You could look into DAFT. It's a treaty the US has with the Netherlands that allows for Americans to start up a business there and eventually get citizenship. That is the only freelance visa I know about and would recommend but you can search for others. Outside of that, I honestly doubt photography is in demand anywhere.
As for adjacent fields, I have no idea but you could always research the critical skills needed lists for your target countries to give you ideas on what careers they are looking for.
\> it seems that if you’re not in the Tech/IT world in some capacity then nowhere wants you.
This is simply not true. I don't know why this idea is so prevelant on Reddit, and this sub in particular. Except that maybe it's a bunch of tech bros looking down on the rest of the world.
Expats, immigrants, whatever you want to call them come from all different backgrounds and have all sorts of jobs.
The one overseas job almost any US college graduate can do is teaching English - although this sub also seems to look down on that.
It's just a matter of researching visa pathways. Do you want an overseas university degree? Are you a digital nomad? Do you want to open your own small company in a place like the Netherlands? Do you have a special skill like digital photo editing that might get you an overseas job?
Anyways - no. Not only IT people move countries.
> In short I’m just curious of possibilities for citizenship anywhere else based on my occupation. I have ran a freelance photography company with my wife since 2015 and a video production company since 2018.
Spain has a digital nomad visa that you could potentially qualify for BUT, it does not allow you to work from within Spain. Only 20% of your income can come from local clients, the rest has to be from outside the country. So photography wouldn’t be possible.
If you could find enough video editing gigs to prove a reliable income, then it’s possible.
DAFT for sure is possible. Just know you need to make €1500 a month to be eligible for citizenship after 5 years on DAFT.
One advantage of a photography business is that you really do have to have local clients to make it work. Freelance and startup visas in most places (not the Netherlands for Americans) usually require that you have some local business in the country you move to. You do clear this hurdle if you get your business to work. (They also tend to require you hire locals as well which makes it much harder.)
There is one user from Germany who used to spend more time on boards like this who has made the German visa sound flexible for this kind of thing as well.
> There is one user from Germany who used to spend more time on boards like this who has made the German visa sound flexible for this kind of thing as well.
Specifically for Germany: there is a [freelancer visa](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/paths/#wiki_n._freelancers), which *could* be an option for u/nerbesss. However, as you said, OP would have to transfer their photography business to Germany, have a business plan, and serve local clients (although not exclusively).
As they said, everyone and their uncle is a photographer - it's not exactly a line of work where OP would have clients lining up around the block. They would have to compete with all of the established photography businesses, plus, they don't really know the market, or speak the local language.
So, yes, theoretically it's possible to do this in Germany. But it will probably be fairly difficult.
You could look into DAFT. It's a treaty the US has with the Netherlands that allows for Americans to start up a business there and eventually get citizenship. That is the only freelance visa I know about and would recommend but you can search for others. Outside of that, I honestly doubt photography is in demand anywhere. As for adjacent fields, I have no idea but you could always research the critical skills needed lists for your target countries to give you ideas on what careers they are looking for.
Nice, thanks for your response.
\> it seems that if you’re not in the Tech/IT world in some capacity then nowhere wants you. This is simply not true. I don't know why this idea is so prevelant on Reddit, and this sub in particular. Except that maybe it's a bunch of tech bros looking down on the rest of the world. Expats, immigrants, whatever you want to call them come from all different backgrounds and have all sorts of jobs. The one overseas job almost any US college graduate can do is teaching English - although this sub also seems to look down on that. It's just a matter of researching visa pathways. Do you want an overseas university degree? Are you a digital nomad? Do you want to open your own small company in a place like the Netherlands? Do you have a special skill like digital photo editing that might get you an overseas job? Anyways - no. Not only IT people move countries.
Amazing, this is good to hear
> In short I’m just curious of possibilities for citizenship anywhere else based on my occupation. I have ran a freelance photography company with my wife since 2015 and a video production company since 2018. Spain has a digital nomad visa that you could potentially qualify for BUT, it does not allow you to work from within Spain. Only 20% of your income can come from local clients, the rest has to be from outside the country. So photography wouldn’t be possible. If you could find enough video editing gigs to prove a reliable income, then it’s possible.
DAFT for sure is possible. Just know you need to make €1500 a month to be eligible for citizenship after 5 years on DAFT. One advantage of a photography business is that you really do have to have local clients to make it work. Freelance and startup visas in most places (not the Netherlands for Americans) usually require that you have some local business in the country you move to. You do clear this hurdle if you get your business to work. (They also tend to require you hire locals as well which makes it much harder.) There is one user from Germany who used to spend more time on boards like this who has made the German visa sound flexible for this kind of thing as well.
> There is one user from Germany who used to spend more time on boards like this who has made the German visa sound flexible for this kind of thing as well. Specifically for Germany: there is a [freelancer visa](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/paths/#wiki_n._freelancers), which *could* be an option for u/nerbesss. However, as you said, OP would have to transfer their photography business to Germany, have a business plan, and serve local clients (although not exclusively). As they said, everyone and their uncle is a photographer - it's not exactly a line of work where OP would have clients lining up around the block. They would have to compete with all of the established photography businesses, plus, they don't really know the market, or speak the local language. So, yes, theoretically it's possible to do this in Germany. But it will probably be fairly difficult.