Depending on where you live, your nationality and your financial status, you will find it easier or harder to move to and work in a European country (or from one to another).


If you have at least EUR 100 000 in the bank, you will experience few problems in obtaining a visa or a residents’ permit in most countries; in fact, controversial “golden visa” scheme are operated in a number of countries through which wealthy “investors” are speedily granted long-term visas. At the same time, many countries have stopped issuing visas to foreign nationals who are already within their borders. Take the example of someone who is visiting their family on a tourist visa and wishes to stay longer; this person must then leave the country and apply for a new visa, with all the costs and stresses of separation this would entail. Strict regulations have been placed on transport companies to ensure that they carry only passengers with the right to enter a particular country. A company in breach of the regulations is liable to be fined and must cover the costs of repatriating the passengers concerned.

Unless you work for a large transnational company, you will have major problems in obtaining permission to live and work in any of the countries within the European Economic Area (EEA). However, nationals of those countries are allowed to move relatively freely from one country to another. Although regulations do differ in nuance, the basic challenges remain similar. If you want to stay in one of these countries legally, you will need to bear in mind some of the following:

  • A residence permit. This will be granted if you have already obtained a work permit.
  • An employment contract with a recognised business. Without this you cannot obtain a work permit.
  • The work permit will only be granted if the employer can prove that nobody in the host population could do the job.
  • Official procedures and delays in gaining work permits dissuade many employers from even attempting to recruit third country nationals.
  • If, in the meantime, you start working before being granted official permission, you risk immediate expulsion from the country.
  • Some crimes can only be committed by foreigners. Legal regulations change and it will be your responsibility to ensure that you conform to them.