This Swedish Jobs Web Site Is a Bit tvivelaktig (questionable)

This is not Simon Nordin

Note: there is a company in Australia named Swede Recruit. This post is not about that company. If you really want to get a job in Sweden, I explain the process here.

There are many people desperate to find work in other countries. There are, sadly, many others who are all too happy to take advantage of this. You'll find plenty of "we'll get you an overseas job" sites with dodgy credentials and it looks like there might be a new one in Sweden, apparently run by one "Simon Nordin, CEO".

It seems "Ecothegeek" on Reddit had his CV on Eures, the European job portal, and a company contacted him saying that they'd like to find him a job in Sweden for the low price of €195. Ecothegeek was a bit concerned and asked about them on Reddit's /r/IWantOut community. Something didn't seem quite right to me, so I started digging.

Called swederecruit dot com (not linking to avoid giving them traffic) and claiming on their Web site to have been doing business since 1998, they registered their domain a few days ago and launched their grammatically-challenged Web site (my favorite is the "Get a Work" link). It's possible that they're simply a brand-new company hoping to make themselves look mature, or maybe they're established international recruiters who inexplicably forgot to get a Web site for 15 years.

From their About Us page (emphasis mine):

Swede Recruit founded in 1998 and since then has given people and businesses to develop by being a caring, responsive and solution-oriented agencies.

We offer solutions for staffing, recruitment and outplacement. Our clients are among both private and public companies and organizations.

We at Swede Recruit make it as smooth as possible for our graduates to find jobs that suit them perfectly and as easy as possible for a recruiting firm to find the right employees . We believe that everyone is the right person in the right place, anywhere in the world. It’s just about finding the right. Here we come in and help.

We have put a focus on being a helping hand to job seekers from other countries who are looking for work in Sweden. We provide a large number of apartments for our job seekers to make it easier to make the move to Sweden.

Swede Recruit connects right manpower for the job!

And here's their Apply page (emphasis mine):

Below you can apply for a job, an apartment and a work permit in Sweden that guarantees you an optional work and an optional home. When you apply for this you will receive a letter via email on how to complete your payment.

For us to be able to process your application, you need to pay the administrative fee of 195 euros. The process goes through a work permit, an apartment and a job for you.

Within three months, we will introduce alot of job alternatives for you and a nearby apartment. After you have decided which job and which apartment you want as we have suggested to you, you will get your work permit in Sweden. Then you are welcome to your new job and your new apartment.

If it turns out that you are not satisfied with the jobs and / or the apartment that we present to you within three months, we can at your request, keep searching or refund the full payment to you.

For your and our success, we provide only the work that is under swedish and union standard salaries. Swedish average salary is 29,000 SEK (about 3,100 euros).

Wow. That's pretty impressive. €195 (~$270 US) and they'll provide you with alot (sic) of job alternatives and an apartment!

So why do I think something is odd? Well, I've been researching expat issues for a long time and my wife and I run an international IT recruiting company, so I think I have some experience here. You generally don't just pay some money and get a work permit. Sweden is still struggling with unemployment, but as it turns out, under a 2008 change in their laws, virtually anyone can get a work permit in Sweden if they can convince a company to offer them a job. So maybe this site is legit?

So I dug into their Web site. First:

• Their domain was registered on October 28th, 2013.
• Alexa has no history for them.
• The Internet Archive has no history for them.

This is not a smoking gun and there could be explanations for why a 15-year company handling international recruitment would not have had a Web presence prior to a few days ago. But let's look further.

According to their Web site (/maria-moved-from-madrid-to-gothenburg/), Maria Gonzalez is a 34 year old Spanish woman who used their services to find work in Gothenburg, Sweden. They have a short interview with her where she explains how easily Swede Recruit found her a job and an apartment. Maria sounds very happy.

Except that the image they used is actually that of Rebecca Martinez, an assistant professor in Women’s & Gender Studies at the University of Missouri.

Well, OK. Mistakes happen. Or maybe Maria didn't want her photo taken so they made do with what they could borrow from other Web sites. Or maybe they just lost Maria's photo?

And then there's the happy tale of Raila (/raila-got-a-job-and-housing-in-stockholm-via-swed-recruitment/). He struggled for two years to find a job in his native Kenya, but Swede Recruit found him a lovely job as a café assistant in downtown Stockholm.

Apparently they lost Raila's photo too, so Swede Recruit repurposed the photo of Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, a film director from Chad.

Again, no smoking gun here. Maybe they just keep forgetting to take photos of the people they help.

So are their any real photos of people on their site? Sure! They have a staff page. I took a screenshot in case they accidentally lose these photos too.

Those people are:

• Simon Nordin CEO (A "Simon Nordin" registered the swederecruit dot com domain)
• Kevin Söderman
• Dennis Nyström
• Karin Friman
• Gustav Ek
• Petra Flykt

The real Simon Nordin?

And in the mother of all coincidences, it turns out that Guillaume Cailleux, Chris Carver, Adam Finck, Laura Walker, Zachary Barrows and Liz Allen, people who work for the charity invisiblechildren.com, are all dead ringers for them, right down to the clothes! Weird, eh?

Psssst, Simon: didn't you know how trivial it is to find out if an image on the Web is used on another site?

Oh, and Swede Recruit doesn't appear to be registered as a Swedish company. Scambook already has an entry for them and the company registry number that people claim Swede Recruit is using is false.

It appears that Simon Nordin, the "CEO", or someone using the name "Gustav Ek" (see above), was actively contacting people via Eures, the European Job Mobility portal. In fact, it looks like they may have mass mailed people on that Web site, trying to get people to pay €195. However, Eures is now calling Swede Recruit a fake company and under Swedish law, to qualify for a Swedish work permit, the job must be listed on Eures.

I contacted him under a fake name and said I couldn't apply because I didn't have a "Eures ID" (a "required" field on their "Apply" form). Someone named "Simon Nordin" replied:

Hi,

You need to register at our site and pay the administration fee to take part of our services. 

And if you do not have a eures id you can leave it blank

Best regards
Simon Nordin

Then when I checked the "Apply" page again, someone had removed the field requiring a Eures ID. I filled in my information and was sent a link to a PDF with Mr. Nordin's IBAN, and BIC/SWIFT information for transferring the money to his account. Strange that a 15-year old company would be using the CEO's personal bank details rather than their own (though I have to say, if this entire thing was set up just to make Mr. Nordin look very stupid, someone's done a brilliant job and I should be apologizing to Mr. Nordin).

Further digging turned up Mr. Nordin relatively quickly. He's probably a young man around 18 to 20 years old or so, possibly living with his mother. I found plenty of contact information for him and his family and a friend in Sweden offered to contact the boy's family for me, and he did. The boy's aunt and father have allegedly been contacted and from what I understand, the father said they'd get down to the bottom of this and go to the police, if necessary. I've made several attempts through different channels to contact Mr. Nordin to get his side of the story. Neither Mr. Nordin nor his "company" have responded to me. If you complete the "Apply" form, the Web site is still sending out "order confirmations" asking people to send him money.

I work hard trying to help people legitimately find work in other countries and it saddens me to see something like this. Perhaps Swede Recruit is simply a very unprofessional company that doesn't understand that misrepresenting themselves like this is wrong. I would suggest ignoring them and keep reading this site. I don't charge you a damned thing.

Do It Yourself Expats

Nighttime shot of one of the towers of
The vieux port in La Rochelle

Note: click on the photos to enlarge them. They're photos of the town I live in and are unrelated to the post.

In a very interesting blog post, a man describes how moving to Thailand helped him launch a startup. The short version: by living somewhere that allowed him to keep his monthly expenses down to around $1,000 a month, he was able to have more money to build his business and because he didn't know people there, he was less distracted by his social life.

Here's the interesting bit: he didn't have a work permit. He just sold everything he owned and caught a flight. This is what I call a "DIY (Do It Yourself) Expat". We're going to be seeing more and more of them in the future.

Everyone in La Rochelle
knows where this house is.

There's quite a debate about this post on Hacker News, with at least one individual, who claims to be Thai, asserting that a Thai can get by on $500 a month (though not if you choose to live in Bangkok). The trick is one that expats the world over learn: if you live as if you lived in your home country, you can easily pay a small fortune, particularly if the culture is far different from your own. People sometimes are confused by the high rents and low salaries of many cities, such as Hong Kong, but they forget that the locals can survive there, which means there's more going on than one might think.

A street near our flat.

Since the author of that post arrived on a tourist visa, he couldn't legally stay in Thailand forever, so he had to keep doing what is known as a visa run. This is the practice of a leaving a country for a short time merely so that you can return a get your visa renewed. I actually know of a gentleman who stayed in a Paris for a couple of years doing visa runs, but he found it increasingly difficult and it's not terribly common for Western Europe. It's generally emerging economies that are more tolerant of the practice. Visa runs are fairly common in Southeast Asia and South America.

La Rue sur les Murs, La Rochelle

The author already had an online business and that, of course, is the key for making this work. You generally can't just show up in a new country and (legally) work, but there's nothing stopping a tourist from attending their existing business. So you need an online job. Editor? Software developer? Photographer. There are many ways to become location-independent. You just need to make it happen.

Rue du Minage, La Rochelle

Oh, and you either want to put most of the things you own in storage, leave them with family or friends, or better yet, learn to live with just 100 things. That way you'll still be able to carry what you need to survive if you're denied re-entry on a visa run. And you'll want to be able to say "yes" to Count von Europe.

The local market setting up in the morning

The world is getting smaller. Opportunities are opening up everywhere, but rather than wait for that opportunity, why not create it? With the increase in telecommuting and the strength of many emerging economies, I fully expect a long-term downward pressure on wages in OECD nations. More and more companies are discovering that they can hire several remote workers for the cost of a single local worker. Not all positions are amenable to this, but this situation isn't going to go away and nows the time to plan for it.

Move Abroad by Working Remotely

The view from our bedroom in
our home in La Rochelle, France

Did you know that many countries allow you to live there even if you can't work there? I've hinted at this when I wrote about moving to Uruguay, but this is a more widespread thing than you would realize.

It works like this (with lots of hand-waving because different countries have wildly different laws): you have residence permits, and work permits. You usually get the former with the latter, but not necessarily the other way around. If you have a work history of working remotely and can show a decent income, many countries will allow you to apply for a residence permit.


Despite having written on the topic of "how to become an expat" for years, I've not paid much attention to the remote working aspect of it. I've touched on the logistical problems of working remotely, but I'm kicking myself for not realizing that the practice of issuing residence permits for remote workers is more widespread than I realized. This blog post details one family's research into living in Europe with remote work, but it's short on practical details. I suspect part of the problem is one I've struggled with repeatedly: laws in this area are not well-publicized and change frequently.

After asking, I was pointed to this Spanish Consulate visa page which describes "Residence visa with Non-Lucrative purposes" (whatever the hell that means). It's apparently the visa process that allows you to live in Spain so long as you have sufficient income. It's complicated, takes about three months and, in the lovely words of the page: ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS MAY APPLY (their words and emphasis). One of the requirements is:

Proof/s that you have sufficient financial means for you (and your accompanying family) during the stay in Spain without the need to work translated into Spanish.

Ignoring the awful, awful grammar: what does "sufficient financial means" mean? Who the hell knows? According to the blog entry that tipped me off, Italy requires a €50K annual income and Spain is apparently less, but that's all I know.

Meanwhile, Forbes has an article about the best-paying remote jobs. I currently take contracts remotely, but I have a specialized background (mostly IT related). Medical transcriptionists need a bit of training, but not overly difficult. You won't get rich doing that, but with a salary between $30K (US) and $50K (€22K to €37K), you can earn enough to survive in most of Europe, so long as you steer clear of the biggest cities. Personally, I find the smaller towns more pleasant, anyway.

Anything IT related, writing and editing jobs, and even public relations people can work remotely. In fact, there are plenty of remote jobs available, with varying salary levels, If you target South America, Africa, Eastern Europe or many parts of Asia, you should easily be able to afford to live abroad. The hard part is navigating through the laws that get you a residence permit based on your remote income (in my experience, South America is the easiest for this, but I hear good things about parts of Asia).

Good luck and start looking for a new job! If you know anything about these types of residence permits, let me know.

Mailbag: A beginner's guide to moving to another country

Another mailbag post! A friend emailed me about someone about to lose her job and stated that she was interested in moving abroad, particularly Europe. Since she has no background, I decided to give her an overview of the process. I thought it might be useful to repeat this here. There's nothing in here that I've not written about before, but I thought a recap might be a good idea for new readers.

Public Domain Image

---

Hi Sally (not her real name),

I hope you're doing well and I'm sorry to hear about your current troubles.

[Redacted] mentioned you want to live abroad and he asked if I could give you some advice. I've lived in the US, Japan, the UK, the Netherlands (twice) and France. I've not only been doing this for a long time, but I've also spent years researching and writing a "how to become an expat" blog at overseas-exile.com. I've also started thinking about doing day seminars on the topic in the US. The good news: with enough determination, you can move abroad. The bad news: it takes work, sometimes hard work.

If you want to live abroad, it's hard to do, but there are several general routes (I assume you're not rolling in dough, so I'm leaving some options off of this. If you have a large pile of surplus money, there are investment routes you can take, but be careful, not all are legal):

1. Marriage/Civil Partnership
2. Citizenship
3. Work/residence permit or the equivalent

I assume option #1 is not open to you right now.

For option #2, citizenship, I would strongly recommend that you trace your family tree.

The reason for that is because many people don't know their family tree well and when they do research, they often find legal opportunities to move abroad that they were previously unaware of. For example, if you have an Italian ancestor dating from 1861

Duomo, Milan
Personal photo

(when Italy unified) or later, you may qualify for Italian citizenship. If you are of Jewish ancestry, many European countries have repatriation schemes for those of Jewish descent whose families were displaced in WWII.

There are other ancestry routes, but they're hard to find. The trick is to research your family tree and if you find any relatively recent ancestors from a foreign country, start focusing on that country's immigration laws (and don't rely on hearsay because these laws change frequently). Don't just start researching different country's laws at random (unless you have carefully targeted countries) because the laws tend to not be well documented and they change frequently. Plus, officials from various countries are often unaware of their country's laws, but a decent immigration lawyer (after you have a target country) can sometimes help.

So you've researched your ancestry and maybe you find that you could claim citizenship in [some economically depressed EU country] but think "but I don't want to move to [some economically depressed EU country]." That's OK. The great thing about having an EEA (European Economic Area) passport in one EEA country is that you can usually legally live and work in any EEA country. Fancy London? Another EU country's passport will probably get you there.

So do you family tree. ancestry.com is a good place to start.

However, let's assume the common case of not having anyone you can marry and not having a useful ancestor (dead ancestors are so rarely useful, the ingrates!). In that case, you're looking at the work permit/Blue Card route.

Before I explain those, it's helpful to understand immigration in general. This lets you reason better about your opportunities.

I live in Paris, France. Not only is Paris the number one tourist city on the planet, but France is the number one tourist country on the planet. As much as I would love for the word citizenship to go the way of the word slavery and see borders drop, it's not realistic. If France opened the floodgates, they'd see their social systems overwhelmed and they'd collapse (interestingly, the countries people are leaving might also collapse to due to what's called "brain drain", but that's another story).

But France does allow people to move there. The trick is to demonstrate that you will benefit the country more than you will cost the country. The best way to pull this trick off is to have a strong skill (and usually a degree) in a STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine). Those are very high value jobs (from an economic standpoint). A psychology degree, on the other hand, while certainly being a worthy degree, isn't a high economic value degree and typically doesn't get you anywhere. So, in short, you have to show that you provide a positive economic value that is in short supply. Doctors, engineers, and software developers are always in short supply. Sadly, project managers and hair dressers aren't (trivia: there was an interesting time when hair dresser was on the Australian skill shortage list and thus eligible for immigration).

If you think you might have skills that can get you a work

Kalahari Desert, Botswana
Photo by Winfried Bruenken

permit, start reading my five part series on how to get a work permit. That will give you a solid strategy
for improving your résumé/CV and finding and approaching employees.

Barring being highly skilled, you may wish to read the young person's guide to moving abroad. That explains multiple ways that someone with little money, education, and few internationally marketable skills can still find ways of moving abroad. (Note: having at least a Bachelor's Degree significantly increases your opportunities). One of the most popular routes is teaching English abroad, .

Oh, and if you're the entrepreneurial type, the Netherlands has a visa for you. The UK has an entrepreneur visa too.

Finally, start reading about the European Blue Card.

The Blue Card is Europe's attempt to create a unified immigration policy to attract skilled workers. Ireland, the UK and Denmark have opted out, but for the others, if you qualify, it's much easier to get to Europe. In fact, Germany's Blue Card implementation is so generous that they government assumes that if you have a job offer with a large enough salary (usually around €45K or higher), than you must be qualified and can waltz right in. You usually have to have at least a BA for this (they make some exceptions for IT, but many German foreigner's offices seem to have missed this part of the law and it's a headache). Once in Europe with a Blue Card, you usually have to stay in the country for two or three years and then you can live and work in other EU countries (except the ones who have opted out). So if you have a BA, start making contacts in Germany and see what you can swing!

I hope that helps and gives you a start on figuring out your options. Let me know how things go!

Good luck,
Ovid

Why You Should See the World

Wouldn't seeing it firsthand be better?
Photo by Carsten Ullrich

There's a very thought-provoking article at Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas. As is clear from the title, it's very much aimed at Americans but the main points are this:

1. University education in the US is not worth the return on investment.
2. The quality of life you get for your money is much better elsewhere.
3. US jobs aren't going to return.
4. It's time for everyone to explore the world.

While clearly not everyone is going to agree with the above reasons, I'm rather partial to the last one, if for no other reason than to see firsthand that the world is a much different place than what you see in the media. Still, I'll touch on all of these points as I have a front-row seat for the expat life.

Teach English at a French University

Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, France
Photo by Francisco Antunes

You do not need to have a university degree to live and work in other countries. However, having a university degree does make life so much easier for those planning on becoming expats, as I saw again with my latest research. While doing my usual work trying to find new opportunities for you to live abroad, I stumbled across a very interesting article about applying for a job as a lecteur d'anglais in a French university.

For those who are considering teaching English abroad, it's sometimes disappointing to discover that most positions aren't in Europe. Frankly, I think it would be very exciting to take a job in South Korea, Guatemala or some other country that you don't know much about, but perhaps some of the adventure of living in Europe has abated after living here for years (though I'm very, very happy to be here).

Be that as it may, most jobs teaching English aren't in Europe and those that are are often in Eastern Europe. If you're diligent and try, however, you can get a job teaching English at a French University. The English assistant programs in France are very poorly paid, hard to get and suitable mostly for students, but if you want to teach at a university, you can be better paid, have a longer visa, and be working with people closer to your own age instead of children.

The lecteur d'anglais needs to have at least a Bachelor's degree, but should be preferably working towards a Masters. The article mentions three things you'll need to do:

1. Sign up for the Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur mailing list
2. Contact the universities directly
3. Write a CV and cover letter focusing on your teaching experience

Did you catch point 3 above? Yes, it helps if you already have teaching experience. The universities want native speakers, but they want native speakers who know how to teach. Sign up for a TEFL course and get some experience. Reputable courses will help to arrange real teaching experience and you can gain that experience in your home town. Heck, even if it's not enough experience to get you a job in France, teaching English in Thailand isn't so bad, it it?

A list of high-demand international jobs

This job is global
Photo by Vaya

If you search for the "STEM" on this Web site, you'll find I've referenced it several times before. It's an acronym which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine. While there are plenty of opportunities for unskilled or younger would-be expats, for people who already have an established career, are considering a university degree, or have a family, teaching English in Thailand, while exciting, might not pay as much (note: South Korea sometimes pays TEFL teachers reasonably well). So what jobs are in demand abroad?


The BBC has an excellent report about in-demand jobs for global migrants. They list the jobs that countries are seeking and which countries are seeking them. And what jobs do they list?

• Accountants
• Audiologists and speech therapists
• Chefs 
• Chemical engineers 
• Civil engineering professionals 
• Dentists 
• Doctors 
• Electrical engineering professionals 
• Electronics engineers 
• Industrial and production engineers 
• IT database and network professionals 
• IT developers and programmers 
• IT engineers and analysts 
• Mechanical engineers 
• Mining and petroleum engineers 
• Nurses           
• Pharmacists 
• Physiotherapists 
• Psychologists 
• Radiographers

You'll immediately notice that most of these are, in fact, STEM professions. These are high-demand professions which, unlike people with degrees in literature, history, art, and so on, immediately add clear monetary value to an economy. That is not to say that the other degrees are bad, but they're not as useful when you want to move abroad.

It's interesting to note that while most of the above require university degrees, the IT professions (and chefs) often don't. If you can teach yourself how to program, manage a database or understand networking, you can not only gain a well-paying job at home, you have a much better chance of getting a job abroad.

I've already written about one strategy to learn how to program for free. Combine that with our five-part how to get a work permit series and you're on your way to a well-paying career in a foreign country.

If you already have IT skills, don't forget that we have jobs in Europe for you. We're also actively working on finding more companies willing to sponsor work permits and relocation. There's been enough interest that we're setting up a company to handle this. We'll have more information in the future.

Common Questions About The Jobs We have

Begijnhof, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Photo by Bert Kaufmann

As most of you know, we're partnering with a company offering jobs in Amsterdam, complete with work permit and relocation package. We've spoken to a lot of people and I thought it would be a good idea to try to answer some common questions all at once.

What's the 30% Ruling?

In the Netherlands, if you meet certain requirements, the company can lower your salary by 30% and you get taxed on the 70% remaining. The rest of the 30% is given back to you tax-free. This is a government program designed to help offset the expenses of living in a foreign country.

There are three requirements to earning the 30% ruling. Candidates have to live  at least150 km outside the Dutch boarder when they are hired, they should have a Bachelor degree with at least 2 years work experience and a minimum income of 52k per year. In case a candidate is under 30 years old, they should have a Master Degree and a minimum income of 40k.

This is a change, I might add. I previously earned the 30% ruling and I would no longer qualify (no Bachelor's degree). I guess I'm not moving back to the Netherlands any time soon.

Bringing Partners?

Yes, you can bring your partner, married or not. This appears to contradict recent changes in Dutch immigration laws, but I'm assured that they've changed the laws again and yes, you can bring your partner.

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Photo by Bert Kaufmann

Can I Bring My Pet?

Probably. This web site describes many legal aspects of moving the Netherlands, including bringing pets.

Length of Time for Recruiting Process

CV’s will be reviewed within 48 hours. The next step is a technical phone interview of 30 – 45 minutes, which can be scheduled within a week. If you get invited for a face-to-face interview in Amsterdam they try to arrange this as soon as possible. The company will take care of the travel arrangements, including paying for your flights and hotel. In case a candidates needs a visa in order to visit The Netherlands, the company needs to schedule the interview a few weeks ahead in order to arrange the visa.

Taxes?

This Web site will help you understand Dutch taxes.

Salary?

The salary is between 40 to 60k euro’s per year. The company also offers a quarterly bonus up to 16% and a yearly bonus for candidates who are performing really well. Salary is flexible for the right candidates. They don’t want to lose good people.

Note that if you also qualify for the 30% ruling, you're effectively getting a large pay hike of several hundred euros a month.

Paperwork for Accepting the Job?

If a job is offered, the company will need copy of a passport and birth certificates (in English and apostilles) for the candidate + partner/family as well. In case a candidate is married, they also need a marriage certificate (English and apostilles).

Language Courses

The company will pay for initial Dutch language courses. Subsequent language courses will be available at a special rate.

Health Insurance

You're legally obliged to have health insurance in the Netherlands. Fortunately, this insurance runs about €100 per person per month and cannot be denied to you. Expatica.com has more information about it.

Expatcenter

Being an expat in a new country can be rather daunting. The Netherlands recognizes this and you'll find a convenient Expatcenter in Amsterdam. This center is effectively "one stop shopping" for all of your expat needs. Not only do they help you complete all of the paperwork needed for the government, they have a wealth of information on hand for you to help you find a place to live, child care, or banking services. I've never experienced this in another country and it's fantastic.

Housing

Housing costs vary quite a bit. If you want to live in the center, it's going to cost quite a bit. If you live further out, or in a nearby town, costs can drop dramatically. I've found Pararius.nl to be a great source for looking for housing in the Netherlands.

Moving with Children

We moved to Amsterdam when my wife was pregnant and we received a lot of support from Amsterdam Mamas. They also have a closed Facebook group where you can ask questions or join other "mamas" (or "papas") for play groups, coffee, get support, whatever. Check 'em out.

Also, several candidates have been interviewed and as of this writing, at least two candidates are being scheduled to fly out to Amsterdam for face-to-face interviews. So far things are looking up and people are getting closer to their dreams of living abroad!

An Expat Video Blog

A friend of mine (hi Gabor!) dropped me a line about atlassliced.com, a video travel blog which is effectively what I do here at Overseas Exile, but in video! I had planned something like this myself, but I never quite had the time to pull it off. Here's an episode about volunteering abroad.



It looks like they post regularly and have episodes about taking a gap year, how to study abroad, success stories and many more. I strongly urge you to check it out.

And don't forget that we have work permit jobs now!

Jobs have arrived!

Gratuitous Cat Photo
Photo by Dr. Hemmert

Check out the International Jobs page!

A Web company who's growing like mad is willing to hire you and move you to Amsterdam. They've reached out to me and we struck a deal whereby I would help them find techies who are willing to seek adventure abroad. For those of a non-technical persuasion, I apologize for not having anything to offer at the present time, but who knows what the future holds? I'll still be posting regularly.

This is strictly an experiment and the company has asked that their name not be used (naturally you'll be told who they are if you apply). I don't know how long this will last for and I promise not to spam you too often :), but if I hear of more opportunities, I'll certainly let you know.

If you have tech skills, now yo have no excuse not to try and move abroad.

Work permit jobs are coming to Overseas Exile

It's a beautiful world out there
Photo Credit: Bert Kaufmann

It should come as no surprise to those familiar with how blogging works that this site is popular enough that I am regularly contacted by companies wanting me to advertise their products or services to you. As a general rule I've shielded you from this, but I've made exceptions a couple of times for those willing to provide a relevant guest blog post (not all of those are corporate, of course). Now I'm willing to make another exception because it solves a major problem that many of my readers have.

How do you find a company that will let you move abroad?


What I've wanted to do for a long time is to be able to regularly post international jobs here, with a particular focus on jobs where the employer is willing to sponsor international candidates. One company in Western Europe has contacted me and is hoping that my readers match their hiring needs. There are a couple of final details which are being ironed out, but it will work like this.

I'll create a "jobs" page on this site, listing the jobs available. Currently these will be front-end and back-end software development roles, but in the future, who knows? If one of the jobs strikes your fancy, you'll drop me an email and we'll set up a time for a quick phone/Skype call. On the call, you'll be asked a few questions to make sure that you know what you're getting into. You'll also be given more details about the nature of the work. You will be able to ask some questions regarding logistics, the job, or "what the heck is like living in another country?"

I then forward your CV and/or cover letter.

The company will take over from there and arrange full interviews. If you get an offer, they'll sponsor your work permit and help with your relocation costs.

This has been in the works for a long time and I'm hoping this will be successful — if for no other reason than helping people live their dreams.

Please note that I am not a recruiter; I'm an expat consultant. I won't be judging your ability to do the job, the company will. My job will be to find people willing to move to another country.

Self-Employed US Expats

Home Office photo by geishaboy500

Today's post is US-centric again, I'm afraid. My apologies to all of my non-US readers.

According to one expat survey I've read, almost 25% of US expats (who responded to the survey) are self-employed. I find this number astonishingly high given that other countries don't hand out work permits for self-employed people, though the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty is an interesting counter-example. What would surprise me, however, is most expats abroad knowing about the self-employment tax. When most didn't know about the US's curious citizen-based taxation system, they would probably be astonished to find out that if they're living and working abroad, self-employed US expats still have to pay an extra 15.3% of their income to the US to cover Medicare and Social Security.


If you plan to return to the US at some point, this is fine. However, if you're a permanent expat like myself, this is particularly galling because you're required to pay for Medicare, but you're not allowed to use it. Additionally, if you collect a foreign pension, your Social Security benefit gets cut. Never mind that you paid for that Social Security benefit; as far as the US is concerned, you're a filthy-rich expat trying to take advantage Uncle Sam. Personally, I think that if the US government explicitly denies me services because I live abroad with my wife and daughter, they shouldn't be charging me for said services, but what do I know?

It gets even worse when you realize that you may be paying for identical benefits in the country you're living in. However, the US has a handful of Totalization Agreements designed to avoid double-paying Social Security. These are mostly with European governments, so if you live elsewhere, tough luck. I cannot help but wonder if the US government has ever commissioned a study showing how much they spend to enforce and to offset the damage of our unique citizen-based taxation scheme relative to the income generated.

Get a work permit job in Germany

Berlin, Germany
Public domain photo

Apologies for the bad posting schedule during the holidays. As you can imagine, life was a bit crazy here. My wife's mother came down from Calais (northern France, on the coast) for Christmas. Despite the mother-in-law stereotypes, she and I get along quite well and we had a blast.


In my never-ending quest to help you become an expat, I've found Sociomantic, a company based in Berlin, Germany. They're in the Web advertising industry and I couldn't help but notice that they have a Real-Time Bidding (RTB) platform, something I'm building at my current position, so it's an interesting coincidence. That, however, is not the point of this post. The actual point is Sociomantic's Career Page. For the software developer positions they offer "Help with residence permit processing for non-EU citizens". You'll need to be able to program in C, C++ or D (creative programming language names, eh?), so this isn't for everyone, but if you have those skills, give 'em a shot and let 'em know I sent you (which should be interesting because they have no idea who I am or that I'm linking to them).

Berlin, for those unaware, is a lovely city and it's still relatively inexpensive. Combine this job with a German Blue Card and you can soon start living and working just about anywhere in the EU.

Our daughter enjoying one
of her Christmas presents.

On a personal note, my father used to have to travel to East Berlin back before the wall fell and before he learned to speak German. He tells a story of how he was stopped one time and my father kept saying Ich spreche kein Deutsch (I don't speak German) but the East German guard kept demanding something (presumably my father's papers). Finally, my father, who had previously lived in Moscow for several years, turned to the Soviet officer behind the East German guard and said, Расскажи об этом охраннику, что я не говорю по-немецки (Google translation of "tell this guard that I do not speak German", so it might be rubbish).

Apparently the Soviet officer smiled and said nothing. The East German guard, however, upon hearing Russian, immediately stiffened and my father's US passport came flying back to him like a frisbee. He was waved through immediately and every time he traveled to East Berlin after that, he was never stopped or questioned if it was that same guard.

Canada's new "skilled trade" immigration program

Vancouver, Canada. I've been there and it's lovely.
Photo by Magnus Larsson

If you have at least two years of experience in a skilled trade, such welding, pipe fitting, plumbing, and other trades, Canada wants you to immigrate.

Prior to the economic collapse, many Canadian banks were upset that the Canadian government didn't allow them to pursue the "easy money" that many deregulated banks in the US and other countries were getting. By having a strictly regulated banking industry that was not, amongst other things, allowed to give out tons of loans to people who could not pay them off, Canadian banks missed out on the financial windfall that many world banks were experiencing.

It also means that Canadian banks missed out on the collapse of much of the world banking industry. Canadian unemployment since 1980 has generally been higher than that of the US, but in 2008, the roles were reversed and Canada's unemployment has been much lower than that of the US.

Today, however, many Canadian businesses are facing a shortage of tradespeople for their oil and gas industry and the government has responded. The migrationbureau.com Web site lists the basic qualifications for the new program:

1. have an offer of employment in Canada or a certificate of qualification from a province or territory to ensure that applicants are “job ready” upon arrival;
2. meet a basic language requirement;
3. have a minimum of two years of work experience as a skilled tradesperson, to ensure that the applicant has recent and relevant practice as a qualified journeyman; and
4. have the skills and experience that match those set out in the National Occupational Classification (NOC B) system, showing that they have performed the essential duties of the occupation.   In order to manage intake, avoid backlogs and ensure fast processing times, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will accept up to a maximum of 3,000 applications in the first year of the Federal Skilled Trades Program. 

Oh, and Canadian single payer health care is awesome!

Creating a plan to move abroad

Maybe I should write some of this shit down.
Photo by Seattle Municipal Archives

Many people talk about wanting to move abroad, but do any of you have a plan to do so? I don't mean "Yeah, I'm planning on it", but a serious, well-thought-out plan. It's time to make one. This can let you understand what you're really facing, and forces you to deal with a hard question: is living abroad just a fantasy?

Clearing the road ahead

The first step is to read Why You'll Say No to Living Abroad. That lays out a thought experiment with one "Count von Europe" offering to let you move abroad ... on the condition that you leave tomorrow. Most of us can't do this (I certainly couldn't), but the idea brings into sharp focus everything that prevents you from moving. So step one is to read that post and make a "Obstacles to moving tomorrow" list. These obstacles should not be "I don't yet have a job abroad" but "assuming I could move, what's stopping me?" Back in 1998, I did not have a passport, so here's what my list might have looked like.

---

Obstacles To Moving Tomorrow

• No passport
• Two cats
• A girlfriend who doesn't want to live far from her family
• A lifetime of "stuff" I've accumulated

---

For each item in the list, you write down the steps needed to overcome that obstacle and the date by which those steps will be taken. If you do not have dates, you have a dream, not a plan. Write down those dates and stick to them. Also, note that no obstacles are insurmountable, but it's perfectly OK to say "that's a price I'm not willing to pay." This step helps clarify some of that.

As for my list above, getting a passport is straightforward. The cats are trickier. You need to understand about relocating your pets and pet passports. Or maybe you can find a friend or relative who will take them. By the time of my second move abroad, I already had my passport, I didn't have pets (since getting them would have impeded my move abroad) and no girlfriend. For virtually all of my worldly goods, I sold them for a very low price to ensure that I wouldn't have to take them with me and complicate my move. That also helped to pay for some of my relocation costs.

Dealing with a girlfriend is trickier (duh!). As it turns out, she would have been happy to live abroad so long as she could fly home often enough to visit family, so perhaps there was a way to work with that, too. However, if you have a partner who absolutely refuses to consider the idea (I've met a number of people who say they would never dream of living in another country), then the hard choice happens: do you give up your dream or your partner? This is one question I can't answer for you.

Determine your career path

Being a talented barista doesn't count as "skilled labor".
Photo by Matt Biddulph

While you're sorting out your obstacles, you need to figure out if you're "skilled" or "unskilled" labor. From the standpoint of countries wanting to import your skills, you're likely skilled if you have a strong background in a STEM field (science, technology, engineering or math). Otherwise, you're probably unskilled. If you're a skilled worker, you need to read through my how to get a work permit series. Otherwise, read the young person's guide to moving abroad as a starting point for understanding your options. Whichever way you go, figuring out your plan, writing it down and setting dates for it is hard (this is often the hardest part), but it's a worthwhile exercise because it really lays the foundation for your move abroad. If you're an unskilled worker, you may very well decide to return to college to increase your chances. Many of the steps in this stage of your plan will benefit you whether you stay or go.

What are you really looking for?

A beach in Panama
Photo by Fathzer

Does salary matter to you? Do you want to live in a big city or rural area? Do you worry about your children's education? Are you willing to learn a new language? Do you have to live in a first-world country? Do you care about politics?

These and similar questions is where things start to get complicated. It's perfectly OK to say "I will move anywhere", but if you're a nightlife-loving single American woman, maybe Saudi Arabia wouldn't work for you.  This point is where you start doing research about different countries and try to figure out what offers you the best opportunities. The HSBC Expat Explorer can help with this, as can ifitweremyhome.com, NationMaster.com, and other sites. After you get a few target countries, Wikipedia can help you start gathering some more detailed information about them. Many (most, I've found) Americans say they want to move to Europe, but much of that is driven by not knowing much about the other opportunities abroad. Would you really turn down a chance to spend weekends on a Panamanian beach? Keep your mind open and be willing to try the world.

Once you've got some ideas of what you're looking for in a destination, if you've already written your plans for "obstacles" and "career path", you should now be ready to start writing up your plan for the job hunt. Don't second guess whether or not your plan is realistic, just create it and don't forget those dates! If you think "I can't put a date on this", then you've created a plan that you can't put into action. Throw it away and start again. Make sure you sign up for Expat Blog, IslandX, Transitions Abroad, expatriates.com, and any other Web site you think might help you find that first job abroad. And, of course, keep reading this blog.

Share your plan?

Have you written you plan down? Are you willing to share it? I'm sure plenty of others would love to see it. If you have questions about a part of your personal "expatriation plan", drop me a line or comment here and I'll try to answer it for you.

Get the IT Skills You Need to Move Abroad

Sydney Harbor Bridge, Australia
Photo by Paul Bica

Today we're going to talk about a very long-term strategy for getting a job abroad. The downside is that it can take years to make it work. The upside is that it will be very fun (for some of you) and even if it doesn't get you a job abroad, it can tremendously increase both your work opportunities at home and your income!

For many people, the main obstacle to getting a job abroad is not finding the right job, it's having the right job. I am going to repeat something I've repeated many times on this blog, but it's worth repeating (and not everyone reads every post): countries want immigrants who generate a net profit.

It should be self-evident, but countries really don't want to bring in people who don't add to the bottom line and so called "low value" immigrants are rejected and the immigrants in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) will be given priority. Or as I like to say, the holy trinity of expatriate jobs is medicine, engineering and IT (information technology). If you have skills in any of these areas you have a much better chance of getting a job abroad, but one of these skills is not like the others.

Even Harar, Ethiopia will have programmers in it
Photo by Ahron de Leeuw

You can generally forget about working overseas in medicine or engineering if you don't have a university degree. However, countries are desperate for people with IT skills and since many IT people are self-taught, it's one of the easier fields to get into. The main requirement is to convince an employer that you can do the job (this generally requires also having the ability to do the job).

So how do you get into IT? There are several routes, but I'll focus on computer programming as that's the area I know best (large scale database-driven back ends, if you're curious).

Probably the easiest route (outside of a degree) is to learn the basics of Web development along with programming. While the most popular programming languages today are probably C, C++ and Java, if you've never programmed before, you'll probably find Ruby, Python, PHP or Perl easier languages to get started with. Perhaps the easiest way to get started learning programming is to head over to Udacity and take their CS101 "Introduction to Computer Science" course. All Udacity classes are free of charge and by the time you finish that first course, you'll have a basic understanding of computer science and the Python programming language. More importantly, you'll probably have an idea of whether or not you have both the talent and the inclination to pursue a career as a programmer.

The internet isn't just fun: it pays well
Photo by keiyac

Assuming this tickles your fancy, you could then move on to more advanced work, like CS215 "Crunching Social Networks". If you're ambitious and determined, that could give you just enough experience to tackle CS253, Web Development (How to build a blog). For many purposes, the latter class would be the goal here. By the time you're done with that third course (and it will be a lot of hard work), you'd have the basics of:

• Python — A great first programming language
• HTML — the language Web pages are written in
• SQL — a language used to help you store and retrieve data such as blog posts
• HTTP — how your browser talks to a Web server
• Scaling — How to let many users use your Web site without killing it
• Web security — Practical tips to avoid some of the more common Web security issues

In other words, in just three courses you would know as much as many other entry-level Web programmers. These three courses will be difficult if you don't have prior experience to programming, but they're intended for people without prior experience. However, it's going to probably be very hard work. You're going to get stuck on tough questions. To get answers, sign up for a free account with stackoverflow, a popular "geek" site for getting your technical questions answered. You can search for answers to your problems or post your own questions.

Another route for getting answers is to ask a geek friend for help, but be warned: geeks can be very difficult at times. Many, for example, will sneer at you for learning Python (I specialize in Perl and I know some of my friends would sneer at Python), but ignore that. You have a goal and you don't want to get distracted. A better strategy would be finding a local Python User Group and signing up for their mailing list. They often meet once a month for social events or to give technical talks. Go to those events! It's a fantastic way to start networking and land that first programming job.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Photo by Digo_Souza 

If you can pass those three courses, you probably have what it takes to be a programmer, though to be fair, it will probably take a lot more work than just these three courses to be skilled enough to get a job. However, if you stuck through all three of them there's a good chance you'd enjoy the work. Also, read the Udacity FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to better understand how job-focused they are.

This doesn't get you a job overseas but it starts the process. Since you won't (presumably) have a degree in computer science, you'll need experience. Again, finding a local Python user group and meeting up with actual programmers can help. Most of my jobs have come via people telling me a job was available rather than me applying blindly for a position. Since you'll be trying to land your first job, that's probably a good strategy, but hitting web sites and applying for Python job ads can be a good strategy, too. Once you get that first job, you'll want to get a couple of years (five is a good minimum but not always necessary) of experience under your belt and then follow the steps outlined in my "How to get a work permit" series.

This course of action is hard, takes a long time, and isn't suitable for everyone. There are also plenty of details that I've omitted and this is not the only way to an IT career. Instead, I've chosen it because it's a strategy that many have followed and works. If you find that you love programming, this is only the starting point. For many readers, you have jobs as waiters, clerks, or other relatively low-paying positions and getting into IT can easily double or triple your salary. It's also a relatively recession-proof field and can open doors to foreign lands like few other jobs can do. Countries want IT skills. If you have them, you can make your dreams real.

Malaysia has a work permit with your name on it

Detail from Malaysian Batu Caves
Photo by carolynconner

Unlike anything you will likely experience in Western culture, the 400 million year old Batu Caves today is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India. Dedicated to the Hindu god Murugan, with numerous caves and shrines, the Batu Caves attracts both worshippers and tourists.

Eight miles south of the caves is the city of Kuala Lumpur, the federal capital of Malaysia. Kuala Lumper is a large, vibrant, modern city that is surprisingly young, having been founded in the 1850s. Malaysia, meanwhile, is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia and is quickly becoming a high-tech wonder. Part of what fuels this is the city of Cyberjaya, a city about 18 miles (30 kilometers) south of Kuala Lumpur. Cyberjaya is a planned city that was designed to be the Silicon Valley of Malaysia, hence the name. Unsurprisingly, there are quite a few high-tech companies there and one of them, BetOnMarkets, is waving a work permit and relocation package in your general direction. Here's what they have to say about themselves:

Petronus Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur
Photo by Shiva Kumar Khanal

Who we are

RMG Technology (M) Sdn. Bhd. is a MSC status company based in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. RMG Technology has been operating in Malaysia since 2006 and has a technical team of diverse nationalities, including people working in Malaysia as well as commuters in different parts of the world.

What we do

Our company provides IT and quant (financial mathematics) services to a major and pioneering financial platforms. We use Perl and lots of Perl-related technologies extensively. We use other technologies too such as Apache, nginx, mod_perl, PostgreSQL, Javascript, Git, Puppet, Selenium, Jenkins, OpenVZ and AWS. We use Linux for all our infrastructure and desktops. Our daily routine involves maintaining the business operations as well as developing and deploying new solutions to make life easier for ourselves and our customers.

How it is to work with us

Relaxing in the office

We have a very casual work environment and culture, from dress code to the way we communicate and work. Our technical teams are people who are deeply concerned about the quality of their work and have a passion for it. We try to improve the way things are done constantly. We don’t have a very big team so our staff have to deal with a variety of interesting tasks on a daily basis.

How it is to live in Cyberjaya and Malaysia

Malaysia is a uniquely multi-ethnic society. It is one of the most exciting places to live in Asia, providing expats with a vast cultural experience as well as natural attractions such as beaches, jungles, and mountains. Cyberjaya is Malaysia's fast-growing e-commerce hub, located equidistant between the capital Kuala Lumpur and the international airport, from which you can explore a multitude of other Asian countries with the low-cost airline AirAsia.

What we are looking for

Want to live here?
Cyberview Gardens apartments

Right now we have vacancies for two types of positions: Developers and Sysadmin/DevOps. As a part of our technical team, you will be involved in our daily operations to make our infrastructure and products closer to what our customers need. Development is ongoing and we deploy regularly. We really care about testing and fault-proofing our code before it goes live so there’s a great deal of QA involved. We use virtualization extensively and rely on third party cloud services for parts of our operation. We are always on the lookout for new technologies that can add value to our portfolio of tools and services. You might be a good match for our company if:

• You are knowledgeable and passionate about Linux and its nuts and bolts;
• You are comfortable with Perl code or know another scripting language that can help you pick it up. Take our word - there’s no escape from Perl here;
• You are familiar with technologies such as Apache, nginx, Git, Debian packaging, monitoring solutions and are comfortable learning new ones when needed;
• You can work as a part of a team of people as good as or better than you. You can take and provide criticism and build on the experience to build better solutions in the future;
• You are an independent thinker and can surprise yourself and the others with the new stuff you come up with;
• As a developer, you are familiar with the concepts of software quality assurance and can test your own and other’s code against best-practice standards.

What you are looking for

So after what we expect from you, here’s a list of the things you can expect from us:

• You can expect a competitive compensation package, including a range of benefits;
• A multi-national team of talented and passionate engineers;
• Friendly and casual working environment;
• Flexible working hours;
• We provide the option to provide you with housing or equal pay for you to get your own place;
• Canteen with refreshments for those times when you really need some;
• Working from home option on certain occasions/positions (not telecommuting).

For expats, we also offer relocation assistance, work permits, and dependency permits for family members.

Please visit http://www.regentmarkets.com/careers for further information.

How to apply

If you think you can be a good match for our company, drop us a line along with your resume by emailing Paul LeVarge at paul@regentmarkets.com and let them know you read about this at the Overseas Exile blog.

While not mandatory here’s a list of the things we might be really interested in:

• Projects you have been involved in;
• If you have any public repositories on places such as github, please provide a link to them;
• Contributions you might have made to open-source projects such as providing patches, new features, …
• Anything that gives us a better picture of who you are and what you do.