Hi all, let me give a bit of backstory so you know what kind of position I’m in.
My dream is to move abroad long term and start a family (26F) I have dual citizenship in Italy (Berlin, Naples, Barcelona are places I’m looking at) but I’ve also fallen in love with Tokyo since I visited a few years back, and it seems to fit my lifestyle/interests really well.
For a bit more background, I’m a graphic designer and have been pretty successful here in the states. My only family is from Venezuela living here with me and to not have support from family abroad will be extremely difficult. I’m also not sure how lucrative designer careers are in these cities? Do you have any shared experiences that might help me make a more solid decision?
That Italian citizenship will come in super handy in Germany
Goooo. Do it while you are still young. You can always move back if it doesn’t end up the way you expected it to be. Pretty sure they have working holiday visa’s you can do for a year!
A friend of mine is a British architect and he did very well in Barcelona (he actually really regrets moving back to the UK) so yes I think working in a technical profession you would do pretty well there. The Spanish are very easy to get along with, many speak English as a second language, and Barca gets a lot of big international contracts. It’s a very relaxed culture, so you might find you mesh with it quite well compared to the states. It’s also a beautiful old city and you’ll practically never run out of things to see or do.
I’ve heard Berlin is extremely competitive for professions like graphic design, and Germans are an acquired taste… personally I wouldn’t be attempting to start a career in Berlin unless I spoke pretty good German and had an internationally respected portfolio. I say this as someone with great love and respect for Germans, but I’d 100% visit first to get an idea of it before you commit to that. If you did manage to land a job there you’d be making extremely good money, although you might not get to keep as much of it as you’d like as cost of living is quite high. I’d also investigate other cities in Germany as although Berlin is a cultural centre, many other cities are quite large and productive in the technical professions, particularly Munich, but the cost of living is lower.
Naples, VERY hot in the summer, and Italy as a whole is just barely avoiding a recession right now. I’ve heard the job market is very competitive. You might find that graphic design is in greater demand in Milan. It is a beautiful country though and very high on quality of life… not many in the world know how to live quite like the Italians.
I’d also take a serious look at Amsterdam, Bilbao and Zurich. All highly international cities with a strong design culture.
Having an EU passport is truly a blessing. Lots of people would kill to have that! Take advantage of it. I did. I also have dual citizenship and have now lived in: Germany, Austria, Sweden and Spain!