International Tech Job Search Handbook

Relocation to a foreign country for work can be very exciting and lead to unique opportunities that couldn't be accessed in your home country. At the same time, it's a real challenge - I know it firsthand. Once you've made the decision to relocate, the questions start to flood your mind:

• How do I prepare my resume to apply for jobs abroad?
• Where can I find companies that are open to hiring international talent?
• What relocation assistance is typically provided?
• How do I get a work visa?

And the list goes on!

Hopefully, this handbook will provide you with the guidance you need. Topics covered include resume preparation, job search, salary negotiation, relocation packages, and more.

📝 Resume preparation

A well-written and concise resume is an essential ingredient of a successful job hunt. Here's a list of articles, resources & tools to help you:

Articles:

• Ways to upgrade that should lead to getting more job interviews
• How to write an effective developer resume: Advice from a hiring manager
• 🎥 The resume that got me into Google and Bloomberg (software engineer resume tips)
• How to prepare a strong tech resume

Tools:

• 🔨 hello.cv for building a powerful online presence. Create subdomains like blog.yourname.cv to share your story or link yourname.cv directly to your LinkedIn profile or portfolio.
• 🔨 Enhancv's Resume Builder
• 🔨 A free and fast AI Resume Checker for instant resume feedback
• 🔨 FlowCV for resume templates

👀 Job search (useful reads)

• Effective search tactics for developer jobs
• How to find global, remote-from-anywere jobs
• Reasons why you're not hearing back about jobs
• 7 basic mistakes that'll slow down any job search - and how to fix them all today
• The best day and time to apply for a job online
• When (and when not) to include a cover letter
• How to write a cover letter as a software developer (cover letter included)
• How Boolean searching can help your international job hunt

🔖 Niche job boards that have a filter for relocation

• Relocate.me: The site is built around and focused on tech jobs that offer relocation.
• Wellfound (formerly AngelList): If you go to the Filters tab, you will find a section named "Immigration + Network." There is an option to "only show companies that can sponsor a visa." Tick the box.
• Landing.Jobs: The main country that they feature is Portugal, but you can find tech jobs in other parts of Europe as well. When searching for jobs, make sure to select the gilter for "Visa & work permit."
• SwissDevJobs: For those looking to move to Switzerland, SwissDev Jobs is a great place to turn. The website allows you to easily locate developer jobs anywhere in Switzerland. In order to filter it to only jobs with relocation, you simply need to check the filter box for "Visa sponsorship for non-EU residents."
• TokyoDev: The site is dedicated to helping international developers start and grow their career in Japan. Among other things, you will find a list of job offerings from local employers that are open to hiring foreign, English-speaking techies.
• Japan Dev: A hand-curated job board for tech roles in Japan.
• Arbeitnow: Europe-based positions with relocation assistance/visa sponsorship & salary info.

🔖 The Global Move (Substack)

I started The Global Move in early 2025 as a newsletter and supportive community for people looking for international (tech) jobs.

Today, it’s almost 10,000 members strong, and each Thursday I share a handpicked list of ~100 jobs (primarily tech roles) that offer visa/relocation assistance. As a result, there’s now an archive of 5,000+ relocation-friendly tech jobs, which continues to grow every week.

Starting in January 2026, every weekly job list also includes remote-from-anywhere tech roles, alongside relocation-friendly positions.

Note: Access to the weekly job lists and the full archive is available with a paid subscription.

🔖 Other places to check during the search

• "Who's hiring?" monthly thread on Hacker News (search for job offerings with the keyword “visa”)
• @Relocateme Telegram channel with daily actual job alerts
• Australian companies providing work visa sponsorship
• Big list of local job boards
• LinkedIn: When searching, you should add "relocation," "visa support," or "visa sponsorship" into the keywords tab, and select the city/country/region that's your choice for relocation. Here's an example.

Note: You can apply the same approach - typing "relocation" followed by your target job title in the search bar - to other sites (e.g., Indeed or Glassdoor) that, like LinkedIn, have no filter for relocation. Of course, you will find some jobs that don't offer relocation or are not quite what you are looking for, but overall using relevant keywords does a good job at filtering them out.

🔖 International recruitment agencies

• Agile Search. Matches developers from all over the world with the best job opportunities and companies in the Nordics.
• Global {M} – jobs with European tech companies
• Nederlia – tech & product roles at starups and scaleups in Europe
• Relocateme.eu – software engineer jobs with European startups and well-established tech companies
• Toughbyte – dev job opportunities in EU countries
• Zero to One Search – IT jobs in Germany

🔖 Career accelerators

• The Global Move: The Global Move is your shortcut to landing a tech job with visa and relocation support. Each week, we handpick hundreds of job opportunities, bring in recruiters and hiring managers for insider insights, and provide expert guidance on resumes and interviews.
• Outtalent: A career accelerator dedicated to helping software engineers land jobs at top global companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon. They provide coaching, interview prep, and job offer negotiation support. Here’s a Substack post explaining in detail how Outtalent works, who it’s actually for, how to join, and what it costs.

🏢 Companies hiring internationally

🗣️ Job interviews

• Screening interview tips
• How to prepare for a technical interview
• Tech interview handbook: Free curated interview preparation materials for busy engineers.
• The best responses to “Are you willing to relocate?” with examples
• 🎥 How to prepare for behavioral interviews
• 🔨 interviewing.io: Anonymous technical mock interviews with engineers from Google, Facebook, and other top companies.
• 🔨 LeetCode: A great place to practice solving coding problems and prepare for technical interviews.
• 🔨 Meet a Pro: An Airbnb-style mock interview platform. Get feedbacks from top FAANG interviewers.

💰 Compensation negotiation

• Considerations to make when negotiating your salary abroad
• TechPays: A tech salary comparison site focused on Europe.
• 🎥 5 mistakes you are making in negotiating your developer salary
• Relocation packages explained
• Relocation package examples
• How to negotiate a relocation package
• 🔨 Net salary & tax calculators: Australia | Austria | Belgium | Canada | Croatia | Cyprus | Czechia | Denmark | Estonia | Finland | France | Germany | Ireland | Japan | Luxembourg | Netherlands | New Zealand | Norway | Poland | Portugal | Singapore | Spain | Sweden | United Kingdom | United States

🗺 Work permits & visas

• 🌍 A guide to global visa options, permanent residence & citizenship pathways
• 🌍 The ultimate guide to work permits across Europe
• 🇪🇺 The best European countries for easy work visas
• 🇪🇺 EU Blue Card (essential information)
• 🇳🇱 Recognised sponsors of a Dutch Highly Skilled Migrant residence permit
• 🇬🇧 Everything you need to know about the UK Skilled Worker visa
• 🇬🇧 Licensed UK Skilled Worker visa sponsors
• 🇺🇸 Database of H1B visa sponsors
• 🇸🇬 An overview of Singapore immigration visa schemes
• 🇦🇺 How to migrate to Australia as a software engineer
• 🔨 Visadb.io to browse visas worldwide

✈️ Relocation (useful reads)

• How to decide whether to relocate for a job
• Tips for successful job relocation
• 🇳🇱 Moving to the Netherlands for a tech job
• Everything you need to know before moving to Berlin
• How to move to Berlin, step by step
• 🇨🇦 How to relocate to Canada
• 🇪🇸 How to relocate to Spain
• 🇯🇵 How to move to Japan from the United States
• 🇸🇮 Moving to Slovenia for a tech job | Slovenian coffee guide
• 🏘️ Finding housing: A collection of resources that will help you find housing in many countries, along with some basic info that you will need to know about the housing market in these places.

✈️ Relocation companies & helpful services for expats

• 🇺🇸 Manifest: An immigration law firm specializing in U.S. employment-based visas — EB-1, O-1, National Interest Waivers, and more. What makes them different is their process: you’re matched with an experienced attorney based on your specific case, receive dedicated 1:1 support, and can track your case every step of the way.
• 🌍 A. Univers Transit: A family-owned company with over 20 years of expertise in international moving and relocation services for individuals, families, and corporate clients. Their services include packing, transporting, and delivering household goods and personal belongings; housing searches; school search assistance for families relocating with children; and settling-in support, among others.
• 🇬🇧 Duncans of London: Specialises in providing luxury serviced apartments in the heart of London, catering to both long-term relocations and short-term leisure stays.
• 🇩🇪 Caselink: Provides relocation and immigration support in Germany, helping expats with visa applications, residence permits, local registration, and navigating German bureaucracy. By combining AI-powered automation with expert consultants, they make the process faster and easier to manage - from applications to settling in.
• 🇫🇷 EasyStart Relocation: Helps relocate to France by offering a seamless, all-inclusive approach to international moves. From visas and immigration to renting or purchasing property, setting up social security, and even tax advice.
• 🇩🇪 BARMER: One of Germany’s largest and most respected public health insurance providers, offering multilingual support, expedited social security number processing, and dedicated assistance tailored to the needs of expats.
• 🇩🇪 Wunderflats: Germany’s leading platform for temporary furnished rentals, offering verified, move-in-ready apartments for stays of one month or longer (primarily in major German cities).

💬 Expat stories

• Germany 🇩🇪 → Zurich, Switzerland 🇨🇭
• Ukraine 🇺🇦 → Tallinn, Estonia 🇪🇪
• Iran 🇮🇷 → London, UK 🇬🇧
• India 🇮🇳 → Tokyo, Japan 🇯🇵
• Lebanon 🇱🇧 → Milan, Italy 🇮🇹
• Brazil 🇧🇷 → Lisbon, Portugal 🇵🇹

🙌 Supporters

Shout out to the companies that help grow this resource and support global talent mobility:

Picnic is one of Europe’s fastest-growing tech companies, delivering fresh groceries to millions of customers in the Netherlands, Germany, and France. They’re hiring tech talent from around the world!

If you haven’t already, check out their open tech roles in Amsterdam:
Senior Java Developer, Java Developer, Tech Lead (Python), and many more.

🐙 Picnic on GitHub | 📝 Picnic’s Engineering Blog

Think your company belongs on this list? Shoot me a message at andrew [at] relocate.me.