In my previous article, I wrote that the relocation game has changed. It ended up being featured on the front page of Hacker News for a while and got 200K+ views on Reddit.
That naturally leads to the next question:
If today’s relocation market works differently, how should you actually search for a job abroad?
That’s probably the question I received most often after publishing that article.
I don’t think there’s one perfect website that solves the problem. If there were, I’d simply send everyone there.
Instead, I think relocation today is much more about building the right search strategy than finding another job board. Over the years, I’ve seen people relocate in many different ways, and that’s perhaps the biggest lesson I’ve learned: there isn’t one path.
If I were starting my relocation journey today, this is exactly how I’d approach it.
I’d start by saving myself time.
I’m slightly biased here because this is exactly why we built The Global Move. I genuinely believe it’s one of the best hand-curated resources for relocation job opportunities on the internet today. Over the last year and a half, my team and I have manually reviewed and published more than 7,000 relocation-friendly jobs here on Substack.
The point isn’t that you have to use our archive. The point is that somebody has already done the filtering for you.
Instead of spending hours going through thousands of vacancies on large job boards trying to find the ones that offer relocation, I’d rather spend that time preparing better applications, researching companies, or improving my LinkedIn profile.
The same applies to any high-quality curated resource. Whether it’s a newsletter, a niche job board, or a community, someone has already spent time separating the signal from the noise.
Next, I’d stop searching globally.
Instead, I’d choose two or three countries where I genuinely want to live and go much deeper into those markets.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll be much more focused and informed. You’ll naturally discover local English-speaking job boards such as Arbeitnow, MeetFrank, Landing.Jobs, Welcome to the Jungle, TokyoDev, Japan Dev, SwissDevJobs, and many others, as well as international recruitment agencies, communities and newsletters.
You’ll also start understanding not only how hiring works, but also work visas, salaries, and many other local details. Which companies hire internationally. Which recruitment agencies specialise in tech. Which communities are active. Which conferences people attend.
Recruiters notice when you explain why you genuinely want to move to their city, not just their country. On the other hand, writing something like “I’m willing to relocate anywhere in Europe” can easily become a red flag. It may suggest that your main goal is to leave your current country rather than build a life in a specific place.
It’s much easier to understand one market well than twenty markets poorly.
I also think this approach makes networking much more natural. Instead of trying to build connections all over the world, you start building relationships in the places where you actually want to live.
I’d build a watchlist of companies that regularly hire internationally.
Instead of opening a job board every morning, I’d focus on companies that have a proven history of hiring people from abroad and follow them over time.
There are many ways to find those companies. We recently published a list of more than 170 companies with a history of hiring internationally. You can also use public resources like the UK Register of Licensed Sponsors, the official Dutch IND recognised sponsors list, H-1B visa sponsor databases in the US (for example, H1BGrader), LinkedIn, or simply search for relocation stories from engineers who’ve already made the move.
Once you’ve built that list, keep following those companies. Read about what they’re building, check their career pages from time to time, and pay attention to company news.
One mistake I see quite often is people applying only for jobs that explicitly mention visa sponsorship or relocation support. I think that’s too limiting.
At the same time, I wouldn’t suggest applying for every vacancy either. If a job description is written entirely in German or Swedish, or it clearly says that you already need to have the legal right to work in that country, I’d probably move on.
Some companies don’t advertise relocation even though they’re willing to relocate the right candidate. Sometimes it’s because of local regulations. Sometimes it’s just how they write their job descriptions.
For example, in Ireland, employers may need to first advertise a role to the local and EEA market before they can hire someone from outside the EEA. As a result, some vacancies may not mention relocation even though relocation may still be possible.
If you genuinely believe you’re a great fit, don’t automatically skip the opportunity just because relocation isn’t mentioned.
The same idea applies to large international companies like Meta, Google, Uber, Stripe and many others.
They don’t usually advertise themselves as relocation-friendly companies because they don’t need to. But they already have the legal processes, budgets, and experience needed to relocate people from all over the world.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that these companies can always make exceptions for exceptional candidates. Even if a particular role doesn’t mention relocation or visa sponsorship, I’d still apply if I genuinely believed I was a great fit.
The worst thing that can happen is receiving a rejection. The best thing that can happen is finding a company that already knows exactly how to relocate international talent.
That said, I definitely wouldn’t build my entire strategy around Big Tech. Competition is incredibly strong. But I also wouldn’t remove those companies from my list just because they don’t explicitly say they’re hiring internationally.
Another strategy I’d use is focusing on companies where I know I can add the most value.
One of the easiest places to start is with competitors of your current employer. They’re often solving similar business problems, using similar technologies, and looking for people who already understand their domain.
The idea is to move beyond simply searching for relocation-friendly companies.
Instead, look for companies where your previous experience becomes a real competitive advantage.
I’d also approach those companies differently. Something along the lines of: “I know you don’t hire many people from abroad, but I think this could be a good exception, and here’s why…” Then explain why your experience is relevant, what problems you’ve already solved, and why you believe you can add value to their team.
It’s a much stronger position than simply saying, “I’m looking for relocation.”
I also think referrals have become even more valuable over the last few years.
Companies receive hundreds, sometimes thousands, of applications for a single role. It’s only natural that a recommendation from someone they already trust receives more attention than another anonymous application.
At the same time, I don’t think referrals are something you get from sending a random LinkedIn message asking a stranger to recommend you.
Most referrals are built on trust.
That trust can come from many places. Previous colleagues. Open-source projects. Technical communities. Speaking at conferences.
The good news is that referrals can sometimes open doors that wouldn’t exist otherwise. Even if a company doesn’t regularly hire internationally, an internal recommendation may encourage them to take a closer look at your application.
I won’t pretend there’s a simple formula for getting referrals. There isn’t. But if you’re planning your relocation over the next year or two, I think building genuine relationships in your professional community is one of the best long-term investments you can make.
I still think LinkedIn is one of the most valuable tools for relocation, but probably not for the reason most people think.
Of course, you can apply for jobs there, but I usually prefer applying through the company’s own careers page whenever possible.
For me, LinkedIn is much more than a job board.
Make sure you’ve enabled the “Open to Work” setting without the green profile photo frame and selected the countries where you’d like to work. Recruiters across various tech companies still spend a significant amount of time searching LinkedIn using Boolean searches and specialised sourcing tools. If your profile is invisible, those opportunities never have a chance to find you.
I also use LinkedIn as a research tool. Before applying, I look at how many international employees already work at the company. I check whether there are people from my home country, because they’re often the best people to talk to about what it’s really like to work there. It also gives you a good sense of whether the company is genuinely international or mainly hires locally.
LinkedIn is also one of the best places to monitor companies over time. Follow recruiters, hiring managers, and engineering leaders. You’ll often learn about hiring plans long before a vacancy appears on a job board.
Another strategy I’d seriously consider is joining a company with offices in multiple countries.
Large international companies often have internal mobility programmes that make relocating much easier once you’ve already built trust inside the organisation.
For example, if your long-term goal is the United States, moving on an L-1 visa after spending a year in one of the company’s international offices is often a much more predictable path than hoping to win the H-1B lottery.
The same idea applies in Europe and many other parts of the world. Sometimes the easiest way to relocate isn’t changing employers. It’s changing offices.
One thing I’ve noticed over the last couple of years is that relocation often takes much longer than people expect. We’ve had subscribers who found a job within a few months, and others who needed almost two years.
That’s why I’d think beyond my next application.
Maybe the best move today isn’t relocating immediately. Maybe it’s joining an excellent startup, working on AI infrastructure, distributed systems, or another area that’s becoming increasingly valuable internationally. A year or two later, your profile may look very different to employers abroad.
The same applies to remote work. Finding a remote job with a company based in your target country can also become a stepping stone. Once you’ve established yourself as a valuable employee, discussing relocation or using an Employer of Record may become a much easier conversation than asking a company to relocate someone they’ve never worked with before.
Sometimes the shortest path isn’t the most direct one.
One strategy I don’t see discussed very often is trying to avoid the standard path altogether.
Today, almost everyone follows the same process. They find a vacancy, tailor their resume with AI, submit the application through the ATS, and wait.
Thousands of other candidates are doing exactly the same thing.
I’d still apply through the official process, but I wouldn’t rely on it as my only way into a company.
Instead, I’d look for non-linear ways to get noticed.
Maybe it’s connecting with the hiring manager. Maybe it’s contributing to one of the company’s open-source projects. Maybe it’s building a small prototype using their product and sharing your ideas with the team. Maybe it’s writing about a technical problem they’re trying to solve. The exact approach matters less than finding another reason for someone inside the company to notice you.
There isn’t a formula for this, and every company is different.
The goal isn’t to bypass the hiring process. The goal is to create another opportunity for someone inside the company to notice you before your application becomes just another resume in a queue.
None of these ideas guarantees you’ll relocate.
The market is simply too competitive for anyone to promise that.
What they do is improve your odds.
If I had to leave you with one final thought, it would be this: don’t look for one magical website, one perfect strategy, or one AI tool that will suddenly get you a relocation offer.
Build your own system instead.
Use curated resources to save time. Focus on a small number of countries. Follow companies, not just vacancies. Invest in your LinkedIn profile. Build genuine relationships. Think long-term. And don’t be afraid to use a non-linear path when everyone else is following the same one.
None of these strategies is revolutionary on its own. But together, they put you in a much stronger position than simply sending another hundred applications.
I genuinely hope this article saves you some time, helps you discover opportunities you wouldn’t have found otherwise, and gives you a few ideas worth trying.
Good luck.