"Employer Not Required": Legal Pathways for Moving Abroad

4 months ago 8

For decades, the standard blueprint for moving abroad as a professional has looked more or less the same: get a job offer abroad, secure a visa through your employer, and then relocate under their sponsorship. But that path—while still valid—is no longer the only one.

In fact, it might not even be the best one anymore. In between layoffs and a craze around H1-B visas, software engineers can now think about alternative paths, like the ones I’ve been publishing for The Global Move.

This article here is the basic outline for my Employer Not Required series—a set of guides designed to show how it’s possible to relocate internationally without an employer sponsoring you. If you’re a software engineer or tech professional with some experience, this could be the moment you realize just how much freedom you actually have.

Let’s break it down.

The phrase can sound a bit bold—maybe even overly optimistic. But it’s not about never working for an employer again. It’s about decoupling your right to relocate from the need to have an employer in your destination country offering you a job before you move.

Sometimes, it means you already have an employer—but they’re remote and based elsewhere. Sometimes, it means you’re relocating independently to look for one later. And in some cases, you don’t need an employer at all to qualify for a visa—you qualify because you are the value.

What it boils down to is:

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To live and work abroad, you no longer have to find an employer who’s willing to sponsor you to relocate.

My first article, “If You Want to Relocate, Find a Remote Job First”, explains how working remotely can eventually grant you the freedom to move where you want—without your employer needing to be involved in the immigration process.

This is often done with the help of an Employer of Record (EOR), a third-party organization that legally employs you in your new country while allowing you to continue working for your original company. It’s a simple solution, but one that will depend on a good relationship with your current employer and a stable remote income. The other option is doing it through a Digital Nomad visa that countries like Spain, Canada, and Portugal offer.

For those already working remotely, this may be the most frictionless option. You’re not waiting for an immigration team to approve anything. You’re not betting on a company to fund your relocation. You just go.

It’s also a very good option for those working in fields like technology and software, where landing a remote job is relatively simple and fairly common.

Not everyone has a remote job they can take with them. That’s where job seeker visas come in.

As I mentioned in my “Job Seeker Visas: A Path to Relocate Without Employer Sponsorship” piece, some countries allow you to move there temporarily—even without a job—specifically to seek employment somewhere in the local market. These visas typically last between three and six months and are offered by countries like Germany, Austria, Sweden, Portugal, and the UAE.

So, the idea is you arrive legally with a job seeker visa, and while you’re there, you use that time to network, apply for jobs, and go to interviews in person. Before you even get there, you can do some prep—like checking out job boards, seeing which industries are hiring, and making a list of companies that are open to international, yet visa-holding, candidates.

Once you land a job, you can usually switch over to a regular work visa or a residence permit.

It’s an interesting option if you want to really get a feel for the country while job hunting—and especially if you’re someone who does better in face-to-face interviews than on Zoom.

But, if you go this route, make sure you’ve got enough savings to support yourself while you look for work. And just a heads-up—if you don’t land a job before your permit runs out, you’ll probably need to leave.

The third path is perhaps the most unexpected—and the one that gives you more independence.

Talent visas, as I explained in this article on independent relocation, allow you to move to a new country based on your professional reputation, achievements, and contributions to your field. These visas don’t require a job offer. They don’t require sponsorship, either. They require proof that you’re already exceptional at what you do. You can even get it because you’re great at singing (!).

Countries like the United States 🇺🇸 (O-1 Visa), the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 (Global Talent Visa), France 🇫🇷 (Talent Passport), and Australia 🇦🇺 (Global Talent Independent Visa) have all put together programs for professionals who meet this bar.

You’ll need documentation to prove you’re exceptional. That could include published work, conference talks, open-source contributions, awards, media mentions, or endorsements from reputable experts. In many cases, an active GitHub profile can matter just as much as a traditional degree.

The downside? It can be expensive, and you’ll cover all costs upfront. There’s also more uncertainty since you don’t have a job lined up yet. And most governments expect you to get a job in your current line of work. If you get the visa as a singer or musician, you ought to work in the London drama and arts scene and not as a machine learning engineer!

This idea—that you can relocate without an employer—feels like it’s only just now becoming truly visible.

It makes sense that software engineers would get creative and find ways to move to a new country. The traditional system is under stress. H-1B visas in the U.S. are politically fragile. Layoffs across tech are ongoing. Some companies have frozen hiring altogether, or are in no mood to sponsor international candidates due to budget constraints or uncertainty. Everyone wants to keep their cash runway as liquid as Warren Buffett’s portfolio.

So, waiting for a company to “choose” you as their visa candidate might be a dead end. But independent relocation puts the power back in your hands. You can act on your timeline. You can build a portfolio that speaks for itself. And you can move where you want to live, not just where someone else is willing to send you.

Each of these three routes offers a way to relocate without visa sponsorship. Which one is right for you depends on your current situation, career stage, and appetite for risk.

Some people will find that their remote job is their ticket. Others will want to pack a suitcase and job hunt in person. Still others will start building their profiles today with the goal of applying for a talent visa in a year.

The point is: you don’t have to wait for someone else to make the move possible. You can start now.

If you’re ready to go more in-depth, check out each article in the series:

And if you want to stay updated about paths to relocate, consider subscribing to The Global Move newsletter. Your next chapter might be closer than you think. I’m also publishing a curated list of relocation-friendly tech jobs each week.