Living and Working Abroad Aug 16th

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When people want to improve their standard of living, one of the obvious options is to live or work abroad. The economy and many companies are becoming ever more global. Depending on where you want to go, who you work for, and the length of time you plan to stay; working abroad is a process, so let’s look at it closely. 

The first option you have if you want to study or work abroad is hiring the services of an agency or program provider. This institution or organization offers work or education abroad program services. A program provider may be a college, a university, a non-profit organization, a for-profit business, or a consortium that will help by giving you information or even managing your paperwork and making arrangements for you to move abroad in exchange for a payment.

The second most popular option is to land a job as an English teacher. English is quickly becoming the lingua franca in the world and there is more demand than ever for people who want to teach English as a second language. The requirements are: good command of the language, a teacher’s certification and at least a year of teaching experience.   

A more risky option is to move abroad and then find a job once you are in the country you want to live in. It might be difficult at the beginning, but things look a lot different once you establish yourself in a new country. This situation works better when you have family or friends in the target country because they could help you get started. 

Getting a working holiday visa could give you a taste of what it is like to live abroad. Most countries give you up to two years to work on this type of visa and they don’t give you restrictions as to where in the target country you can travel. Most of these visas have an age limit, between 18 and 35 years old though. 

If you are tight on money, you could work in exchange for your room and board. This means that the job you do would come with a bedroom and meals, so all you have to worry about is having enough money for traveling expenses. Don’t expect a 5 star hotel bedroom though. 

You can also volunteer. There are many countries that would be glad to give you a visa counting on you to help their communities without receiving a payment. This is an opportunity for you to work doing something that you find meaningful and you could also gain experience problem solving and communicating with people from other cultures. 

Finally, how would you like to become a nomad entrepreneur? Now that the internet and globalization are breaking geographical barriers, you could land a job as a freelancer, or create an online business that you can manage from anywhere in the world so long as you have access to the world wide web.