[scarface_74]

And now you are in another country completely dependent on your employer in the US for your livelihood. The same set of companies that are laying people off left and right. I would much rather be in the US looking for a job if I got laid off than in another country as a US citizen.

[bravura]

You seem to be unaware that worker protections against layoffs can be much stronger in many European countries.

[edit: Also, you can always move back to the US and get a new job.]

[tech_lizzard]

It takes me about 6 weeks to find a similar job on my job hunts. Another remote US job while living remotely via digital nomad visa seems like the way to do it. Another route would be to go to Netherlands, and if a layoff did happen, do DAFT entrepreneur visa and work the shiz out of asking businesses for contracts to do web development , build infra, database inventory, and such. I feel confident this is a good plan so far.

* and yes, moving back to the US is a possibility should all else fail.

[scarface_74]

Have you looked for a remote software developer job during the past 2-3 years? Every application gets thousands of applications and it’s almost impossible to stand out from the crowd. Those were my “Plan B” jobs when I was looking both last year and the year before. I was able to find remote jobs quickly both times for my Plan A jobs[1]. But I have specialized experience for the type of jobs I was looking for.

It has never taken me more than a month from looking for a job to finding one and that’s been across 10 jobs since 1996 and 8 of those were post 2008.

The second problem is that a lot of companies, especially BigTech companies, are forcing either a hybrid or full in office schedule.

The third problem is that most companies aren’t set up to hire people from just anywhere

[1] Plan A jobs were strategic cloud consulting jobs where I work with sales to get clients and then lead the projects. These days, even AWS Professional Services (former employer)and GCPs departments are requiring their “field by design” roles to be in the office when they are not at a customer’s site.

[bravura]

I think you missed my point. One of the reasons it's difficult to get good employment with an EU-based company is because it's also harder to terminate you.

Germany: Requires extensive justification for firing, works council approval, and mandates reinstatement for wrongful termination. Employer bears heavy burden of proof.

France: Must prove "real and serious cause," follow strict procedural steps, and provide mandatory tenure-based severance. Special protections for worker representatives.

Netherlands: Unique system requiring pre-approval from government agency or court before any dismissal. Heavy emphasis on severance.

Italy: Article 18 mandates justified grounds (economic or disciplinary) for firing. Court-ordered reinstatement common, especially in large companies.

Belgium: Requires detailed dismissal grounds and long notice periods up to 15 months. Mandatory outplacement services.