“Working remotely is the most viable first step”

Creative Career Conundrums is a weekly advice column from If You Could Jobs. Each week their selected panel of professionals from the creative industry answers your burning career questions to help you navigate the creative journey.

This week’s question: 

“How do I secure an international job?

I am an independent graphic designer from Mumbai, India. The core issue at hand is that I want to get a job abroad – preferably in Europe. So how do I go about this? Emails usually get lost. Portfolios are never fully viewed. How do I get a studio or agency to consider me as a worthy candidate?”

Kat Wong, founder of career change platform Oh Yeah:

You’re right, the issue is not the portfolio, but also the actual logistics of working abroad. And the first factor for a move like this? Visas.

Any studio, or workplace for that matter, simply cannot sponsor a work visa that easily. It’s both a laborious process and expensive. Even for big, global organisations, it’s hard to justify a visa for a role outside a formal job offer. Even for internal candidates, relocation budgets are a big consideration, which always comes with a hefty price tag.

However, the route to building some experience working for a European company is actually possible, depending on what you’re working towards. Working remotely is the most viable first step. Many studios will be more open to taking on a remote freelancer long before they’ll commit to sponsoring someone they’ve never worked with before. This is where you can build trust, a track record and a reputation over time. And if a role does come up in that company, you’ll be in a much better position to have the relocation conversation. 

You can also look into self-sponsored routes, an area which requires specific knowledge, but start by exploring current self-employment visas. This includes Germany’s Freiberufler visa, where freelancers – such as artists or those in other liberal professions – may apply for a residence permit for freelance work, provided you have the means or the income to support yourself. This is where you’ll have more ability to move on the strength of your own client base rather than waiting for someone to open the door for you.  

When you’re on track to get the visa, you can reach out to your ideal range of studios with your portfolio (Katie Cadwell is your brilliant, go-to source for advice on this!). You’ll be in a far stronger position to remove any visa hesitation for them by sharing that you can start remotely now – and that you’re pursuing a freelance visa for Germany. It signals that the hard part is already being handled.

If getting a Master’s degree is something you’ve been thinking about, then applying for one in the EU can open up the possibilities of building up a local network, opening up a better path to work, as well as the visa to study. This route is slower (and yes, still costly), but again, this could be another area of exploration for you. 

Knowing these routes upfront can help you clarify what you want to aim for and why. It’ll sharpen your approach to job hunting, which I hope, in turn, will give you more energy to focus back on the visionary work itself. 

In answering your creative career conundrums we realise that some issues need expert support, so we’ve collated a list of additional resources that can support you across things that might arise at work.

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