Out of the 4 things listed here, in the US the only one that's "normal" is a 40h workweek.
5 weeks of vacation is a lot unless you are really senior or pulled a lot of strings. 2weeks is the average "base" here.
Solid health insurance is usually expensive.
Public schools are "free" but you are going to have to pay for college. I don't know of any completely free colleges anywhere in the country. (Not saying there aren't any, but I've never heard anyone talk about a good one.)
He can always send the daughter (and any other kids) back to Europe for college, it's (mostly) free (for citizens) here.
That was the cunning plan :-)
Go to the US for an extended vacation (month or so), interview with as many companies as you can, and find one that will sponsor an H1-B visa. It'll be hard, but it's worth it.
Re:Ask HN: living and working in US
by levosmetalo on Friday May 23, 2014 @07:42AM
(#7788883)
And then wait 5 or more years until your wife is allowed to work there legally, pay obscene amounts of money for child daycare and schools, all while waiting for a green card.
This matches the experience of the people I know that emigrated :-/
Re:Ask HN: living and working in US
by ColinWright on Friday May 23, 2014 @07:27AM
(#7788844)
Generally you have up to 2 hours to edit your post, which is reasonable if you also add a line saying you've done so for formatting purposes.
Most US companies it's 2-3 weeks of vacation and 10 days a year of public holidays.
* 40h workweek
* 5 weeks of holiday a year
* free/cheap health insurance
* free/cheap education up to university level for our daughter.