This. Especially if you're a citizen of a country other than the US and hope to have the career mobility to work in one of the American hotbeds. It will severely limit your career for a very long time if you don't, especially if your work history is difficult to prove.

Utter rubbish, in my experience: I've done it with no degree, and ~7 years out of the western workforce.

The US was OK but I much prefer Asia and Europe (for quality of life, languages, art, history and conversation).

Except if you live in EU :)

Incorrect. This only applies to professionally acquired visas. To get what you want out of visa systems, as with any other system, it pays to consider some of the viable alternatives: subsidised skills areas (exceptions to professional work visa requirements), family and relationship based visas, investment visas, retirement visas, tourism visas where you are not working just receiving offshore income. Persistence is king.

You said several words here but nothing really contradicted the parent. The parent is correct. Are there some difficult exceptions, sure, but these are ... exceptions. If you don't believe, see the gigantically complicated chart for getting a green card in the U.S. I guess, game, set, match?

Dinkum Thinkum eh? That sounds Australian. You can quite easily get a US work visa and green card if you are young, employed, and come from Australia or New Zealand, for example. That's yet another alternate route. It's in most countries' interests to make people turn themselves away. Putting some effort in and not giving up often works wonders...