How to Move Abroad with No Money

Let's be honest upfront: moving abroad with zero savings is extremely difficult. Most visa programmes require proof of financial means — bank statements, income letters, or investment deposits. Countries want evidence you won't become a burden on their welfare system.

But "no money" usually means "very little money," not literally zero. And there are legitimate routes that work with minimal savings if you have the right skills, age, or passport. Here's what actually exists.

Routes That Don't Require Savings

Employer-Sponsored Work Visas

If a company in another country offers you a job and sponsors your visa, you typically don't need to show personal savings. The employer handles visa costs and often provides relocation support. The challenge is getting the offer in the first place — employers sponsoring foreign workers usually need to demonstrate they couldn't fill the role locally.

High-demand fields that regularly sponsor internationally include nursing and healthcare, IT and software engineering, construction trades (especially in Australia, Canada, and the Gulf), and teaching (particularly English teaching in Asia and the Middle East). If you have skills in any of these areas, employer sponsorship is by far the most accessible route for moving without savings.

Working Holiday Visas

If you're between 18 and 30 (35 for some countries), Working Holiday Visas are the single best option for moving abroad on a tight budget. Countries including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and several EU nations offer one- or two-year visas that let you work legally to fund your stay.

The financial requirements are modest: Australia asks for about AUD 5,000 (~USD 3,200) in accessible funds. New Zealand requires NZD 4,200 (~USD 2,500). Canada requires CAD 2,500 (~USD 1,800). These aren't trivial amounts, but they're dramatically lower than most other visa categories. And since you can work immediately on arrival, you can sustain yourself from day one.

Teaching English Abroad

Countries like South Korea (EPIK programme), Japan (JET programme), China, Vietnam, and the UAE actively recruit English teachers and provide work visas, flights, and often housing. South Korea's EPIK programme pays KRW 1.8–2.7 million/month (~USD 1,300–1,950), provides free furnished housing, and covers your flight. Japan's JET programme pays ¥3.36 million/year (~USD 22,000) with similar benefits.

Requirements: a bachelor's degree (any field) and being a native English speaker or having near-native fluency. A TEFL certificate (120 hours, available online for USD 200–400) improves your options significantly. These programmes cover your initial relocation costs, making them viable even with very little savings.

Au Pair Programmes

Au pair visas exist in many European countries, the US, and Australia. You live with a host family, help with childcare, and receive a stipend plus room and board. It's not a pathway to permanent residency, but it gets you legally into a country with your basic expenses covered. Most programmes accept applicants aged 18–30 and last 6–12 months.

Routes That Need Some Money — But Not Much

Study Visas with Work Rights

In countries like Germany and Norway, public universities charge zero or minimal tuition (Germany charges about €300/semester in fees; Norway is free for all nationalities). You'll need to prove about €11,208/year in a blocked account for Germany, but you can work 20 hours/week during term and full-time during breaks. If your field leads to a skilled job, Germany offers an 18-month job-seeking visa after graduation.

Ancestry and Heritage Visas

If you have a grandparent (or in some cases, great-grandparent) from Ireland, Italy, Poland, Hungary, or several other countries, you may be eligible for citizenship by descent — which costs nothing beyond paperwork and processing fees. Italian citizenship by descent, for example, costs roughly €300 in documents and apostilles, plus consulate fees. Once you have EU citizenship, you can live and work in any of 27 EU countries with no financial requirements whatsoever.

Skilled Migration Points Systems

Canada's Express Entry and Australia's Skilled Migration (subclass 189/190) assess your age, education, work experience, and language ability rather than your savings. You do need to cover application fees (Canada: ~CAD 2,000; Australia: ~AUD 4,000) and settlement funds, but the financial bar is much lower than investment or self-employment visas.

What Won't Work

Overstaying a tourist visa. This is the route many people consider and some take. It's illegal everywhere, it destroys your ability to get future visas, and in many countries it leads to deportation and multi-year bans. Whatever your financial situation, this creates more problems than it solves.

Moving to a country with no visa route and hoping for the best. Immigration enforcement varies by country, but the trend everywhere is toward stricter enforcement, digital tracking, and employer penalties. Building a life on an unstable legal foundation means living with constant risk.

Marriage for a visa. Immigration authorities in most developed countries are very experienced at detecting marriages of convenience. The interviews are thorough, the penalties for fraud are severe, and it ties your immigration status to another person's goodwill.

The Honest Bottom Line

You don't need to be rich to move abroad, but you do need to be strategic. The cheapest routes — Working Holiday Visas, employer sponsorship, teaching programmes — all require something other than money: youth, skills, education, or the right passport. If you have any of those, there are real options. If you're older than 35, without a degree, and without in-demand skills, the viable pathways narrow significantly.

The best investment you can make with limited funds is in yourself: a TEFL certificate, a trade qualification, or language skills that open visa routes that don't depend on your bank balance.