Now that our long-term trip is over, you may have been wondering what we're going to do next. We have a number of plans that we'll be revealing over the coming weeks and months, and one of our new dreams involves us setting up a base and working on our businesses from there (and traveling a lot, too!).But where do two travelers, who literally have the whole world at their fingertips, move in order to build a home? We're definitely not staying in Ohio, even though our friends and family lobby us to day after day. We're thinking bigger, and one of our current discussions is if we want to live in the USA at all! Do we settle down somewhere new in the USA, or spend a bit of time to find a new country to call home for a while?
As it turns out, figuring this one out is a bigger challenge than it would seem.
Finding a City - Home or Abroad?
Unfortunately, when I say that the whole world is ours for the taking, that isn't entirely true. Angie is looking for a full-time job in her field while I work full-time on our websites and businesses from wherever we live. As her field is quite focused, the destinations we're looking at moving to are somewhat limited throughout the USA and Europe.
After spending 5 months in Europe on our trip last year, we came away with a lot to love. The large central markets, easy transportation options, cheap airfare, and delicious foods are just a few things that make us want to move there for a few years (or more). With countries like Switzerland, France, and Germany standing out as strong contenders for possible jobs, we're really considering the possibility that we may be Europe-bound in the not-so-distant future.
Unfortunately, as we want to move there with a proper work visa in hand, getting sponsored for one appears to be harder than you would think.
No one seems to want to hire foreigners!
Getting Sponsored for a Visa Abroad
The biggest hurdle we've found so far about getting an international job is finding a company that would be willing to sponsor us for a work visa (and by us, I really mean Angie). Even with her advanced degree and specialized research background, we've found very few companies that actively hire non-EU citizens- and there is a pretty good reason for it. In many countries there are laws that prevent companies from hiring employees outside of the region without showing proof that they could not fill the position with local help.
For the longest time we thought that this would be incredibly easy for Angie's field, which still may be true, but as of now we've seen very few openings at all. The ones we have seen, unfortunately, have no interest in hiring foreigners no matter how close of match it is either!
Although our goal would be for Angie to get a position straight away so we can move to Europe sooner rather than later, there is another option- start local first and go abroad later.
This is the easier route for getting visa sponsorships in Europe as global companies would be far more willing to pay to move an employee they like than spend extra on someone they have no experience with. I've had a company do this once before for me, even though that was for short-term stints in a part of Canada I never want to see again, and it happens far more frequently than our ideal option of moving straight away as a new hire.
But would we want to? This option would likely take a few years before an opportunity became available, and by then we may be settled into a home in the USA and may decide not to go (although it would always be tempting).
So let's say an option does become available now. How do we get there with all our belongings?
Moving Our Belongings, However Few They May Be
If we were to move now we wouldn't have any problems. We only have a few boxes full of items worth going with us and can manage that without issue no matter which part of the world we end up. But if the option to go comes a few years from now, we'll have far more belongings we'd need to take with us. If this happened, the logistics of relocating would be far greater. Rather than doing it ourselves, we'd probably hire an international moving service and pay to not have a headache.
The problem we have in this case is not so much a logistical one but a practical one. We want to set up a home base, and for a few of our planned business ventures we need to have that base. So would moving a second time a few years from now just to live in another part of the world make sense?
That we can't answer yet, and we'll have to face that when the opportunity comes up... if it ever does.
Where Will We End Up?
Now that we've reached the most important question in this post, we can easily say that we do not know yet! Angie has recently started applying for jobs and we're waiting to hear back on any opportunities that may come our way.
Will we end up in Europe, the USA, or somewhere else entirely? You'll just have to stick around to find out!
