came through, I quit my job and I'm now burning through my savings trying to get a startup off the ground, pumping money into the economy.
Just out of interest with #1 - what's to stop an immigrant from simply "buying" themselves a visa by hiring 4 people at minimum wage for 9 months? Even if you didn't make a cent of revenue, you could do still that for ~60K right? Doesn't seem like a lot to obtain US citizenship.
60k is a lot of money, especially for the people who have the most to gain from a US citizenship (i.e. people from the 3rd world who are not independently wealthy).
A Swede will not pay 60k because the US is, for the most part, not that much (if at all) better than Sweden, and most Indians don't have that kind of money.
I did, but I am not there yet. Soon, but not today. All my cash, time and energy are invested into my existing business. And trying to expand that business into US slowly without a massive and risky upfront investment would only give me a non-resident visa, not a green card.
I do have a master's but I've never stayed too long in Canada. I am actually planning to go over there later this year for a couple of months to see how I like it. But its regular immigration process takes years...
And I'm not big fan of its more socialist government. Just like I'm not big fan of UK's big-bro government, even though UK has (lately) a rather fast and straightforward immigration policy.
But they are the closest to US, from all the countries I visited, so I'll research them both a bit more.
Sucky, for all I know. Either expensive (you need 1 mil. USD - I may have a successful business but I am not rich until I sell it or something) or extremely risky: if your US business fails to grow as specified you may lose your visa.
Now I am not risk adverse in business, but when it comes to living in a place, I need to settle (for me and my family). We love to travel and explore, but home must be home: safe and stable.
Went to my home country, created a software company with successful products. Now a few dozen jobs are here instead of there and some million $$$ are flowing into my country.
Still, I would move to the US and open an office if I'd have a legal, fast way to get a residency there. Not likely though.