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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Dental Hygiene
Hi All! So I am a dental hygienist that is desperatley wanting to move to western Europe. No reason per say except that I am just in need of change I guess. I hear that it is very hard to get a work visa or even find my type of work in some countries in Europe. Even if you are not a dental hygienist any advice about finding work in the EU, etc, living in a foreign country or getting visas would be greatly appreciated. And if it matters my husband is a software engineer.
Thanks!
Re: Dental Hygiene
Are you looking at a specific country? To be honest, your husband will probably have better chances at getting a job than you will, but the visa conditions can be very different from country to country even though they (almost) all are in the EU. My suggestion is that you make a list of your preferred countries and then get to reading about their immigration and visa laws. In many you'll probably have to have a company sponsor your visa, and work as a dental hygienist will likely require you to speak the language of whereever you're going, so that will be an important factor (unless you can find a dentist who caters to ex-pats).
Also, remember that if your husband were to find a job here, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to work. Again, laws differ from country to country, but in Germany the spouse of a foreigner who comes over on a work visa is not allowed to work (We have at least one such case on this board. She decided to use the time to have a baby :-)). That means that you can't count on you finding a job from the States and then your husband finding one after you've moved here to help support you. If you decide to move and are able to get a work visa, make sure it's for a job that pays enough to support both of you in case the other one can't find or isn't allowed to work. Look into cost of living in the area, of course, since that varies widely as well.
Good luck, and if you have any more specific questions (especially once you've narrowed down countries), let us know. Specific questions are much easier to answer than "I'd like to move to Europe" questions!
There are a lot of countries in western Europe.
You've been around here long enough to know this means England.
Word.
Your H might have some skills an international company wants, but even then he'd most likely have to 1) work for the company in the U.S. first 2) prove himself there 3) have an international opportunity come up and 4) seize the opportunity.
As for you, healthcare certifications are so different in among countries it might take years for you to be approved to work in your field.
If you're serious about moving abroad, see if you qualify for BUNAC or other similar exchange programs. Even then, you might be working in low skill/low wage jobs, rather than your chosen field.
I will quote again for emphasis:
You know how America doesn't let in anybody who damn well feels like coming in? Europe is the same way. Can it be done? Yes. Is it easy?
Hell naw.
It is not easy to live abroad. You will need to speak another language, unless by some chance you get hired by a company that speaks English.
Europe is also in a financial crisis right now which wouldn't be the best time to try to find a job.
Have you researched living in Europe? Have you been to Europe? Which country would you like to move? Do you speak another language? Does your husband speak another language? Can you handle being away from everything you've known? Can you handle not seeing family and friends for months or even years on end?
This probably a better bet. Both of you could be applying for jobs. Whomever gets a good job offer first you can both go there and the other pursue opportunites once on site. As long as the job offer covers bringing a spouse only one of you needs a job for the initial move.
That's everything I thought but didn't say.
This, except that dental hygiene jobs overseas are typically contract positions, not GS, so not filled via usajobs.com. The contracts are held currently by TCMP Health Services, Inc.
And wow: so much pessimism about moving overseas around these parts...
ETA: FWIW, some people DO just get up and move to Europe. Just because that wasn't your path doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Just my 2c.
It's more realism.
How do people just get up and move to Europe with no visa and/or job?
Maybe it's your reality, but not for all.
Yes, you'd need a job. A visa? Not necessarily.
You agreed with a pp who had a loooooong list of reasons that the OP wouldn't be able to find work and/or move to Europe. (i.e. possibly having to take low-wage jobs, having to work and 'prove' him/herself to a US employer before possibly getting the chance to work overseas, etc.) But it's not necessarily true for all jobs and employers, particularly the field that the pp has licensure in. Why the pessimism? Because you made it work for you noone else can? Also, the 'there are many countries in Europe', 'you know that means England' seemed, well, pretty condescending. There's nothing wrong with being open to living in a few different countries, finding an opportunity in one and taking it. JMO.
Who are you?
Are you handing out the hall passes on this board?
Just someone with a different opinion. And different information about the OPs question than you were able to provide.
And I might know a thing or two about living in Europe, as well.
I am not sure how it works for your field but if you go for work it mostly comes down to how deficit your field is in the particular country. I live in The Netherlands and in my field (engineering research) in The Netherlands it is actually quite easy, we get people from all over the world all the time because there are not enough electrical engineers in NL. So I agree with the previous poster that it might be easier for your husband to get a job and then you might be able to work too. Again, in NL since a few years ago there is so-called knowledge migrant programme which makes the visa process much easier and allows spouses to work.
Good luck!
You haven't shared any of your information though. Please do! Avion gave the OP some other options to look into.
I didn't just decide that I wanted to move to England. We were sent by H's company that he already worked for in the US.
That
was condescending. 
What European countries do not require a visa or work permit to live and work there?
The thing is, on this board, I would say at least once a month (if not more) we get a new poster who is all "Hey! I went to London once in 11th grade and OMG I loved it so so much and now my dh and I want to move there, and we have no family ties and no job but I know it will totally work out because we love all things British and oh, by the way, do you know any loopholes that can get us the visa more easily? Yay! Yay! Free healthcare! Fish and chips! Olympics! Whoo hoo!"
So, 90% of the time, 'Europe' = 'England' and 90% of the time they have no job leads or ways to get a visa.
And, fwiw, most of us on here are either married to someone from overseas (hence a marriage visa), a job that transfered us overseas (a work visa) or were born overseas (dual citizenship).
Good point. I know in the UK many dentists don't have hygenists.
Oh Jesus. You are clearly misinformed if you think it is easy to get into the US. Just because you have a high number of immigrants and refugees in your part of the country doesn't mean they got there easily. My husband is an immigrant. I can tell you first hand it took many, many months (and we actually did get to do it an 'easy' way) and it was very expensive.
Sorry, based on that comment alone I don't feel bad that you didn't get the info you want. Did you expect everyone to say how easy it is and to start packing now? You are in for big disappointment if you think that.
Maybe everyone is pessimistic because, oh, I don't know, they have actually done it and know how difficult a process it can be? Maybe?
Umm no it's HARD to get into the US, I am here because I couldn't stay without marrying someone. I was a teacher, they need teachers in the states, I know that I was needed but I couldn't stay. Yup it's easy to move to the states?!?
You just made England cry!
Who said "I am doing it just fine but you absolutely will not be able to"? lol.
For the record, I wasn't trying to treat you as a toddler when I said you need to know the language. You said you want to move to "Western Europe" where there are well over 10 different languages. I'm assuming you can't speak English, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalonian and all the other Spanish dialects, French, German, Swiss German, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Flemish (and I'm sure I'm missing some) fluently. Since you weren't specific about want to go to "French-speaking countries," I assumed you hadn't really put a lot of thought into the importance of the language aspect. That's not treating you like a toddler. That's trying to be helpful when I think you may have overlooked an essential part of moving abroad.
What languages do you speak? Along with looking at what countries accept US dental hygienist degrees, that should narrow down the country choice quite a bit. Again, I'm guessing that your husband would have a much better chance in the job market over here than you would, but that's just a guess. I don't know a lot about the medical field.
I gave the OP the name of the correct company to go through for dental hygiene positions in Europe. I'm going to leave it up to her to google it if she so chooses. Please tell me that you think the OP will be able to figure that out. If not, it's further indication that you somehow feel justified in belittling her.
And this qualifies you to 1) assume that the OP was asking about England (she wasn't) and 2) belittle her interest in seeking out opportunities in Europe how?
The OP asks a good question and there are indeed positions available for dental hygienists in Europe via specific channels with which you may or may not have any experience. Just because you don't know about them doesn't mean that they don't exist. You just don't know about them. IMO, it's not productive to act all holier than thou and belittle her.