That is 100% totally understandable, and is basically the American dream, as you know.

No matter what, as soon as you can: After you hold your green card long enough, make sure to naturalize as a United States citizen. A lot of green card holders never bother to become US citizens. I always encourage people I know to do so. But, generally speaking, once you are a citizen, you are a citizen: it can never be taken away from you. We need people like you and your family as US citizens.

I would get a lawyer, but many lawyers can be sketchy. My best advice would be to go to the Embassies of Switzerland/France/Germany/Canada/UK/etc. to the US websites' and go to their "legal advice" page. There usually is a PDF list of American lawyers. On there, it will specify their area of practice. Obviously, you want an immigration lawyer.

Lawyers can be sketchy, so you need to vet them out for any possible red flags, such as "positive counter-reviews", "any bad reviews", or "painting an overly perfect picture of oneself". If they are involved in commerce associations or any sort of business association (especially if it involves complicated laws or situations), this can be a good sign, as they have to get along with others and just get stuff done in general. From there you make a list of prospective lawyers, email them, and go from there. I would also ask for references, both on a professional level and from actual clients, too.

I value the point of citizenship and passports but getting the US one seems to be shooting yourself in the foot if you don't ever see yourself moving back to the US. I know for sure if I leave, I'm not planning to retire anywhere in the US so it would be a tough sell to go for citizenship.

Sorry, but this is not true at all.

I was being dead serious about suggesting that you might as well naturalize as a United States citizen.

You are already liable for US taxes for at least the next 10 years abroad, from the date you have been judicially determined to have abandoned your green card. You do not acquire this status by not fulfilling the requirements of your green card, either: you need to fill out an I-407 form or a Letter of Intent to Abandon Residence Status. Then, at some point, you receive a judicial determination and have to pay taxes for the next 10 years to the US, from that date, while abroad.

See: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/visa-green-card-hold...

The worst part is that due to FATCA, they can literally seize your bank accounts that you hold abroad.

Anyways, this is a good overview for "playing your cards", with respect to pensions and taxes, while abroad, as a green card holder or an American: https://www.goldinglawyers.com/green-card-holder-foreign-inc...

So I can't find this mentioned anywhere in your link or online. That's the first I hear of it, do you have a source?

There is an expatriation tax if you've been a GC holder for 8 out of 15 years, which I haven't been so I'm fine to leave without any hassles of worrying about taxes.

I don't see the point in US citizenship, I have 2 other strong citizenships that cover all of my needs, unless I decide to stay in the US.

It looks like I don't want to stay in the US long enough to make citizenship worth it, right now.

See: https://americansoverseas.org/en/knowledge-centre/when-are-y...

These are the most important headers to look at:

* US Income Tax: How to Relinquish the Green Card

* Form I-407 or Letter of Intent to Abandon Resident Status

Both of my parents were American accountants, and my father was a CPA. So, I guess I have a different outlook on taxes. I do not see them as a big deal except for the fact that I take paying my taxes very seriously, and obviously I do my best when giving information. I always pay them on time. But, I just look at it like "paying my dues to society", whether or not I actually agree with it--which in this case really does not matter--as it is due, legally.

I am just stating this from purely a personal perspective, so please do not be offended. I know we all have different feelings about being taxed, double-taxed, etc.

By the way: I am not afraid of renouncing my US citizenship, even though I am culturally American and it would be harder to access my family.

The only reason why I do not: I have 2 rare immune-mediated neurological diseases affecting my peripheral nervous system. One of them I nearly died from, and is considered to be very rare, with case reports and small cohorts, at best, in the literature. The disease I have was discovered via National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funds, given to the Mayo Clinic, in the early 2000s. Ultimately, as problematic as the US is, they saved my life, along with the few thousand people diagnosed with this illness worldwide.

The only thing that pops up time and time again is the expatriation tax which only applies if you had your GC for 8 years.

I'm really sorry about your neurological diseases, it's such a shame US healthcare is in shambles for the general populace.

Naturalized citizens can lose citizenship if it is determined they lied on their application. This is unlike those who inherited citizenship via birth.

Thanks for pointing this out as it is very important information to have vs. everything we hear about Germany being "the best place in the world" and "you don't need to buy property as everyone here rents".

If you can't buy now, with "significant disposable income", will you be able to buy later? That is, if you care for home ownership at all.

FAANG/SV engineers could buy a home pretty much in any major city after some years in the industry. I have heard that is not the case in Munich, Frankfurt, Zurich, etc...

But, as said by others, comparing raw numbers is pointless. Even if we spent the 2/3k that are left each month, we'd still have health insurance and pension paid for by our taxes. We aren't forced to build so much wealth to weather bad times because proper insurance is built in the system.

What domain are you in if you don't mind me asking?

So there is much more focus on soft skills, such as leaving a good impression, properly selling your work so that the client is happy, securing future collaborations with them, and so on. And, on the flip side, hard technical skills are not that important: as long as you can produce something that works in a reasonable time and sell it well you will be fine.

Did you check e.g. levels.fyi?

Unfortunately not true. Just because some FAANG in the area will be able to pay you €150k+ TC, doesn't mean all local companies will automatically try to match that. You might be surprised how wide the TC gap is between FAANG & Co. and local players who might laugh in your face if you ask for more than €80k. Simply put, most EU companies can't match such levels of pay but will have no shortage of talent.

It also gets hairy once you compare pre-tax (US Salaries) with post-tax (EU salaries) and different costs of living.

I use a combination of levels.fyi, Payscale/Glassdoor plus Numbeo / Nomadlist to keep running the numbers around how much I could save by moving elsewhere.