If you want to move to a country in Europe for school/job, what are the necessary steps to be able to do it?

Question

What would be the necessarily steps to move to A European country from the U.S.?

Answer 1

School is relatively easy - you'll need to get a visa for education. There's a link below for visas here in Italy, and you can find similar information for other countries by going to their embassy or consulate website.

If you want to work here, it's much more difficult. In general in Europe, and in particular here in Italy, you have to have a job lined up in order to get a work visa before you move here from the US, Canada, Australia, or other non-EU country. You can only stay for 90 days without some type of visa (work, student, ...). You cannot apply for the visa while you're here and you'll need the proper paperwork from the company. However, you could come over as a tourist for up to 90 days without a visa and look for work. Then you'd have to go back to the US or where ever and wait for the paperwork for a visa to be processed. If you're coming from the US, you'll also have to have skills that can't easily be duplicated here. That will mean a degree in a marketable field. There are lots of different kinds of permessos though - for work as a dependent of a company, self employment, seasonal work, or working vacation. http://www.esteri.it/visti/index_eng.asp... People from the EU have the right to move and work freely within the EU, so they will have priority for jobs.

A good strating point for planning this type of move is to do some research on the expat websites for the countries you're interested in. Since you're already an expat in Australia, you may be familiar with this type of site. These are sites for expats in Italy with general info on living and working here:

http://www.us-expatriate-handbook.com/

http://www.expatsinitaly.com/

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listing...

http://www.jobonline.it/

http://italy.jobs.com/

There are similar sites for other countries - just search for the name of the country and "expat". a few examples:

http://www.expats.cz/

http://www.expatica.com/nl/main.html

http://www.expats.org.uk/countryinfo/fra...

http://www.expatexchange.com/net.cfm?net...

http://www.spainexpat.com/

http://www.expatica.com/

http://www.escapeartist.com/

The trick is finding a job that pays enough that you can support yourself. I was fortunate enough to move here through my existing job. There are not a huge number of available jobs right now, and people from the EU will have preference. I already had a job here and the paperwork took 8 months.

As an American expat, you'll have to file tax returns both here and in the US. You should also be aware that it's more expensive to live here than in the US. For example, gas is roughly equivalent to $10 per gallon now.