One of the best things you can do while living in Spain, moving abroad, or even thinking about moving abroad is to start researching:
- remote work
- international hiring companies
- visas
- digital nomad resources
- and online income streams
Whether people want to admit it or not, remote work has completely changed what’s possible. The dream of living in Europe no longer belongs only to corporate transfers, trust fund babies, or people marrying a European man named Luca after a three-day situationship in Florence. Normal people are figuring it out, too. And thankfully, there are now more tools, platforms, and resources than ever to help you find remote work opportunities both in Spain and across Europe.
🌍 Citizen Remote
One of the best resources to start with is Citizen Remote. They provide remote job listings, digital nomad resources, visa guides, country comparisons, and relocation information.
It’s especially helpful if you’re thinking long-term and trying to figure out:
- which countries are remote-work friendly
- where your money stretches furthest
- visa options for non-EU citizens
- and which places actually fit your lifestyle
Honestly, it’s one of the cleaner, easier-to-understand platforms out there.
💻 Best Websites for Finding Remote Work
We Work Remotely: One of the biggest remote job boards online. You’ll find customer service jobs, marketing, design, tech, writing, operations, and startups hiring internationally. A lot of companies here are already comfortable hiring across time zones.
Remote OK: Very digital nomad coded. This platform focuses entirely on remote positions and lets you filter by worldwide hiring, salary, skills, and time zones. You’ll see a lot of startups, tech companies, and international teams.
FlexJobs: This one is paid, but many people swear by it because they screen listings for scams. Great for part-time remote jobs, freelance work, flexible schedules, and beginner-friendly remote roles. Especially useful if you’re new to remote work and don’t want to play “Is this company real?” every afternoon.
Dynamite Jobs: A really good platform for international remote hiring. Popular categories include executive assistants, operations, social media, customer support, content writing, and project management. Many companies hire globally here.
LinkedIn Jobs: People underestimate LinkedIn for remote jobs, but it’s honestly one of the strongest tools if you use it correctly. Search terms like: remote Europe, worldwide remote, async, and international hiring can completely change your results. Also, turn on the “Open to Work” feature. Recruiters absolutely use it.
🇪🇺 European-Specific Remote Work Resources
EU Remote Jobs: Focused specifically on remote jobs within Europe. Helpful for EU-friendly hiring, timezone-compatible roles, and companies already operating across Europe.
Europe Language Jobs: Amazing for English speakers abroad. You’ll find customer support jobs, multilingual positions, content moderation, sales, and tourism-related work. Especially helpful if you live in Spain and are open to relocating within Europe later.
👩🏽💻 Freelance Platforms Worth Using
Not everyone wants a traditional full-time remote job. Freelancing can honestly work very well in Spain because the cost of living is often lower than in major U.S. cities.
Upwork: Popular for writing, social media, virtual assistant work, design, editing, and marketing. Yes, it’s competitive. But many people build full careers from it.
Fiverr: Good for creative services, content creation, editing, graphic design, and UGC work. The key is niching down and not trying to offer 47 unrelated services at once.
Contra: A newer freelance platform that creatives are starting to love. Cleaner interface, and a more modern feel. Less chaotic than some older freelance websites.
💭 Free Resources to Learn Remote Skills
Coursera: Great for free or low-cost certifications.
Google Digital Garage: Offers free digital marketing and online business courses.
YouTube: No, seriously. People have learned video editing, freelancing, coding, SEO, graphic design, and online business entirely from YouTube. The information is there. The hard part is consistency.
A Few Honest Tips About Remote Work Abroad
Start before you feel ready: Most people spend years “researching” instead of applying. Apply anyway.
Build one skill deeply: You do not need to master everything online. One strong skill pays better than being mediocre at ten things.
International companies care more about results than location, especially startups. Many remote companies are now hiring globally because they care more about communication, reliability, and problem-solving than whether you’re sitting in an office.
Living in Spain can actually help: Compared to major U.S. cities, Spain can offer lower living costs, a slower lifestyle, and better work-life balance. Remote income stretches differently here.
Remote work isn’t some mysterious lifestyle reserved for influencers drinking matcha in Bali. It’s become a very real path for people building lives abroad. And honestly, the earlier you start researching remote jobs, visas, international hiring companies, and online skills, the more options you create for yourself later. Because freedom usually starts long before the plane ticket, it starts with information.
If I had to give you one big piece of career advice, it would be this, and it sounds simple, but it really is one of those universal truths that shows up anywhere in the world: network.
I’m not saying don’t apply online. You absolutely should. That’s still part of the game. But the reality is, a CV only shows a snapshot of you. People miss the personality, the energy, the way you communicate, and honestly, the way you carry yourself. That’s where showing up in real life can change everything.
When you meet people in person, you’re no longer just a document in an inbox. You can introduce yourself, make eye contact, have a real conversation, and let people actually feel who you are, and that matters more than we like to admit. Even something as simple as walking into a business, asking if they’re hiring, and introducing yourself can make a bigger impact than sending 20 emails. Not because emails don’t work, but because most people are just scrolling and deleting. In person, you stand out by default. You’re memorable in a way a subject line just isn’t.
And it doesn’t have to be stiff or overly formal either. It can be as simple as showing up, being polite, being curious, and letting your personality do what it naturally does. That alone can open doors you didn’t even know existed. At the end of the day, opportunities don’t just go to the most qualified. They go to the most visible and the ones people feel good about remembering.
Love always + good luck,
