u/Confident-Reason4781

Hi guys,

German/EU citizen, final-year CS Master's, no US work history. Want to end up working in the US long-term. Deciding between two offers, deadline soon.

Offer A — EU big-tech, SWE, day-1 FTE (Dublin)

• ~€70K base + ~$20K stock (4–5yr vest, schedule TBC) + 0–20% bonus
• ~$8K relocation lump sum
• No visa needed (EU citizen)
• Lower ceiling, basically zero variance

Offer B — US big-tech, NYC (12-month structured intern→FTE program)

• ~$125K/yr under J-1 visa
• FTE conversion depends on H-1B lottery (~30% odds) → Oct 2027 NYC start
• Fallback if H-1B doesn't clear: FTE at the company's European office → L-1 transfer back to the US after ~1yr
• Higher ceiling if the pathway clears, multi-stage variance

My read: COL-adjusted, year 1 is roughly a wash as NYC landing costs can eat the headline cash advantage. The real question is the EU offer's day-1 certainty vs the US offer's higher ceiling that's gated behind a visa lottery. My gut leans US (I want to be there long-term and prefer the NYC culture), so I'm trying to stress-test that bias.

Questions for an EU audience specifically:

• Anyone gone from EU big-tech → US via an internal L-1 transfer? Realistic in 2–3 years, or does it rarely materialize?
• The London → L-1 fallback: has anyone actually seen the EU-bridge-to-US route work?
• EU grads who took a US opportunity over a stable EU FTE, regrets either way?
• Am I underweighting how good a day-1 EU FTE actually is, given how much harder the US path keeps getting?

Honest takes welcome!