Where I work (in Britain), there are *hundreds* of young degree qualified engineers from elsewhere in Europe (particularly former Warsaw Pact countries - Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Baltic states, but also many from France, Spain & Italy). Their salaries would be between £35k and £100k - admittedly this is electronics/software rather than mechanical engineering. I think many of the central/east europeans live pretty frugally because that's how they've grown up, rather than because of early retirement ambitions. They're often sending money home to parents, or to pay for family members' education etc. All of them speak English well enough to work here; I don't think employers in Britain expect to see language qualifications - they will talk to you and judge for themselves.