Study to Get a Job Abroad: Relocation via the Educational Path
Most people expect relocation to start with a job offer, but there's another way in.
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When people ask me about ways to relocate, they usually expect me to start with the classic route: get a job offer first, get the visa after that, move and work there.
But there are other ways to get in, and one is studying. Recently, I spoke to an engineer who, without tuition fees, used the educational path to move to the Netherlands, and his story shows how reliable this option can be.
Expats like him enter the country with a student residence permit and use that time to build the foundation that later supports a work visa and, in some cases, even citizenship.
I like the educational path because it moves at a steady pace. Now, with this, I’m not implying it’s a shortcut, but instead, a different door to enter relocation. And maybe, this is the route that could work best for you. To show you what I mean, I’ll share a story from an engineer who took this path in the Netherlands. His experience explains the whole thing better than any general advice I could give.
A brief breakdown of educational paths
Before I start with the story, let me give you a short, scannable list of some educational paths. Some you might already have heard about.
MBA programs: often expensive, but strong for networking and employer access, especially in the US. If you get into a top-university MBA, you can get a financing agreement to help pay for your tuition fees, so you don’t need to have those 200k in your savings account.
Master’s programs: common in Europe and Canada. Often paired with post-study work rights.
PhDs: longer and research-focused. Not ideal if the primary goal is fast entry into the industry. But some consulting firms in the US, like BCG, seem to hire PhDs for consulting roles.
Engineering Doctorates / applied doctorates: A quite unknown path that is usually confused with a PhD, but it’s actually a hybrid study–work program that can count as employment and residency time (like the Dutch example) and for which you can get paid.
Who is the educational path for? (And, who is it not for?)
The engineer I spoke with had already finished his engineering degree some years ago and had already been working for a few years.
I know “studying” has a “you must be young!” ring to it, but… This path isn’t only for early-career professionals. For many experienced developers, going to university is a legal and organized way to enter a new country. They bring years of work experience with them, and that makes them attractive to the local market.
This route works best for professionals who already have work experience, are willing to plan several years ahead, and see education as a strategic step toward relocation.
If your main goal is speed, or if you’re still unclear about what you want to do professionally, this path may feel heavy or slow.
How he found the program that became his way into Europe 🇪🇺🇳🇱
I recently spoke with an engineer from South America who studied in Europe, got work there, and is now a Dutch citizen. Yes, he has a passport from the Netherlands. This means he can work in Amsterdam, Madrid, Munich, or Limassol alike. And six years ago, he had not a single one of these privileges. He didn’t even speak Dutch!
Back in 2019, this engineer knew he wanted to work in Europe. He had no job offer, no contact, not a single hint of where to put his efforts. But he knew his priority was work rather than studying, considering he has spent so many years earning his Engineering degree, and considering he wanted to earn some euros.
So he thought to himself, “Okay, maybe a master’s program is my way in.” And from there he started searching with a very practical mindset: Programs in Europe (any country) that would let him live there, and ideally work there, for a short period.
Traditional PhDs felt too long for him and too research-heavy. He told me, “research, PhD type, seemed like a lot to me.” So he kept digging until he found a program in the Netherlands, specifically in the Eindhoven University of Technology called an Engineering Doctorate, a paid traineeship with a two-year track. No tuition fees, and you actually get paid. (In some countries, a PhD is informally called a doctorate, so his Engineer Doctorate program looks disorienting, but it’s a whole different thing from a PhD.)
Now, read this: The doctorate consisted of one year of studying and one year of working inside a real company. So yes, the program already included the “working” section, and they just about solved finding the first job for candidates. When he explained it to me, it sounded like he had found a bridge between being a student and being a worker.
And here’s the part about spending two years in the country that many expats might find interesting. Now that the program’s over, he stressed how the Dutch government counted those two years of the program as actual work for the five-year residency period needed before applying for citizenship. That’s when the “bridge” image flipped in my mind and became a fast-track commuter train toward European citizenship. This commuter train my friend took had a clear route, a planned stop inside a company, and it started counting his residency time from day one (and trust me on this one, this last detail is everything because it means he never had to pause the entire ride).
So he applied, went through a couple of interviews, got accepted, and moved to Europe. And from the moment he arrived, the structure worked in his favor. He earned his degree, yes, but he also quietly built the kind of foundation that would have taken him years to build if he tried moving through a regular international job search. Plus…
…the safety net he had in case things didn’t move fast
There was also a safety net that I suspect many candidates don’t know about. If he finished the program and couldn’t find a job right away, he could use a type of government salary for up to a year to stay in the country while seeking employment. But that year didn’t count toward the five-year residency requirement, and you can only use this card once. He called it a double-edged sword. In his case, he never needed it because he began applying for jobs almost a year before finishing his doctorate.
This is something I always emphasize when I talk to candidates who’re looking to get permanent residency. You require continuity. He understood that those two years counted toward citizenship, so he made sure there were no gaps. He said, “A year before finishing my contract, I already started looking for work.” When the program ended, he already had several job offers lined up. He stepped straight into a full-time role, stayed employed for the full five-year period, and today he lives near Rotterdam as a Dutch citizen with a European passport.
Choose your education wisely!
Of course, this path isn’t automatic. It’s possible to mess up the process by picking a program with weak industry ties, waiting too long to start looking for work, or having breaks between permits. Having a degree doesn’t guarantee a job. Timing and consistency (and applying for jobs!) are also important.
A quick word about relocation to the United States via the educational path 🇺🇸
I’m mentioning the US here because many people discuss it when we talk about studying as a way to relocate. It’s a usual reference point. And yes, moving-to-the-US-by-studying is a real path. People do an MBA or a master’s program, and they use their Optional Practical Training (OPT) year afterward to get work experience.
International students (expats) can use OPT to find temporary work related to their major for up to 12 months. The normal length is one year, but graduates with STEM degrees can get an extra 24 months. Those who are eligible must send in their application no later than 60 days after the end of their program, but no earlier than 90 days before they graduate. There were over 1.5 million active foreign students in the US in 2024, and the government reported a more than 50% increase in STEM OPT authorizations in 2024, which shows that this path is getting a lot of attention. (Students seem to be using this to bridge the gap between getting their degree and getting a long-term work visa like the H-1B.) So this means that, as a STEM graduate, you can live and work in the United States for three years. Sounds promising, right?
But I want to be honest with you. This route can be expensive. Some master’s programs reach two hundred thousand dollars, and even the “cheaper” ones add up quickly once you include living expenses. And if your plan is permanent residency or citizenship, it’s a long road ahead. If you read the guide Relocate.me published on US citizenship, you’ll see it can take even more than ten years from the moment you begin with a study program until you’re a US citizen. (Of course, you don’t need to be a US citizen to live and work legally there, but keep in mind how it might take twice the effort compared to being a Dutch citizen.)
I don’t want to scare anybody away here. I just want to put the US path in its proper context because sometimes people think it’s the only viable or familiar option. And it’s not (not even close).
If you look at countries like Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and a bunch of others, you’ll also find paths that can make you work and live abroad. And in some cases, like what happened with the engineer I talked about, the study program already counts as work for residency. That structure saves time, money, and uncertainty. You still need a job afterward, of course. But you apply from inside the country, not from thousands of kilometers away while refreshing job boards at 3 a.m.
I understand you’ll want to live and work in the US, in part, because salaries are so strong. But actually, did you know salaries for software engineers in Switzerland are arguably as good as salaries in the United States? So don’t restrict yourself to studying in the US as the only path for living and working abroad.
Other countries where you can pursue the education path
The engineer I spoke with picked the Netherlands because he found a suitable program there. But similar paths exist in other countries as well as Germany’s post-study work options and Blue Card system, Canada’s post-graduation work permit, France’s temporary residence permits for graduates, and Switzerland’s selective but highly paid tech market.
For example, this graduate completed a Master’s in Management at ESCP Business School in Paris using an apprenticeship track. In France, the apprenticeship track is very similar to the Dutch “paid to study” path. The company pays the student’s tuition and provides a monthly salary while she studies. She did splits: work two days a week, school three days a week, and the company covered the tuition.
After graduating, the student applied for the APS permit (the 12-month job-seeker visa). Within weeks, she received a permanent contract (CDI) from a French insurance company. Because the salary was high enough (over 1.5x the minimum wage), she was able to skip the standard work permit and transition directly into a Talent Passport, which is a 4-year renewable residency permit that doesn’t require “labor market testing” (proving no French person could do the job).
Why recruiters like candidates who choose this route
Do employers always like candidates who are already in the country, already contributing, and already allowed to work? For many jobs, the answer is yes. The reason is quite obvious: it removes a layer of hesitation and a layer of paperwork. And also, it makes the timeline more fluid for everyone involved in the relocation process (for example, if the company wants one more quick conversation, you can just take a bus across town instead of trying to line up a video call from another time zone).
But I personally can tell that not every job works like this. For example, the relocation-friendly jobs I curate for The Global Move, like in my Weekly Hand-Curated Tech Jobs With Relocation: Week 46 newsletter issue, are different. In those cases, companies are actively seeking people from abroad and are ready to help them relocate. So, you don’t necessarily need to study if what you’re looking is for that result. But… the competition is intense because applicants from all over the world are applying for these jobs, together with the local candidates. So, studying abroad gives you an alternative route if the traditional job search route doesn’t work for you for some reason.
Now, if you want to check out this educational route, pay attention to the design of each program. Some include mandatory internships. Others place you inside a company as part of your degree. Some countries let graduates stay and look for work after completing their program. Others convert your permit into a more flexible work visa as soon as you finish. And some, like the Dutch track the engineer took, treat the program almost like the first chapter of your professional contribution to that country, and they actually pay you! The important thing is to choose a program that really fits you. And once it’s in your sights, think a bit ahead, trust your gut, and step into that fast-track commuter train we mentioned earlier.
Are you thinking about taking the educational path for relocation?
If you’re considering relocation, studying abroad can be one of the doors you keep in front of you. It’s far from being the only one, but it’s a solid one. Keep these points in mind:
Choose programs designed to integrate with the local job market
Check whether study time counts toward residency or citizenship
Start applying for jobs well before graduation
Avoid gaps between permits
Treat education as a foundation for relocation, not as an experience
There might be a program that fits your field, gives you work experience, and places you in the country long enough to build the life you want. And if you use that time wisely, you might follow the same steady line this engineer did. He arrived with a student permit, he didn’t shell out a single euro in tuition fees, he got the full year of work in the Netherlands, he searched for jobs early, kept his timeline moving, and five years later he now signs his emails with “greetings from Rotterdam from a Dutch citizen.” (Of course, I made that last part up.)
And since you’re reading The Global Move, a small reminder: this is the space I’m building for people who want to work abroad without getting lost in random job boards or unclear advice. I write regularly about paths that actually lead somewhere, and this educational route is one of them because I keep seeing it work in real life.
If you want updates on countries that welcome international talent, programs that open doors, and jobs that support relocation, this newsletter will help you stay close to the information you need.
So subscribe now to The Global Move for more valuable stories like this one, and a lot of relocation-friendly and visa-sponsorship jobs. Good luck, and I’ll see you in the next issue!