Work & Study Abroad
As personally rewarding and enriching as travel is, spending a longer amount of time in a culture is ultimately the best way to get to know it. When you spend more than a few days or weeks in a country, you begin to experience the pulse of a culture in ways you never could just being a passing traveler. Spending a longer amount of time in a place will open you up to new friends, business contacts, and perhaps even a little romance. If you want to learn a new language, spending time in a country that speaks that language is the fastest way to achieve fluency. In short, spending a longer amount of time in a new culture may be one of the best investments you ever make in yourself.
Working Abroad
If you want to work abroad, there are numerous ways to approach the process. If your main goal is to travel as much and as long as possible, working short-term jobs as a way to fund further travel may be just the thing for you. Traveling can sometimes leave you weary from too much moving around. Spending some time in one place for awhile is a great way to ground yourself, make some money, and recharge your batteries.
If your aim is to save money, it is crucial to think about where you work. The ideal job would be one that pays you in a hard currency (i.e. US dollars, British pounds, euros, Japanese yen, etc.) AND allows you to save some money. Bear in mind that local rates in many countries will enable you to have a decent life in the country but may not enable you to save much money, especially after converting your earnings into hard currency. Interestingly, many people find that they are able to save quite a bit of money by living overseas—even more than they can in their own country. If you just want the experience of living in a particular culture and money is not an issue, then go where you feel called.
Some countries will arrange for you to get a work visa fairly easily—particularly if you have a skill that a local person cannot do (i.e. technical skill, being a native English speaker, etc.). Other times, to protect its own jobs, a country will make it very hard for you to get a work visa.
In countries where getting a work visa is difficult, many people often work illegally. If you are caught working illegally, you could face a steep fine, get permanently banned from the country, or even do some jail time. The mind-boggling bureaucracy in some places virtually assures any work visa takes years to get, if it can be gotten at all. In the meantime, many people often work illegally and many employers don’t seem to mind circumventing the bureaucracy as well—and even paying you under the table. If you plan to work illegally, know the potential consequences. You don’t want to get permanently banned from a place you like, or worse. We do not advocate working illegally or breaking the law in any way.