How to Find a Tech Job Abroad in 2026: Strategy & Tips

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How I’d Search for a Tech Job Abroad in 2026<br>Based on what I’ve seen work and what the relocation market looks like today

Andrew Stetsenko<br>Aug 04, 2026

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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.<br>That naturally leads to the next question:<br>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.<br>I don’t think there’s one perfect website that solves the problem. If there were, I’d simply send everyone there.<br>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.<br>If I were starting my relocation journey today, this is exactly how I’d approach it.<br>Start with curated resources

I’d start by saving myself time.<br>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.<br>The point isn’t that you have to use our archive. The point is that somebody has already done the filtering for you.<br>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.<br>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.<br>Go from global to local

Next, I’d stop searching globally.<br>Instead, I’d choose two or three countries where I genuinely want to live and go much deeper into those markets.<br>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.<br>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.<br>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.<br>It’s much easier to understand one market well than twenty markets poorly.<br>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.<br>The Global Move is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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Follow relocation-friendly companies

I’d build a watchlist of companies that regularly hire internationally.<br>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.<br>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.<br>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.<br>Don’t ignore companies that don’t mention relocation

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.<br>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.<br>Some companies don’t advertise relocation even though they’re willing to relocate the right...