Another reason I am looking to the Eastern sections of southern Europe is the difficulties I've encountered in my own country due to ethic origin, tbh. Being a large fellow of Slavic ancestry, I'm conscious of the fact that some folks, and folks from some ethnic groups, treat me a bit differently. (A few anecdotes there.) There is no cognitive dissonance for them in thinking that a large Pole should be facing the sort of difficulties I've been facing, regardless of the degrees, experience, and work ethic.
Not a proximate cause, but certainly a but/for cause.
The ideal would of course be a Jeffersonian democracy blind to ethnicity, but as that doesn't yet exist (despite my best, usually unconscious and ingenuous efforts), when I steer my ship, I should steer it to familiar nations.