MOving and living abroad?

Question

i don't want to live in the united states anymore...there is no question about that, i thought about moving to europe..even israel since i just came back and i absolutely fell in love with it. But how do i do it?? i don't have a college degree, i'm 25, single, could i make it in a place say spain (i speak spanish) or israel ( ihave friends there), i've heard many stories about working permits being very hard to obtain...or should i just settle and stay here..even though i don't want to....what could i do..any advice? experience??

Answer 1

Go to the bookstore and get a magazine called "Transitions Abroad"  It has articles and information about moving, jobs and living abroad.

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/

Answer 2

Not having a degree will severely limit your job opportunities here, especially if you aren't fluent in the local language.

If you're from outside the EU, you can't legally work here without a visa that allows it. If you were from Canada or Australia, there's a working holiday visa available here in Italy and some other places in Europe, but it's not available to citizens of the US (because the US doesn't offer the same opportunity). The normal work visas are a long process. You can check visa requirements at the Italian Ministry website: http://www.esteri.it/visti/home_eng.asp. There will be other sites for each of the countries.

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. There's also a visa available for a working vacation. 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

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.expat-blog.com/en/directory/e...

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

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.escapeartist.com/embassy33/mo...

http://www.expatica.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. Available funds will determine what's available to you in the way of housing. Travel is pretty easy here and still not too expensive although prices have gone up a lot in recent months just like everywhere else.

If you are 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.

Answer 3

Yeah, the work visa thing makes things really difficult.  And so is the fact that there's a big recession going on right now in Spain...no jobs to be had, either.  

Other than that, you should be golden!

I don't know anything about Israel.  Are you Jewish?  You can make Aliyah.  There's some rule about how they have to accept you if you are.  If not, you might run up against the same thing...always tons of educated, skilled workers immigrating, and needing to take jobs cleaning, because when you have a country populated by engineers, SOMEONE has to do the dirty work!