I'm from a "3rd world country", I came to Belgium for a master's at the KU Leuven, I've been living here for 1.5 years, and I love it. However, I'm still shocked by how different the salary scales can be, in regard to the median wage. From now onwards, I will only talk about NET salary, after taxes.

My country's minimum wage is €220, and the median wage is around the same. However, I'm 30, I'm a lawyer, and my friends/colleagues currently working in my home country are making between €5,000 and €7,500. Yes; net. And yes, they're basically making from 22 to 34 times the median wage.

When I came to Europe (Belgium), I didn't know I had been living in one of the most unequal countries in the world, so I assumed people with my profile would also earn here 20 times the median age, which would be like €50,000 net x month, but obviously, that wasn't the case, by far.

On the contrary, here in Belgium almost everybody earns the same. I also checked on Statbel how a big percentage of the population starts making €1,500 net in their early 20s, and finish their careers making €2,500. To me, it's crazy to see that many people cannot even aspire to double their salaries after working for 40 years. For instance, only 7 years ago my friends were making €1,000 and now they're making 5-7 times that, in only 7 years.

Apart from that, since I'm a foreign lawyer, it'd probably take me years and years to study law in Belgium again, learn Dutch/French on a professional level, and pass the Bar of Brussels (where I live), which is not happening, meaning that I could only be a legal consultant, or work for a lobbying firm in Brussels or whatever, but still, I don't think I would make more than mmm €2,500 net? €2,800 net?

And finally, in my country, when you're making 30 times the average wage and you have a fancy career (let's say, lawyer from the best university in my country honours, advanced master's in Belgium, privileged family, etc) you obviously get a lot of prestige from society and you basically feel (and you're also treated) like the king of the world, while in Belgium, you're just a random brown immigrant begging to see if someone is willing to give you a job. I still remember how I applied for dozens of student jobs and I didn't even get a single interview, so I couldn't even earn €300 as a student. I also applied to clean floors, and they didn't even call me for an interview, and I thought to myself: "wait, in my country, I'm treated super well, I could probably be making thousands €€€ x month... why am I doing this to me?". And well, I guess I just wanted to try having a different life on a different continent, but I wasn't aware of how hard things were going to be.

Right now I'm about to finish my degree at the KUL and I'm not sure what to do next. I and my Belgian partner are both living here, but I guess we could also move abroad, somewhere/anywhere. However, I do appreciate how safe Belgium is, how polite and helpful people are, how beautiful its cities/countryside are, and how close to other nice countries it is.

I'd like to read stories from other people that chose to stay here, besides having the chance to make more abroad. Thank you!