Wonderbar:
RC and others, be careful what you post here about ways to "play games" with immigration laws. Web is public, as you know.
RC, millions and millions immigrated to the US and are happy here. You are a brilliant man and will make a reasoned decision whichever decision you make...
Sydney, I know. I am not trying to "play" with immigration laws. If I win the lottery, I want everything to be 100% legal. Like I said, I don't want to start off into a new future based on a lie or whatever. This is why I will take a lawyer (this is very common) to make sure I am 100% legally OK.
Speaking of the "why": I am not born in Germany and I have a different, very US-like, mentality. Always had lots of friends from the US and I feel connected to them. I also always feel at home whenever I am in the US, it is difficult to explain but it feels natural. Of course I know that not everything is nice and shiny in the US but I do not like it in Europe too much, I have my issues with mentalities, especially when it comes to money and economics.
I think I said it before: Germans (and many Europeans) have a capitalist mind, a socialist heart and a communist soul. I have a capitalist mind, heart and soul. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against social aid or welfare but there is a certain mentality in Europe which has strong socialist tendencies and they get stronger and stronger. The fact that many former Warsaw Pact countries actually have a leftist government proves my point. People never seem to learn in Europe and the current crisis has aggravated the mentality and feelings further to a more (state) "controlled" environment. I know that Obama kind of started a similar movement in the US but I also know that the American mentality still has the word "freedom" high up in the hierarchy, so there is still hope. Also Europeans love to play the morale card when it comes to wars and military actions or even the current NSA crisis but actually they always let the Americans do the dirty jobs, worked with them hand in hand and afterwards often collected the credit for it (this is a fact, I worked in diplomacy and I wish I could say more but unfortunately I'm still bound to... ). So while the public thinks that the US are the bad buys, Europeans actually do the same. The current NSA "espionage" outrage is ridiculous and is intended to calm down the public only since all European intelligence services actually work with each other very closely. Even the French who were always a little bit "outside" the game play the same game. The reason why Germany (or any other EU country) don't want Snowden to provide more details to politicians over here is simple: They know this would create some serious problems for their own intelligence services and politicians. This has nothing to do with damaging the US/EU relationship, this has something to do with the truth coming out. Snowden apparently doesn't have a clue how close the tires between US intelligence and European intelligence services were and still are. All the data collected by PRISM was provided to "very friendly" agencies too, so the European outrage about PRISM and other espionage programs is a joke.
Now I stop...bottom line is: I like Europe but I do not like the direction it is heading to. I want a different life for my kids. We come from a communist country and we know what it means to live in such a system, not more stuff like that for us, never again. I see the future in the US, not in Europe. Sorry.
Btw: Those who immigrated to the US and don't feel at home there or seem to have issues made a huge mistake. They didn't adapt. I know so many people who immigrated, not only from Germany. Many do not feel good in the US and you know why? Because they stick with their own nationals, they do not try to get American friends, they stick with Germans, Austrians, Russians, Romanians, always their own nationality. They even watch TV in their language (paying big bucks to get their national programs on TV in the US), they read newspapers in their language, they go to shops owned by nationals of their countries and so on. So why the heck did they actually move to the US? Sorry but this can't work.
A good friend of my wife, she works as a doctor on a US military base in the US and is married to a guy of her own nationality, has given birth to a child four years ago. Guess what: The child know speaks better their "former" language than English. They kept the old traditions, which isn't necessarily bad but if you want to start a new life, you have to adapt. They always travel to their "homeland" once a year and they always wonder why me and my wife haven't been there for years. Like I said before, I do not get it. Why move to the US if you actually live your "old" life? Doesn't make sense to me at all.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Turbo S, Cayenne GTS (958), BMW X3 35d (2013)