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Comment by ghaff | Hacker News Reader

This is far more sensible advice than all the "there ought to be a law" (in which jurisdiction?) comments on this thread and probably also more realistic than trying to figure out how to protect yourself 100% against any eventuality.

Even without moving internationally, managers change, executives decide to cancel projects or cut back headcount, etc. Sure, that can happen a year down the road too. But if something is going to be a big move, it makes sense to find ways to at least reduce the harm if it turns out there really wasn't a meeting of the minds or circumstances changed.

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I mean, the advice is "use a giant pile of money to set up and maintain a dual-home situation until you are satisfied that the job will pan out."

Laws are supposed to protect people who don't have the resources to proactively hedge against stuff like this.

Anyone who owns a house is going to have to "set up a dual home situation" I think. Houses don't sell overnight - and in this case I got an offer the day it went on the market. Still took almost a month to close.

If you're one of the millions of Americans 2-3 missed paychecks from poverty, then yes, it can be difficult. Generally speaking though, this is not the crowd considering international moves for jobs, especially within this forum.

A situation can "not pan out" in lots of ways that laws can't/won't protect against. Pretty much no law is going to handle "This job/place isn't like I thought it was going to be and I want to pull the plug before we have to commit" absent gross misrepresentation and probably getting lawyers involved. The parent specifically used the phrase "once she felt good about the position."

Maybe you cross your fingers and hope for the best or you use resources you have to hedge things. (Where hedging implies spending some upside to guard against serious downside.)

> in which jurisdiction?

It'd be the country of employment, but that presents a huge enforcement problem for people like this. Navigating your own country's legal system is hard enough, but another country's?

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