Do you enjoy dark and cold weather?
https://www.thelocal.se/20201103/how-americans-can-move-to-sweden-usa-permit
this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025
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Are you looking for just any job? Then it will be difficult.
Are you specialized in some way? Then you might have better chances. But as someone else said, the company would need a reason to hire you instead of someone just around the corner.
From the experience of a friend of mine: if you are of European descent, try finding out about your lineage and if that can somehow get you a European citizenship.
A friend of mine, who is Mexican, wanted to remain in Germany after finishing her Master's degree, since she had a German boyfriend and generally believed her prospects were better here. While it's possible for non EU citizens to get a work visa, the requirements are very high. She ended up applying for Spanish citizenship, since one of her grandparents had emigrated from Spain. After getting the Spanish EU citizenship, everything was a breeze. She didn't need any further paperwork, could remain in Germany indefinitely and apply for any job that doesn't specifically require German citizenship (such as some public service jobs).
Similarly another friend of mine, who is Brazilian, now holds German citizenship, despite not speaking a single word of German. He's fluent in French though and has found work in Luxembourg easily.
Therefore, if at all possible, try getting any EU citizenship via your grandparents/great grandparents. It will open the door to living and working in any EU country without ever needing a visa or work permit.
Firstly, you should think about the area you want to move to. Accordingly, you may need to learn languages. In the UK, the Nordic countries and Germany, you can get by well with English. In France, however, French is usually a must.
There are a few US-Americans working here in Luxembourg (mainly in banking and IT). English is often sufficient for professional purposes here. Privately, at least one other language is important (French, German or Luxembourgish). In a public school, children learn all three languages. There are a number of immigrants here who no longer understand their children.
All in all, it is still possible. Take a look around the job portals and simply apply.
Are you moving to Europe or trying to find a job in Europe while living in the US?
I think moving to Europe is really the only option unless the EU company has a US entity.
What languages do you speak?
I bet an American would put down their second language as British and think that would work.
What languages would be best honestly? I'd like to be prepared before they come for me.
Generally speaking, the best bet is French due to the large community of speakers (including also Belgium, Luxemburg and QuΓ©bec), the relative ease of getting French to a usable level, and its usefulness and sought-afterness even outside of francophone countries. Next up would be German with its even larger community of speakers in Europe and economic relevance but higher difficulty. Third I'd say is Spanish, since learning it will also make Italian intelligible to you.
If things get worse in the US, some people who are affected particularly gravely (e.g. trans people) might even be eligible for asylum, which would remove the language requirements (but I'm only speculating here).
While this advise is generally ok, thinking about it as an English speaking immigrant you should probably consider what languages the locals speak. For example, while it is nice to be able to speak English with more or less anyone in the Netherlands, it also means that your ability to speak English fluently is in very low demand. While in some other country being able to speak English might be more apprechated in an new employee.
What about English? Or does Ireland not accept American immigrants?
Ireland is a poor choice because of English speaking immigrants flooding in. You will immediately be thrown into the shittiest housing market in Europe while also dealing with the most underdeveloped transport system of any European capital. The country has seen population growth far in excess of what the government was able to handle. There is not one efficient state service other than taxation and the passport office. Investment in ETFs is effectively banned. The weather is also shit.
I suspect though that there are already a lot of applicants, given that Ireland is the only remaining country in the EU that has English as its main language, so the competition may be especially hard. But that's not to say it's impossible.
If you can prove your family is from Ireland, e.g. your grandparent was born there... Then Ireland gives you preference when applying
If you don't already speak it, its probably too late at this point to gain the level of proficiency they will want.
Whether language proficiency is needed beforehand depends a lot on the precise European country (and on the profession(s) OP would like to work in, and on what other skills they possess).
English, and I am currently learning Spanish.
I don't want to demoralize you just to be realistic. Those languages aren't getting you very far (maybe try in Ireland or malta), English proficiency in the eu isn't great. Also those fields you listed are super saturated.
When you say remote do you mean working from the states? A European wage with American CoL? I think many Americans think we're paid the same as them. We are not. A waiter in the us prolly makes more than a (medical) doctor or an engineer over here, and I'm not talking about fresh out of college.
Hotels, bars, restaurants in some touristy areas in Spain (east coast, Mallorca, Ibiza..) do hire native English speakers. Also teaching English as a second language. But I'm not sure you'll get many offers without being already here.
Iβd say that at least central and Northern Europe is VERY proficient in English.
More than the south sure. As a tourist you wouldn't have any difficulty getting directions or ordering at restaurants or things like that. Places where you can work effectively without any knowledge of the local language are more difficult to find. And those are the hardest countries to get in as a migrant.
Cant really agree to this. IT is full of pure english speaking projects. I even know some where everyone is German but talking in English. Without the proper connections, its gonna be hard to find something though. I agree that it would be much easier to move here first. I dont even really understand what youre gonna do with a EU job living in the US. Thats kind of the opposite of what I would do given the current situation.
Well in Germany there's a greater percentage of English speakers than in other European countries, I don't think there are many teams in Spain, Italy or France speaking in English.
I'm not in IT so my knowledge is not first hand but I do know that while there are jobs the competition is crazy, job offers for a single position or two get thousands of applications. For a company to hire someone on the other side of the pond op would have to really stand out from the other thousand applicants.
I could work remotely from the states, but it's just difficult trying to find opportunities. A European wage might actually be higher than I make now, so not too concerned about that. I did look at getting a TEFL certificate as that can allow me to work abroad and make some money, but I'm not sure if I could make it as a teacher. So, I'm back to square one, I guess.
That's a good basis. With spanish knowledge you have a bonus in Spain, Andorra, Gibraltar, Italy and Switzerland.
Companies tend to outsource jobs to cheaper countries, so unless you got some super special rare skills that can't be found anywhere in Europe or you want to compete with Indians for a crap hotline job, I'm afraid you''re out of luck. Also as far as I know (this might be outdated information though) as an US citizen you're required to pay income tax in the US no matter where in there world you're working, meaning you'd be paying income tax twice, in the EU and the US.
US citizens are required to file but, depending upon income, don't need to pay anything. It does make contributing to US retirement vehicles a lot more difficult since many need to be contributions on taxable income. Citizens also need to be super careful about trying to use foreign retirement schemes like ISAs and the like because of PFIC rules.
~ US citizen living in Japan.
Nobody hires you because of whatever you are running away from.
If you get hired, it is because of 1. what skills and experiences you bring with you, 2. how well these fit to the open position, and 3. how much of it you can prove (should be 100% - you better don't claim it if you can't prove it).
One very, very, veryvery important "extra question" is the language skill. It is not because we Europeans would emphasize language, but because the language skills are missing so often with immigrants.
You could also consider working an american job remotely in Europe
working an american job remotely in Europe
Very unlikely. The administrative tasks around tax and social insurance are extremely difficult to do for American companies in America (just imagine learning the neccessary "legalese" in a foreign language), and they take a good share of the salary, which comes as a surprise to most. But if you try to "simply" ignore it all, you become several kinds of criminal.
Americans have to file taxes with the IRS regardless of who is paying them and where the company is based. There are tax breaks available (on taxes owed to the US) if you are living and paying taxes in europe to avoid double taxation for the most part. It makes the paperwork a little more tricky but itβs still done frequently and isnβt βvery unlikely.β The most difficult part isnβt your american taxes itβs making sure youβre paying taxes correctly in your new country. It will make it easier if you work for a multinational company (like Schneider Electric USA, for example) where they already know the ins and outs of taxation in both countries, but Iβve known people to do this out of smaller companies as well.
The most difficult part isnβt your american taxes itβs making sure youβre paying taxes correctly in your new country.
Not the taxes. It is the mandatory health insurance, old age insurance, unemployment insurance etc. and I was saying that in case the employer is in America and has no clue about such duties.
It will make it easier if you work for a multinational company
Yes, for sure.
You need to be much more specific. You need to say what your exact job will be and have a solid reason as to why the European company couldn't hire a European to do it. This isn't a choice thing, this is a legal requirement to get a work visa. You need a real qualification.
I think an important factor for standing out from the local applicants could be the potential domain knowledge you bring to the table.
Plenty of developers around. But a developer with extensive knowledge and experience with, for example, specific logistic chains is a lot harder to find. In my (limited) experience it is often a reason why an exception for hiring foreign talent is made.
Skills can be learned with a course and a certificate, but domain knowledge comes from hard earned experience in specific industries.