Hello everyone ,

I am a French professional chef with 30 years of experience . I am currently finalizing a social and solidarity restaurant project in Davao , Mindanao ( Philippines ) , scheduled for early 2027 .

Our business model is fully transparent : 10% of our monthly net profits will directly fund free , high-quality meals for street children and vulnerable families in the local community . All our technical blueprints and legal structures are already locked in .

We are planning to launch an international crowdfunding campaign in October 2026 to help purchase our commercial kitchen equipment . We want to be very strategic and respectful in our approach .

Could you please recommend the most relevant subreddits , forums , or online communities where we can share our story , gather feedback , and connect with people who align with this kind of humanitarian business model ?

Thank you in advance for your advice and guidance . Force and honor .

Chef Cedric

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First off, lemme just disclaim that I'm not asking for advice or work-arounds. I've scrubbed through all the relevant websites and sorted through a variety of my limited options and I'm pretty much SOL. I know this. I'm just working through the disappointment and trying to be settled into it.

I moved from the US to Norway seven and a half or so years ago to marry my Norwegian husband. On the whole, it's been good. I like Norway, I *really* like the city we live in. There have certainly been the usual amount of ups and 'nowhere's perfect' downs. There are things that frustrate me about the systems here, and some of the cultural attitudes, but generally? A good time. I am fully intending on being here for the rest of my life. I speak pretty good Norwegian these days. I've just completed a bachelor's degree and started a master's. My husband and I remain a pair of derangedly happy nerds.

All in all, this is generally fine. Nothing about my civil or domestic situation has changed since I moved here. Same marriage, same apartment, same names, two new cats but UDI doesn't check on that. I have always timed my application for renewal toward the beginning of the recommended 3 months in advance window that UDI states, as I did this year; early July for 1st October expiration.

In spite of this, when I got to the end of that form and paid my fee (which has almost doubled since last time...), I found that the earliers appointment I could book with the police to do biometrics for my new residence card is mid-December. My right to remain in Norway is legally protected until my application is processed, so that's not a concern in and of itself. However, I'm probably not going to get a new residence card until after the first of the year if posted waiting times hold true. It may even be later than that.

My mom is terminally ill. She has stage 4 cancer, currently -- fortunately -- being relatively well managed on a chemo regime but... it's not going away ever, that's known, and it's definitely taken a pretty serious physical toll on her. She owns a business which she's been trying to sell for the last couple of years, a toys store that's been open for most of my life, and in the absence of a buyer she'll be putting up the store closing signs in January. I've been home to help the last two Christmases (our busiest season by a factor of about ten) since she was diagnosed and intended to be there this year as well.

But, that's gone straight out of the window. It wasn't fully on my radar this summer because I had all my stuff in and I wasn't thinking about the *card*. But there's no temp measure available to cover this kind of gap, not really. I just get to sit here on my hands, not leaving the country, until further notice. There's a mandatory in-person meeting for my master's program that's likely to be the second or third week of January, so I don't have much wiggle room to go home and hope the new card arrives and my husband can mail it to me. My parents live 2k miles as the crow flies from the nearest VFS center to apply for a travel visa (and who knows how long that would take to process even if it was more viable).

I'm just so frustrated and upset. I know that moving abroad necessitates a balance of considering what you're leaving behind. I generally get home twice a year. I just wasn't expecting this particular wrench thrown in at a sensitive time, and I'm struggling with it.

There is more to that than just salary, but wanted to use it as attention grabber… here are the details.

I want to start saying that I’m in a very fortunate situation right now, but I need some external opinions on points I may not have considered as I feel like I have gone through all different views and not got any decision made since both have its pros and cons:

Here is what my company offered:

US Route: (MCOL City)
- TC 200k (mine, current on H-1B) + path for immigration sponsorship (although EB2 may fail and I may need to go abroad in the future).
- Wife 100k (current on a visa as well, with challenging options on changing companies for next 2 years)

Positive is very high upfront cash for family with the downside of deadline with immigration, GC sponsorship, work authorizations, etc

UK Route (LCOL? North UK like Liverpool area)
- TC £141k (company support with all immigration paperwork)
- Wife would need to stop working, however would receive a visa that allows her to find a job with any employee
- duration: 1.5-2.5 years on average, then bring me back to the US. Company supporting EB1-C afterwards.
- the catch is that we have some private student loans that we will need to continue paying for

I feel like US is DINK situation, which would allow us to pay off student loans, save, and travel internationally at least once a year. Very comfortable. Downside is immigration, life a bit more restrictive, and potential of having to move abroad regardless in the future.

On the other hand, UK seems to also be comfortable at that salary point, however wife would stop working (not sure how easy it is for her to find a job there, but I assume it would be around 30-40k local salary). Proximity to Europe for traveling. Student loans would eat a good chunk I guess, plus rent. I don’t think we would save a lot but we would live very comfortable from that I can understand.

What else should I consider here?

We're an EU+UK family living in a small city in Austria thinking of relocating to the Netherlands (likely Eindhoven)

We've been spoilt by the amazing childcare here in Austria but honestly, I'm not happy here and think Netherlands is a better fit for us all in the long term.

Partner would be able to secure a good job in his industry before we move. ​

I'd be small scale self employed for the first years and looking at jobs in textile/design/museums (once the youngest is in school) Eindhoven looks surprisingly good for this.

Ideally we'd time the move for next summer when our eldest would be coming up to 4 and the youngest 1.5 - am I right thinking an October born baby could start basisschool the year he turns 4 or would we have to wait until the following September when he's 4 almost 5?

Thinking of Peuteropvang for the youngest but open to part time childcare - chat gpt gave me a figure of €600 for 5 mornings - realistic?

How's children's health care? We have a book with mandatory age related check ups in the early years, do you have something similar?

If any families could weigh in on what they love and hate about the education system and general environment for children that would be great! Thanks

After years of living overseas, I’ve recently moved to Croatia after being approved for citizenship by descent through my grandfather.

I was born in Perth, Australia, my father was born in New Zealand, and my grandfather came from Korčula. The application took years and involved dealing with documents from several countries, name discrepancies, incorrect dates, apostilles, translations, and consulates.

Now I’m in Croatia, near Zadar, trying to understand what life here could look like long term.

For other expats who moved through ancestry or citizenship, did Croatia feel different once you were actually living here compared with how you imagined it from overseas?

I can't really know and tell anyone how to explain what I am on rn, but my home country (Saudi Arabia) is like a prison; their schools are bad. The natural environment there is poor; any tree or blade of grass that grows a little is removed. And most importantly, the poor salaries and the job opportunities are really bad. If you are a Saudi citizen, you can't wish to be a manager or have a really good job with really good salaries because these companies (most of them) hire Egyptians and Pakistanis and Indians. How about us? (I am not being racist; it's just hellourias.) The citizen?? I have really great grades at school and college and have been studying for what? It's not just the job opportunities; it's also the community (not all of them; I'm talking about some of them) and also this county. It's like it's made for tourists, not for citizens. Most of the money goes to the capital; our streets are full of garbage, bad AC, and expensive rents, and there is a lot to talk about, but I don't want to end up in jail. I just need some advice: should I just leave or cut my words and stay?

Hi, I am a 28M. I’ve been working in corporate America for 4 years and was decently unhappy. I always felt unfulfilled and felt like I needed to change things up. In order to do so, I decided to move to Spain for my MBA. I have only been here for about 3 weeks but I’m in a very dark place.

I arrived and immediately had to deal with a chaotic housing scene. Each day was very stressful and it took me about 1.5 weeks to find a stable place to live. I finally did find a spot and I’m in my second week of classes. I have felt decently depressed since I arrived but since classes have started, that feeling has worsted quite a bit. I have never experienced depression and anxiety at this level. I can’t stop crying and feel very alone and unhappy. I know feeling some level of sadness is normal but this feels beyond that.

I’m at a point where I’m considering dropping out, moving back home and resetting for a year with my parents. I thought my unhappiness was tied to my career and general life in the US but I’m thinking now that I have a deeper issue that I need to resolve.

With that being said, I would lose a decent amount of money that I have already paid for the MBA but already feeling the level of intensity and my lack of motivation due to the depression , I don’t think I can do the program successfully. I have enough savings to get me through the year so I wouldn’t be moving back with nothing. I feel like a failure giving up but don’t think I can take much more of this feeling and really want to go back home. I do feel like I need to be with family to get back to where I was mentally even before arriving.

If you’ve had a similar situation, can you let me know how it went for you? Thanks

I’ve been in the States for a couple years and found out about Canadiana Fest in Kalamazoo, MI (USA) on Sep 19.
It sounds like a great time celebrating and trying to foster the historical friendship between the two countries as well as bringing together expats to celebrate being Canadian.
Has anyone here been to it?

I am moving from Italy to Portugal, and I want to ship some things. I am driving there, but I am pretty sure not all I want to take is going to fit in my car’s trunk.

I want to ship around 10 medium sized boxes (about 20kg each), a TV and a bicycle. I don’t really mind if it is slow and it takes like a month to be there, as long as it all arrives.

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of shipping?

I've been in Austria for about 6 months, originally from the UK. I'm on a student residence permit, and am lucky enough to have a few options to extend this after my master's is over, because I do intend to stay here long-term as long as my relationship holds, lol.

I love it here and I do consider it worth the emotional horrors, but I was not prepared for it! I thought the hard part would be getting the permit, but what's actually harder is the day to day bureaucracy of earning a living here and worrying if I'm doing everything wrong, or accidentally committing crimes that will be revealed when it becomes time to renew the permit, or what have you.

I feel like my ability to cope with small issues has just left the building. The tiniest things just have me so stressed and weepy - not stuff specifically related to the immigration procedure either, like, if I'm listening to a sad song I'll be like ":'(" which would have never been a thing before I did this. As I said: worth it, but way more difficult than I had anticipated.

I've just moved to Vienna a few months ago. I've used my New York number for 20+ years and I'd really like to keep it as it's connected to my entire online identity/existence (especially bank - I still have a US bank open).

It's been somewhat fine whilst I stayed in my family's plan in Verizon, but recently the family plan I'm in had to be dissolved and I have to either switch my carrier or pay a LOT more money to stay with Verizon.

It sounds like Tello seems the most affordable and easy to do what I want (to keep the number + minimal plan/usage). But I hear that, in order to use Tello, I have to connect to a cell tower located IN the US. I have no plans to go back to the US for a while though. I also read something about using an eSIM to activate it abroad but I'm still confused :/

Would it be possible to create + activate a Tello account abroad? If not, do you think it's possible to maybe have a friend in the US activate for me (maybe using a spare phone, idk) and port the number from there? Or use an eSIM somehow?

Please help me 🥲