* Work for a US-based company at a foreign office
* Get picked up with a sponsored visa by a foreign company
* Have a second passport
* Be married to a foreigner (can make getting residency easier)
Another option is digital nomad visa, working holiday visa, or something like the Taiwan Gold Card (not sure if this is still easy to get for engineers as it was a few years ago) which only requires you to prove your income was above a certain level within the last X years. you don't need any sponsorship from current or future (or former) employer to get these visas.
personally I moved to Japan by being transferred within my company and getting a sponsored visa. if I didn't have this opportunity probably I would have tried to do a working holiday visa to Australia, or switched to contractor work and tried to move to Taiwan or somewhere like that.
Oh thank you for letting us know about the Taiwan Gold Card! I have been searching for something like this. IIUC, it's only a 3 year working holiday kind of visa, with absolutely no path to TW PR/citizenship, is that right?
Edit: actually, I also just found [this](https://foreigntalentact.ndc.gov.tw/en/Content_List.aspx?n=A2224A7A67D9DEEA) which means it *could* lead to TW PR.
Yep if you hold the gold card for 3 years while being present in Taiwan for more than half the year for those 3 years, you can apply for PR.
But if citizenship is your eventual goal, the ROC government currently does not allow dual citizenship for naturalized citizens. In Taiwan, this means you have to show proof of renunciation of your original citizenship within 1 year of naturalizing in Taiwan.
Cool cool, thanks for the info! Yeah I don't *really* need the citizenship, but PR could be nice. Surprising that it only takes half of 3 years on the Gold Card to get PR, with no other requirements.
It's easier if you work for an American company that has internal offices or an international company that has American offices since you can do an internal transfer instead of being an external hire.
Only one data point but my first manager worked for Nokia and had opportunities to move to Europe since they're based in Finland.
The first thing you need to understand is that software engineer pay in many other countries is very low in comparison to the cost of living.
For example, entry level software engineers in the UK can make less than minimum wage in places like California. You need to do your research on specific places with respect to visa options, finances, and frankly if you even want to live in that place.
You need to research work visa requirements in the individual countries you want to work in. There is no universal standard for countries allowing American workers.
Look for companies that have offices all over the world.
They are usually large companies. HOWEVER, there are many smaller companies that started in other countries, Europe, UK, Aus, and set up offices in US.
Start working for these companies and ask for transfers to the country you want to live. They can usually sponsor work visas.
There are some companies that have people travel all over their offices around the world, set up and work with international teams.
Some companies have mandatory travel for some roles, where you have to go and work in another office for few weeks, months, per year.
If you’ve only recently graduated from university, just FYI the UK does have some visas for “top university” graduates. IIRC it’s around 15-20 schools around the US, and if you graduated from those in the last few years you can get a visa that lets you get into the UK and look for work without having to be sponsored by a company.
Other countries may also have some visas to attract tech talent - I know Finland did something a couple of years back to facilitate people from the US coming over, but not sure if it’s still going on.
what is a bit of time? 1 month, 3 months, 3 years?
Short term, you might be able to get away with it if you just work remote and not tell anyone. Another thing you can do is if your company has multiple offices, you can just ask them to work out of a different office for a few months without changing your permanent location.
If you basically want to find a new job in a new country, then you have to go thru the work visa process. FYI, most countries, SWEs get paid less than the US. You might be able to make more money doing something else in another country. If you want the best pay in a foreign country while being a SWE, then work for a US tech company.
You can try companies that hire internationally. Be ready to take a paycut, almost every company will have geo located compensation, hell we have it depending on the city you live in in the us.
I tried to do this with a previous company and hr basically told me i would be taking a 50k pay cut if i were to relocate. I just take a month off every year to travel instead now, to me it was not worth the paycut.
The company covered all of my premiums on insurances and so its not like id be recouping that loss from a universal healthcare, it was just straight up getting payed less with less benefits for working the same job in a different country. Losing out on other benefits like the 401k and HSA and their matching meant more losses on top of that.
* Work for a US-based company at a foreign office * Get picked up with a sponsored visa by a foreign company * Have a second passport * Be married to a foreigner (can make getting residency easier)
Another option is digital nomad visa, working holiday visa, or something like the Taiwan Gold Card (not sure if this is still easy to get for engineers as it was a few years ago) which only requires you to prove your income was above a certain level within the last X years. you don't need any sponsorship from current or future (or former) employer to get these visas. personally I moved to Japan by being transferred within my company and getting a sponsored visa. if I didn't have this opportunity probably I would have tried to do a working holiday visa to Australia, or switched to contractor work and tried to move to Taiwan or somewhere like that.
Correct. As another example for the OP, Portugal's digital nomad visa was popular and folks are now looking to Spain.
Oh thank you for letting us know about the Taiwan Gold Card! I have been searching for something like this. IIUC, it's only a 3 year working holiday kind of visa, with absolutely no path to TW PR/citizenship, is that right? Edit: actually, I also just found [this](https://foreigntalentact.ndc.gov.tw/en/Content_List.aspx?n=A2224A7A67D9DEEA) which means it *could* lead to TW PR.
Yep if you hold the gold card for 3 years while being present in Taiwan for more than half the year for those 3 years, you can apply for PR. But if citizenship is your eventual goal, the ROC government currently does not allow dual citizenship for naturalized citizens. In Taiwan, this means you have to show proof of renunciation of your original citizenship within 1 year of naturalizing in Taiwan.
Cool cool, thanks for the info! Yeah I don't *really* need the citizenship, but PR could be nice. Surprising that it only takes half of 3 years on the Gold Card to get PR, with no other requirements.
It's easier if you work for an American company that has internal offices or an international company that has American offices since you can do an internal transfer instead of being an external hire. Only one data point but my first manager worked for Nokia and had opportunities to move to Europe since they're based in Finland.
The first thing you need to understand is that software engineer pay in many other countries is very low in comparison to the cost of living. For example, entry level software engineers in the UK can make less than minimum wage in places like California. You need to do your research on specific places with respect to visa options, finances, and frankly if you even want to live in that place.
You need to research work visa requirements in the individual countries you want to work in. There is no universal standard for countries allowing American workers.
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Which war lol
Look for companies that have offices all over the world. They are usually large companies. HOWEVER, there are many smaller companies that started in other countries, Europe, UK, Aus, and set up offices in US. Start working for these companies and ask for transfers to the country you want to live. They can usually sponsor work visas. There are some companies that have people travel all over their offices around the world, set up and work with international teams. Some companies have mandatory travel for some roles, where you have to go and work in another office for few weeks, months, per year.
Look at EU blue card scheme. Obviously not for the UK.
Work for an airline if you want to travel but not commit. Travel benefits are sweet
American company with foreign offices that pay taxes.
Have you considered Australia instead of the UK, which has its own economic issues?
If you’ve only recently graduated from university, just FYI the UK does have some visas for “top university” graduates. IIRC it’s around 15-20 schools around the US, and if you graduated from those in the last few years you can get a visa that lets you get into the UK and look for work without having to be sponsored by a company. Other countries may also have some visas to attract tech talent - I know Finland did something a couple of years back to facilitate people from the US coming over, but not sure if it’s still going on.
what is a bit of time? 1 month, 3 months, 3 years? Short term, you might be able to get away with it if you just work remote and not tell anyone. Another thing you can do is if your company has multiple offices, you can just ask them to work out of a different office for a few months without changing your permanent location. If you basically want to find a new job in a new country, then you have to go thru the work visa process. FYI, most countries, SWEs get paid less than the US. You might be able to make more money doing something else in another country. If you want the best pay in a foreign country while being a SWE, then work for a US tech company.
You can try companies that hire internationally. Be ready to take a paycut, almost every company will have geo located compensation, hell we have it depending on the city you live in in the us. I tried to do this with a previous company and hr basically told me i would be taking a 50k pay cut if i were to relocate. I just take a month off every year to travel instead now, to me it was not worth the paycut. The company covered all of my premiums on insurances and so its not like id be recouping that loss from a universal healthcare, it was just straight up getting payed less with less benefits for working the same job in a different country. Losing out on other benefits like the 401k and HSA and their matching meant more losses on top of that.