Due to some unfortunate buerocratic mishaps I was forced to stay. And 20 years later here I am - still in the same country, while companies are offering me to relocate and help me with legal expenses.

After travelling a bit abroad and seeing how life is in the countries I wanted to live in, I know have the feeling thet they all have their own problems, and you get to a pretty awesome standard of living if you stay at your unexpensive place, but get a decent european/american salary. And its totally possible with remote work nowadays.

And while I still think my life would have turned out better if I was able to emigrate back in the day, life here has gotten noticably better, a lot of expats are returning and bringing the culture I desired to be a part of here.

So yeah even if you don’t manage to get out, you can still sharpen your skills, and get to work for some first world companies with a great compensation. And with not that much money, even the lousiest places can be a great place to live.