
Ask HN: How do I get a job abroad? - jgaxn
I am an American software engineer currently happily employed in the United States. I&#x27;m interested in potentially working in a different country when it&#x27;s time for my next career move in a couple of years. What kinds of things should I be doing to network or discover opportunities in other countries? What immigration issues should I be worried about?
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mthomasb
Check out [https://jobbatical.com/](https://jobbatical.com/). They help you
find ~12 month contracts with startups abroad, mostly Western Europe.

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jgaxn
Hey thanks! That looks like an extremely useful site.

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msurocks
Useful ?

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jgaxn
Yes. Looking at it, it has a listing of jobs in non-US countries looking
specifically for foreign (including US) workers in my field. At a glance I saw
multiple jobs that I would be interested in applying for.

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drakonka
I'm not sure what kind of relationship the US has with the country you are
hoping to move to, but in my case it went like this:

\- Ukrainian living in Australia on permanent residence Visa, eligible for
citizenship but hadn't bothered to get it. I wanted to move to Europe.

\- Went through the Australian citizenship application process. As an
Australian citizen I would be eligible for a working holiday visa.

\- (In the meantime) Saved up about a year's worth of living expenses from
running a business in Australia.

\- Also in the meantime spent a year locked away in my house building a small
portfolio of games. Freelancing meant I could work largely from home and set
my own hours.

\- Applied for a working holiday visa to Sweden. Received approval via email
in about 2 weeks.

\- Moved and started applying for jobs. Started work about 2 months later.

I did try to apply for jobs remotely but that didn't work out - though I had
prior experience in my chosen industry I was not senior or experienced enough
to justify a company relocating me from the other side of the world.
Physically being there and not scaring a company with the prospect moving
expenses and arrangements helped.

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msurocks
It's pretty tough .. I applied to more than 200 Plus companies in different
countries none of them even replied even though I had all the required skills.

Best option: Select where you want to go, save some money, find some companies
from that location and personal contacts there, Get a tourist VISA, go there
and talk personally.

Your success will depend on getting appointment while visiting and ability to
pursue your future employer for an Employee VISA.

Good luck..

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ddorian43
I just, like, applied online. Went on the job-boards of the country that I
wanted to go, created email-alerts on all of them, and applied to the one I
wanted in my email-inbox.

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FlopV
You find a gig?

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ddorian43
I got one job without needing to meet them. Another company invited for local
interviews, and I used the 4 days I was there to also interview at 2 other
companies that I was already interviewing on skype with and also got another
offer.

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dalerus
I work in international development. If you're looking for a career abroad and
interested in working on solving interesting problems, the development sector
is a good place to be. Pretty good pay, decent benefits, home leave, no issues
with immigration.

Devex.com has a decent listing of jobs and companies to work for.

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BjoernKW
Pretty much depends on the country you'd like to work in.

That said, highly skilled workers such as software engineers usually don't
face a lot of immigration issues.

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wprapido
do you at least have an idea where you'd like to move to?

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jgaxn
Europe, generally. England and France more specifically. Other first-world
countries (Australia, New Zealand) also considered.

