Yes, learning about visa/work permits is a lengthy process. If you want me to explain to you the UK one feel free to drop me a line at mbesto AT gmail.
My company (IT consulting company, mainly in ERP tech) may have something...I don't know specifically but they have their hands in everything from online MMO to betting website development to big ERP tech. We also have a partner recruiting company, could put you in contact there as well.
Glad to hear you want to get intl experience. I can't recommend it enough. There are some restrictions I have to deal with as foreigner but otherwise it's a great way to see the world.
sidenote - literally just started learning Python myself and love it so far.
Countries like France, Spain, Italy, etc are very difficult for a non-native speaker.
Getting a visa in the UK is quite difficult (especially because recent administration). Not sure about the other areas but I imagine its quite easy. My german stay was through a large corporation (40K+ employees) and my current work I had the difficulty of getting a tier 1 uk visa on my own.
What programming languages and business areas are you interested in?
I'm an America who lives in the UK and I have yet to use any sort of cable/sat provider since moving here.
Setup:
Acer Aspire Revo - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225756 £300
+ Loaded with Boxee
+ Proxied to an old laptop at my parents house in the US
Services I use:
1. NFL overseas Gamepass package (~$250 for whole season) - every game in full HD (yes literally just as good as watching it on cable HDTV...NO JOKE)
2. Hulu (via proxy)
3. Netflix (via proxy)
4. BBC (awesome programming) -> BBC iPlayer
So you want to continue to read content from a media outlet that has an agenda from a particular political perspective AND you consider this an important part of your day.
I'm sorry but I have to respectfully disagree with your methods of thinking. Doesn't this make you blind to anything else out there?
I personally would find it much harder to start a company in Germany than the US for example. How does one deal with the "social" laws / customs? IIRC, the Germany company (40,000+ employees) I used to work for had the following rules/laws:
- 12 month maternity leave
- 32 vacation days per year
- 6 month paid after termination (so for example, if you fired someone you had to pay them for 6 months)
I'm not sure if these are government regulated or just were forced from the works council. Therefore I could foresee well-funded start-ups in Germany to be quite successful but I can't see bootstrapped-type organizations popping up as frequent as they do in the US.
Seeing as I am 6hrs ahead of them I'm not really concerned about bandwidth stealing of theirs ;)