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I am from India, and noticed some of these jobs are with companies in foreign countries. So do these companies provide visas for experienced programmers from foreign countries?

Should the companies advertising on Careers 2.0 include information about visas for potential foreign workers?

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    The default answer is likely to be "no" - unless it's explicitly stated.
    – Pekka
    Feb 17, 2014 at 14:37
  • I would add that it would be a useful feature as SO Careers advertise jobs from various different countries and in some of those employers might be willing to get candidate from outside.
    – Syed Ali
    Mar 17, 2015 at 16:59

4 Answers 4

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To help clear confusion, having listing and company pages state explicitly if they are willing to help foreign nationals to obtain the necessary work visas would be helpful. I'm not sure where this falls on the priority list, but it's a good IMO.

In the meantime, unless stated otherwise assume it is your responsibility to gain the necessary paperwork.

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As an expat for over a decade, most overseas employers I have dealt with expect that you have permission to work in the country you are applying for unless they specifically state otherwise.

The visa application process can be dramatically different depending on both source and destination countries, and can take significant amounts of money and time. Depending on the details, some companies may be open to accepting applicants even with those hurdles, but unless they specifically state that they are willing to do that, you are best off asking them directly as Maroun suggests.

A good signal to guess which ones would be more amenable to the idea would be companies which offer relocation assistance (since it means they are willing to invest in finding the right person even if it has additional up-front cost). Note that all things being equal, you are likely to get passed over for a candidate with working permission.

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To work for a foreign employer, you'll need a work visa (very few exceptions to this), and to get a work visa, you will need a job offer to be submitted with your visa papers or in some other countries the employer will set this up for you in the host country. So the employer will have to provide the visa, either directly (by applying for you in the foreign country) or indirectly (by sending you a job off or invitation letter), this depends on the rules of the country. Of course this in case the employer is seeking foreign employees, if you are finding a job abroad while the company is seeking local hires, then expect nothing, unless they really need you.

An exception to above would be when you are already in the foreign country, working for another employer, then this depends from one country to another, but usually it is simple in this case, you will only have to change the employer information at some government office.

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  • How would one go for obtaining work visa. I thought its the collusion of employer/foreign govt who provides you with it after you have been selected to work for that employer. Are you suggesting that one can simply get a foreign 'work visa' and then use it in future if you wish to work abroad. Sounds like a 'passport' .
    – Sarabjeet
    Feb 17, 2014 at 12:45
  • I was talking about the process. Sometimes the process is done at embassies and sometime its done at the host country. Anyway, some visas (like the green card) allows you to work without knowing the employer in advance. Feb 17, 2014 at 13:39
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I don't think there is a "yes/no" answer for your question.

This totally depends on the company itself. Some companies might give visas some might not, if it's not specified, just ask them and you'll get an answer.

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  • but how on earth can you work for a company if they don't give you a visa ?? Am I misunderstanding something ?
    – Sarabjeet
    Feb 17, 2014 at 12:47
  • Well.. sometimes you can work from home.
    – Maroun
    Feb 17, 2014 at 12:50

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